Ernest Forrester Paton

Ernest Forrester Paton (1891–1970), also known by the Tamil name Chinnannan, was a Scottish United Free Church medical missionary to Pune, part of then-Bombay Presidency. He was the co-founder of Christukula Ashram, the first Protestant Christian Ashram in India, along with S. Jesudasan, a fellow missionary and Tamilan convert to Christianity, at Tirupattur of North Arcot, Thamil Nadu—part of then-Madras Presidency in South India.

Early life Ernest Forrester Paton was born the son of Alexander Forrester Paton (1852-1915) and his wife Jean Paton. They were a religiously devout family at Alloa, Scotland; Catherine Forrester Paton, his aunt, founded a women's missionary training college in Glasgow. After primary schooling in Alloa, he continued his education at The Leys School, Cambridge, and at King's College, Cambridge. While at King's College, he became actively involved in the Student Christian movement and decided to become a missionary.

He joined Gandhi's Civil Disobedience campaign in 1930, and became a controversial figure in the eyes of the British Raj. On February 29, 1932, during the Civil Disobedience campaign, he was arrested on charges of picketing (under Ordinance V of 1932) and in fact, beaten by police during a Madras demonstration. This police case gained wider attention in India and Britain, including the raising of questions in the then-British Parliament. On 18 March February 1934, Gandhi came to Tiruppatur and visited S. Jesudan and Ernest Forrester.

With consultations from then-prominent Indian leaders like Gandhi and Rajaji, Ernest and Jesudasan established the Christukula Ashram (also Christu-Kula Ashram), family of Christ Ashram, in 1921 at Tirupattur in North Arcot, Tamil Nadu—South India. This ashram is considered as the first Protestant ashram to be founded in India to promote equality between Europeans and Indians, and also to present Christian life and worship to Indians—this ashram was aimed largely in aligning Christian community with the presumed ancient Hindu idea of the ashram.