The Scourge of the Mission

“Wanderlust has been my weakness, but I, Marco della Tomba, have always dedicated heart and soul to the service of our Holy Church and our poor Tibet Mission. Over these many years, Hindustan has become my home and soon it will become my tomb.” Marco, a friar and missionary of the Tibet-Hindustan Mission arrived in Bengal from his native Italy in 1757, just as the forces of the English East India Company were consolidating their control over the region from the nawab, Siraj-ud-Daulah. An eye-witness to the first serious political and cultural encounter between India and Europe he recorded and commented on a number of critical events in this period of transition and upheaval in the subcontinent’s history. A biography and autobiography of his life, this fascinating account is told in first person since more than half the book is translated directly from essays and letters written in Italian by Padre Marco, while the remaining parts have been written by David Lorenzen mostly on the basis of Marco’s letters and essays and those of some of his colleagues in the Mission. The lively narrative of Marco’s life is interspersed with samples of his attempts to understand Hindu religion, along with some of its heterodox sects, making him one of the earliest European scholars to have engaged with their practices and beliefs.