The Reformation · 1613
The Report on Indian Customs
Roberto de Nobili · 1577–1656
What it is
A defence of allowing Indian converts to keep the sacred thread, the tuft of hair, and caste observance, arguing these are social rather than religious signs.
Why it lasted
The Malabar Rites controversy in its founding document, by a missionary who learned Sanskrit and Tamil and lived as a sannyasi.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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