The Open Door to Hidden Paganism

Abraham Rogerius’s Account of South Indian Hinduism (1651) : Critical Introduction, Dutch Text, and Annotated English Translation

Leathley, Benjamin

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.