Pulney Andy

Senjee Pulney Andy (1831 – September 1909), also known by name S. Parani Andi or S. Parani Andy, was a doctor by profession and, in 1860, became the first Indian to receive a British medical degree. He also conceived and established the National Church of India in Madras in 1886.

Senjee Pulney Andy was born in 1831 in Tiruchirappalli or Trichinopoly as it was known then. He graduated from Madras Christian College in 1859 and left to England where he registered for a medical degree. He received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of St. Andrews in 1860. In 1862, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and returned to India. He received a special appointment from the Madras government as superintendent of vaccination and was posted to the Malabar. During his appointment he published several scientific papers in various journals including The Protective Influence of Vaccination and On Branched Palms in Southern India. He also studied the efficacy of neem leaves in curing small pox.

After his return from England, Andy received his baptism in Kozhikode or Calicut on 3 May 1863. However he did not join a church. After retiring from service, Andy worked towards establishing an indigenous Christian movement which would be self-governing and stand independent from Western Christianity and missionaries. In an effort to unite the various Christian denominations extant in India at the time he conceived and established the National Church of India on 12 September 1886 in Madras, a movement that would be rooted in Indian culture and symbolism.

The movement did not garner much support from either Western missionaries or Indian Christian pastors. According to the missionaries, this church would result in a proliferation of new sects and would sap existing churches of their support. Indian pastors were also opposed generally to the idea because according to Andy, they would rather depend on foreign missions than on local support. It has been argued that the National Church of India was an attempt by Hindu high-caste converts to distance themselves from lower-caste converts. The movement lost momentum in 1898 and faded rapidly after Andy's death in 1909.

The Chennai Egmore Railway station in 1913, was built on land purchased from Andy Pulney.

Andy also held the post of editor of the newspaper Eastern Star and was a driving force behind the establishment of the masonic lodge, Lodge Carnatic. Established in 1883, the Carnatic Lodge of which Andy was the second Master, was the first lodge with a primarily Indian membership. Chennai Egmore railway station was built in 1900 on land purchased from him by the South Indian Railway.