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.
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
