"This book examines how a self-declared Hindu state, Travancore, using Christian missionaries, transformed itself into a modern state. The author claims that the relationship between the princely state, missionaries and British paramountcy was not fixed or static but substantially a changing one.

The first section of the book looks at the state rituals of Travancore which were largely created in the eighteenth century and investigates the nature of the Hindu state. The following sections deal with the relationship between missionaries and British imperialism, the development of education and medicine, and the caste and communal policies of the state. The author also examines the neighbouring state of Cochin to provide a comparative case study.