Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah

Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah
Bishop
Born	17 August 1874 Vellalanvilai, Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu
Died	1 January 1945 Dornakal, Andhra Pradesh
Feast	2 January Anglican Communion

Bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (17 August 1874 – 1 January 1945) (also transliterated as Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah) was the first Indian bishop in the churches of the Anglican Communion, serving as the first bishop of the diocese of Dornakal. A pioneer of Christian ecumenism in India, Azariah had a complex relationship with Mahatma Gandhi, who at least once called him postcolonial Indians' "Enemy Number One."

Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah was born in 1874 in the village of Vellalanvilai, Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, in the far south of India to Christian (Anglican) priest Thomas Vedanayagam, and his second wife Ellen. His was traditionally orthodox Hindu and dedicated to the god Shiva (hence the Tamil family name Vedanayakam possibly reflecting Shiva's 3-pronged spear or one of many names of his son Murugan). Thomas had converted to Christianity, in 1839 while at a Church Missionary Society school. He named his son Samuel after the Old Testament prophet, because of the 13-year gap after the couple had a daughter. Thomas died in 1889, but his devout mother raised Samuel, sending him at age 10 to be educated at Christian missionary boarding schools including the one at Megnanapuram run by his half-brother Ambrose, as she became the matron of the related girls' school. At the school in Tirunelveli (called Tinnevelly during British rule), Azariah helped found a society to overcome caste differences, not a popular position with his caste but which foreshadowed his career.

Samuel Vedanayakam was then sent to the provincial capital, Chennai (then known as Madras), where the British principal of Madras Christian College gave him the name Azariah to distinguish him from other boys.There, his classmates included K.T. Paul (1876-1931), with whom Azariah would later work. He also came into contact with American missionary Sherwood Eddy, who also became a lifelong friend. Azariah studied mathematics, like one of his elder brothers who also became a missionary, but never received a degree—he completed his coursework in 1893 but fell ill shortly before his final mathematics exam and later chose not to retake it. Later, Azariah would criticize those who flaunted their degrees without becoming B.A. (meaning Born Again).

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