INTRODUCTION
Lars Vig (1845-1913) worked almost uninterruptedly for 25 years in Madagascar as a Lutheran minister for the Norwegian Missionary Society. He followed, however, the rather unusual tradition of combining his missionary activity with study of the religion and customs of the indigenous population. He was the first European to undertake a profound and systematic study of their religious ideas, based on detailed notes written in Malagasy by his friends and students at his teachers’ college, as well as notes from their oral information.

“He wrote a number of articles and greater works published in Scandinavia, the scope of which went far beyond what a missionary would need in his work of evangelisation, and thus making evident his will to work on a scientific level. He treated topics which were essential to our understanding of the Malagasy religion – the religious ideas, morals and customs in the Malagasy “paganism”, the concept of sacrifice and substitution, the religious practice and the symbolism in cult and sacrifice.”
Jean-Pierre Domenichini : LES DIEUX AU SERVICE DES ROIS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Paris 1985, page 13.

INTRODUKSJON
Lars Vig (1845-1913), misjonær for Norske Misjonsselskap på Madagaskar, var den første européer som gjorde dypere og mer systematiske studier av religiøse forestillinger blant den gassiske befolkning. Disse var basert på detaljerte nedtegnelser, skrevet på gassisk av hans venner og elever, eller notert etter muntlig informasjon.

”På grunnlag av sin forskning skrev Lars Vig et visst antall artikler og større verker publisert i Skandinavia, hvis rekkevidde langt overskred det som en misjonær kunne trenge for sin evangelisering, noe som gjør klart hans vilje til å drive arbeid på et mer vitenskapelig nivå. Han behandlet temaer som var viktige for forståelsen av den gassiske religion – religiøse begreper, moral og skikker i den gassiske ”hedenskap”, begreper om offer og substitusjon, den religiøse utøvelse og symbolismen i kultus og offerhandlingen.”
Jean-Pierre Domenichini : LES DIEUX AU SERVICE DES ROIS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Paris 1985, side 13.

INTRODUCTION
Lars Vig (1845-1913), missionnaire au service de la Société Norvégienne Missionnaire à Madagascar, fut le premier Européen à faire des études approfondies sur les idées religieuses des Malgaches, basées sur des notes détaillées en malgache, écrites par ses amis et élèves ou notées d’après leurs informations orales.

« De ses recherches, il tira un certain nombre d’articles et ouvrages publiés en Scandinavie, dont la portée dépasse de très loin ce dont un missionnaire pouvait avoir besoin pour mener son travail d’évangélisation, - ce qui rend ainsi encore plus manifeste la volonté de Lars Vig de faire oeuvre scientifique et désintéressée. Il y traitait en effet de sujets aussi importants pour la compréhension de la religion malgache que les conceptions religieuses des Malgaches, la morale et les coutumes dans le « paganisme » malgache, l’idée du sacrifice, celle de la substitution, les usages religieux et le symbolisme dans le culte et les sacrifices. »
Jean-Pierre Domenichini : LES DIEUX AU SERVICE DES ROIS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, Paris 1985, page 13.