"The First Indian Tune That Ever Was Wrote Out": An Early Example of "World Hymnody" from the Subcontinent

One of the most intriguing recent developments in the congregational song of British, Canadian, and American Christian churches is the importation of hymns from former mission lands (chiefly Asia, Africa, and South America). The words "world," "global," and "international" have been used interchangeably to describe this hymnody. "World hymnody" describes both hymn texts and hymn tunes, either separately or together. The term also encompasses both items from traditional sources and newly written songs by indigenous peoples.

While hymnals issued around 1975 included an occasional tune or text that originated in regions other than Europe or English-speaking North America, publication of such items was scattered and inconsistent. Collections issued during the last quarter of the twentieth century, however, often included a substantial body of "world hymnody" (Hawn 1991, 24–32).

While the emphasis and scope of this development are recent, however, this is not the first time that such hymns have appeared in English-language hymnals of the West. In fact, the first known example of world hymnody in a Western hymn collection dates from the earliest days of the modern British missions movement. Furthermore, it was not only a hymn text but also an indigenous tune that was thus made available.

However, the process did not come easily. A number of people and some fourteen years were needed to make this hymn available to English-speaking Christians.

The Origin and First Translation of the Hymn

The story begins with an English Baptist ship's surgeon named John Thomas (1757–1801). Thomas served for a time in the British Navy then set himself up as a surgeon and apothecary in private practice. In 1783–84 he returned to sea, sailing to India as surgeon of the ship Earl of Oxford. After the ship returned to England, Thomas was engaged for a second voyage on the Earl of Oxford, which departed for India in March 1786.

Prior to this second voyage, Thomas had begun to feel an inclination "to go afar and preach to the Gentiles" (Chute 1893, 14–15). This impression was strengthened upon his return to India, and he decided to leave the Earl of Oxford and remain in the country as a missionary, though he was receiving no financial support from any agency or church.

One of Thomas's first tasks, of course, was to learn the language, and in Goamalty, in which he took up residence, this was Bengali. Thus in March 1787, he engaged an Indian of the writer (kayastha) caste named Ram Ram Boshoo as his teacher or munshee.²

As Thomas had anticipated, the learning was a two-way street: while the missionary was immersing himself in Bengali, Ram Boshoo was absorbing the principles of Christianity. In June 1788, the munshee told Thomas that he had "found Jesus to be the answerer of his prayer" for healing from sickness, though he did not renounce his caste or seek baptism. Later that month Ram Boshoo brought his British pupil a hymn he had written in Bengali.³

Thomas returned to England in 1792, arriving on his native soil in July. On August 25, 1792, he sent a letter describing his mission in India to the pastor of the London Baptist church in Carter's Lane, John Rippon (1751–1836), together with a translation of his munshee's hymn into English. Rippon published Thomas's letter and hymn translation, along with a letter written to the English Baptist pastor and hymn writer Samuel Stennett by Ram Boshoo himself and another Indian, Parbotee Brahman (Rippon 1793, 353–70). The hymn as it appeared in Rippon (1793) is given below.

Chorus: O who besides can recover us,O who besides can recover us,From the everlasting darkness of sin,Except the Lord Jesus Christ?

1. Lo! that Lord is the Son of God,    The intermediate of a sinner's salvation;    Whosoever adores him,    Will get over his eternal ruin.        O who besides can recover us, &c.

2. In all this world there is none free from sin,    Except the Saviour of the...