The Open Door to Hidden Paganism: Abraham Rogerius's Account of South Indian Hinduism (1651): Critical Introduction, Dutch Text, and Annotated English Translation(Colonial and Global History Through Dutch Sources)

This book presents the first-ever English translation of The Open Door to Hidden Paganism, one of the earliest and most detailed studies of South Indian Hinduism. Written in 1651 by Abraham Rogerius, a Dutch East India Company clergyman and missionary, it offers an unexpectedly balanced account of the customs and traditions of the South Indian Brahmins. This made it a cornerstone of early European Indology. In addition to the Dutch original, this edition includes a full English translation, along with the extensive footnotes provided by an anonymous Dutch editor who contextualised Rogerius's account for a seventeenth-century audience. Text and footnotes together uncover a so-far hidden religious and philosophical conversation of global dimension. Equipped with a rich introduction and detailed endnotes, this comprehensive edition of 'The Open Door' dives into the fascinating intersection of missionary agendas, ethnography, and antiquarianism that created this unique work. 

Table of Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgments; Note on the English Translation and Transcription of the Dutch; List of Abbreviations; I INTRODUCTION; 1 Context; 2 The Book and Its Authors; II THE OPEN DOOR TO HIDDEN PAGANISM; 1 The First Part. Of the Life and Customs of the Brahmans on the Coromandel Coast and the Lands Thereabouts; 2 The Second Part. Dealing with the Belief and the Worship of the Brahmans on the Coromandel Coast and the Lands Thereabout; The Life of Bhartrihari; 3 One-Hundred Sayings, from the Pagan Bhartrihari, Famed among the Brahmans on the Coromandel Coast, Concerning the Way to Heaven; 4 One-Hundred Sayings, from the Pagan Bhartrihari: Concerning the Virtuous Conduct of Men; III DE OPEN-DEURE TOT HET VERBORGEN HEYDENDOM; Opdracht; Tot den Leser; 1 Het Eerste Deel, Van het Leven en Zeden der Bramines op de Cust Chormandel ende de Landen daer ontrent; 2 Het Tweede Deel. Handelnde van het Geloove, ende den Gods-dienst der Bramines, op de Cust Chormandel, ende de Landen daer ontrent; 't Leven van Barthrouherri; 3 Hondert Spreucken van den Heydenschen Barthrouherri, onder de Bramines op de Cust Chormandel befaemt, Handelnde Van den wegh na den Hemel; 4 Hondert Spreucken van den Heydenschen Barthrouherri, Handelnde Van den redelijcken ommegangh onder de Menschen; Endnotes; Bibliography

About the Author :
Benjamin Leathley is a PhD candidate at the Università di Bologna and Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona. His research interests include early modern travel writing and ethnography and its reception in Europe, as well as the conceptualisation of paganism and idolatry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Review :
"This edition and translation will be particularly valuable, and indeed will mark a turning point, because the author has decided to emphasize the early modern intellectual dimensions through an analysis of the anonymous annotator. … This is a well-focused, original and coherent project that will facilitate the appreciation and study of this fundamental text." – Joan-Pau Rubiés