Historian Fr. Henry Heras

12. Historian Fr. Henry Heras


Society of Jesus, an organisation of Catholic priests founded by St Ignatius of Loyola, is famous the world over for its service and contribution to various fields. Its members, known as Jesuits, have kept up a long tradition of systematic, disciplined, and earnest work in the fields of education, social work, research, social justice and so on. Influenced by the dedication and missionary zeal of members of this society, veteran political leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale, referred to as the guru of Mahatma Gandhi, drafted the constitution of his Servants of India Society on the lines of the constitution of the Society of Jesus. The schools and colleges run by the Jesuits in India are considered among the best educational institutions in the country.
The Jesuits have made a valuable contribution to the enrichment of social and cultural life in India during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. These include Sanskrit scholar Robert De Nobili, Tamil poet Constancious Joseph Beschi, author of Marathi epic Kristapuran Fr. Thomas Stephens, Hindi scholar and lexicographer Padma Bushan Fr. Camil Bulcke, Malayalam language scholar John Earnest Hanxleden alias Arnos Pathiri and so on. Historian Fr. Henry Heras belongs to this great legacy of Jesuits.
Henry Heras was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1888. Before his arrival in India as a Jesuit, he had stayed in China for four years. He joined St Xavier's College in Mumbai as a professor of history. Soon, he was fascinated by Indian culture and this led to his research in Indian culture and history. Thereafter, Fr. Heras devoted 33 years of his life for the research of the history of ancient Indian culture, scripts, sculptures, etc.
In 1926, Heras established the Indian Historical Institute in Mumbai. The main objective of this society was research in Indian culture and collection of rare objects as well as pieces of art of this ancient culture. The library of the institute started with just eight books in St. Xavier's College. Later, Fr. Heras added many books on history to this library. He moved on footpaths of Mumbai and collected rare books. This institute, which is one of the leading history research institutes in the country today, has a collection of over 35,000 books.
The rector of St. Mary's High School in Mumbai presented Fr. Heras with four guns belonging to the Maratha empire period. This was the beginning of a museum founded by Fr. Heras. Later, he got a statue of the holy Nandi (bull, the vehicle of Lord Shiva) in granite, measuring four feet and eight inches in height. Fr. Heras brought this statue from Mumbai Central railway station in a bullock cart pulled by four bullocks and positioned the statue at the entrance of the research institute. Fr. Heras obtained masks of Gautam Buddha in various metals dating back to 200 B. C. Later, he acquired several antique pieces to be displayed at the museum.
For his research in Indian culture and history, Fr. Heras visited many places and collected sculptures and statues made by followers of various sects like Shaiva, Vaishnava, Jaina, Buddha of ancient India. Towards the end of his life, Fr. Heras was engrossed in comparison of the scripts belonging to the ancient Indus culture and Mesopotamia. For this research, he also visited the Mesopotamian site in present day Iraq. He was always looking for some documents or remains related to Indian culture and social system and found some royal stamps (Mudra) and plaques cylindrical in shape. These exhibits of ancient era displayed in the museum are considered to be very precious. Heras also collected articles used for Hindu rituals or prayers during ancient times.
The rare book collection at the historical institute includes the book 'Remarks and Occurrences' written by Henry Baker who was a prisoner of Tipu Sultan for two and a half years. He describes how he fled the prison. Another specialty of the book is that, it was the first book printed in 1793 in Mumbai. The only available copy of the book is in this library. Fr. Heras found this book with a footpath bookseller and purchased it for 50 paise only!
When the library building of the old Secretariat in Mumbai was being demolished, Fr. Heras obtained many rare and useful books from this library and included them in his library. Thus Fr. Heras continuously endeavoured to get old books, scriptures, sculptures and exhibits to make them available to scholars for research.
A micro filming department was introduced in the library with financial assistance from the University Grant Commission (UGC). The students of Portuguese and Persian manuscripts have found this section very useful.
Fr. Heras also promoted research in the field of Indian Christian art and how it had blended with Indian culture. St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, had preached Christianity in India 2000 years ago. Therefore, the Indian Christian art, which is centuries old, has an influence of Indian culture as seen from the Christian sculptures, paintings and churches in south India.
Kerala, which boasts of 2000-year-old Christian legacy, has even today several remains of ancient Indian Christian art. Due to the presence of Jesuit priests in the courts of the Mughals, Christian art of Indian heritage prospered in north India during the medieval period. The churches, sculptures and other artwork in Goa are considered as a valuable treasure of Indian Christian art. Fr. Heras had collected many exhibits of Indian Christian art in his museum. The treasures included some marble and wooden sculptures that are very rare.
In 1949, Fr. Heras organised an exhibition on Indian Christian art in St Xavier's College. It got a tremendous response and hence this exhibition was arranged in Vatican, the seat of the catholic sect, as also in many other cities.
In his thesis entitled 'Studies in Proto-Indo Mediterranean culture', Fr. Heras had concluded that the race of the Aryans had almost become extinct and that the race of the Dravidians was prospering. This conclusion of Fr. Heras had caused quite a sensation at that time.
Well-known social scientist and former chief editor of Marathi daily Loksatta, Dr. Aroon Tikekar has stated in his Marathi book 'Samaj-Spandane' (Heart beats of society) that Fr. Heras was truly a veteran when evaluated as a professor, compiler, researcher and a writer. He has further said that the place of Fr. Heras among the researchers of ancient Indian history is like a doyen. Dr. Tikekar has written, ''This Spanish priest did research on ancient Indian history while teaching in St. Xavier's College in Mumbai right From 1922 till his death in 1955. He also established The Indian Historical Institute to facilitate research, created a class of disciples who later worked to solve many puzzles in the ancient Indian history, and also raised some doubts about some puzzles which were believed to have been solved.''
Around 1940, Fr. Heras' eyesight became very weak. After surgery, his vision was restored. During the period when he could not read or even see properly, this great historian was mediating on ways to blend Indian culture with Christian thinking.
Fr. Heras had many exhibits in his museum to prove the point that Indian Christian art was a part of Indian cultural stream. The museum has a rare sculpture of Mother Mary clad in a sari and standing on a lotus fondly looking at baby Jesus in typical Indian tradition. Angelo De Fonseca is a veteran artist belonging to the modern Indian Christian art tradition. Fr. Heras encouraged this artist to make paintings related to Christianity in typical Indian style.
Fr. Heras authored 13 books and almost 200 research papers. Some of these are 'The writing of history', 'Notes on historical methodology for Indian students', 'The Pallav genealogy', 'The studies in Pallav history', 'The beginning of Vijayanagar history' and 'The story of Magi'.
More than 300 students from various parts of India took lessons from this great historian for three decades. Many of them later became reputed historians and archaeologists. His students included Dr. Hasmukh D. Sankalia, Fr. John Correia Afonso, Dr. G. M. Moraes, M. G. Dixit and others.
'The Institute of Indian History and Culture,' founded by Fr. Heras, celebrated its silver jubilee in 1954. The chief guest of the jubilee function was the then Vice President and veteran philosopher Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. In his address, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that Fr. Heras and the functioning of his institute are an ideal example of earnestness about education and knowledge. This institute is now named after its founder and is called as Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture.
Fr. Heras was felicitated during his lifetime by archaeologists and historians for his work on Indian culture and history. This great researcher passed away on December 14, 1955. The government of India published a commemorative stamp on Fr. Heras in 1981 to appreciate his research work on Indian culture and history.
References: -
1. 'Jesuits in India: In historical Perspective', edited by Teotonio R De Souza and Charles Borges, Institute cultural De Macau, Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa (1992)

2. 'Samaj-spandane' (Marathi) Dr Aroon Tikekar, Dimple Publications, Mauj Printing Bureau, Mumbai