The Missionary: An Indian Tale (1811) is a sentimental romance novela by Irish author Sydney Owenson (described on the title-page as "Miss Owenson"). The book presents a love story, marked by tragedy, between a Western clergyman and an Indian princess. This forbidden love symbolizes the clash of cultures, with much of the narrative set in the Kashmir Valley, India, during a period of intense political turmoil and religious fervor.[1][2]
Percy Bysshe Shelley admired The Missionary intensely[3] and Owenson's heroine is said to have influenced some of his own orientalist productions.[4]
The author later revised the work, shortly before her death in 1859, renaming it Luxima, the Prophetess.[5]