Indian Christianity

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN RAMABAI AND MOTHER TERESA PANDITHA RAMABAI SARASWATI (1858-1922) AND MUKTHI MISSION Ramabai Dongre was born into a Brahmin family, the youngest of three children who survived into adulthood (three others died in childhood), near Mangalore, India, on April 23, 1858.1 Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, an extremely learned priest from Maharashtra, insisted that not only his son but also his wife and daughters be educated, even though such a female education aroused great hostility from his community. So at the age of eight, which is the traditional age for Brahmin boys to begin their twelveyear education, Ramabai began to memorize and learn prodigious numbers of Sanskrit texts. Included in the works she memorized were “whole vocabularies, dictionaries, grammars, commentaries,” and complete sacred texts such as the Bhagavata Purana, with its 18,000 verses, and the Bhagavata Gita. Her teacher was her mother, since Ramabai’s father was too old and weak to teach her. The family made its living as Puranikas, Sanskrit specialists who traveled extensively all around the country reciting and reading and expounding on the Puranas. When Ramabai was sixteen, a severe famine devastated south India. There was no food or water even for wandering Brahmin priests and their families. First her father died of starvation, then her mother, and then finally her sister, leaving only Ramabai and her brother Srinivas barely clinging to life. She came into contact with Hindu priests and other Sanskrit scholars, both Indian and European, who were astounded at her learning and awarded the titles of ‘Pandita’ and then ‘Saraswati’ In Calcutta Ramabai came into contact with the Brahmo Samaj, a reform movement within Hinduism and joined the Brahmo Samaj and started to lecture across North India, particularly on women’s issues. In 1880 her brother died of cholera. Six months later she crossed one of the rigid caste lines by marrying a good friend of her brother, a lawyer of an inferior caste who was a member of the Brahmo Samaj. The two lived together happily for fifteen months before the husband also succumbed to cholera, leaving Ramabai a young widow of twenty-three with a six-month-old baby girl. 242
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN Ramabai founded the Arya Mahila Sabha in 1881, in Pune, the very first Indian feminist organization. She studied and taught about issues which surround Indian women especially those involved in the Hindu traditions. She spoke against the practice of child marriage and the terrible constraints on the lives of child widows. At the age of twenty-five Ramabai went to England in 1883 for medical studies and was disqualified because she was found to be partially deaf, so she studied to be a teacher. She was made Professor of Sanskrit in the Cheltenham Female College, and studied higher mathematics, English literature. Her hosts were sisters of an Anglican mission, the Community of St. Mary the Virgin, headquartered in Wantage, England. Four months after her arrival in England, Ramabai and her daughter were baptized. Soon she had the opportunity to visit USA in 1886. She returned to India in 1889. In less than six weeks a school was opened in Bombay, named the Sharada Sadan. Mukti Mission was founded in India in 1889 and it became a powerful christian mission. At one time she had around 3000 destitutes in her home. During the famines of 1896-97 in Madhya Pradesh and 1900-01 in Gujarat, Ramabai was instrumental in bringing over 2000 women and girls who were rescued. These girls were housed in the temporary sheds at the 100 acre farm which she had purchased in 1895 at Kedgaon. In 1904, Ramabai commenced translation of the Bible in Marathi, from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. In 1913, the first edition of the New Testament of Ramabai's translation in Marathi was published. In 1924, the complete Bible was printed in the Mukti Printing Press. In the 1889 Congress session there were ten Christian delegates of which Pandita Ramabai Saraswati was one. The Mukti Church celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999. It is one of the largest churches in India with seating for 2000 people. 243
Page 2 and 3:
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA M.
Page 4 and 5:
PREFACE This book is the result of
Page 6 and 7:
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA :
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Kolla Varsham (Malayalam Era) HISTO
Page 76 and 77:
Page 78 and 79:
1321 Friar Odoric of Pordenone HIST
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
"Third Wave of Migration". HISTORY
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197: HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA :
Page 230 and 231: After deep reflection had proclaime
Page 236 and 237: According to the Anal Naga Baptist
Page 268 and 269: Bible Studies Six Enigmas in the Bi
show all

Indian Christianity

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?