Following the first Moravian missionaries in the Himalaya

Abstract

The Moravian Brethren formed a very particular community within the Protestant Church. Above all, they had a distinct understanding of the Christian ministry and, consequently, their group had a disctinct missionary character. They were the first to undertake Protestant missions among peoples living far from the centers of civilization and administrative power. This paper describes the author’s encounter with the Himala- yan cultures and traces of Moravian missionaries’ work in the area, discerned over many years of research focusing on the past European activity, its contexts and the durability of cultural solutions it promoted.