Andy, S. Pulney

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ANDY, S. PULNEY

ANDY, S. PULNEY (1831–1909), first Indian recipient of a British medical degree. Born in Tricinopoly of Hindu parents in 1831, Pulney Andy completed studies in Madras Christian College before going to England in 1859. He was the first Indian student to register for a British medical degree. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and returned to India in 1862. He was baptized in Calicut, 3 May 1863, but did not join a church.

On the recommendation of the secretary of state, the Madras government created a special appointment for him as superintendent of vaccination and posted him to Malabar. Among other accomplishments, he published a widely accepted pamphlet, "The Protective Influence of Vaccination." He also edited a newspaper, Eastern Star, and was involved with the social and political journal Cosmopolite.

After his retirement, Andy conceived the idea of a National Church of India (NCI), acknowledged at the time as "the first indigenous movement of Christianity." His desire was to unite the various denominations into one church, suited to Indian culture and sensibilities, and to encourage independence, self-reliance, and self-government in the ministrations of a church that was not dependent on foreign aid. He devoted both purse and energy to this cause.

At the inauguration of the NCI, on 12 September 1886, he said; "we [Indian Christians] should look about to maintain ouselves instead of idly continuing to depend on the charitable support chiefly contributed by the people of Europe. Let us not play the part of the professional beggar any longer." Pulney Andy was equally forthright with his missionary friends. While acknowledging the good they had done, he believed they lacked a knowledge of the intricate social and religious practices of the Hindus and failed to present Christianity in a way conducive to the development of the church in India. He was convinced that there was a need for an Indian church that did "not reflect Scotch Presbyterianism, nor English Anglicanism, nor German Lutheranism," but that would "combine into a harmonious whole the best features of all denominations" (NCI Third Annual Report 1888–1889: 101).

The idea of a national church received very little encouragement from the missionaries or from Indian Christians. In 1900 the publication Harvest Field referred to Pulney Andy as one who had the misfortune to live ahead of his time. He did not live to see his dream fulfilled. It was not until 1947, in fact, that a union of churches took place to create the Church of South India. Pulney Andy died in September 1909 in his seventy-eighth year.

Graham Houghton