Part 2
OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION 59 sufficed for her own simple needs. She employed the surplus in caring for a number of these poor girls, who, not being widows, but either deserted wives or destitute orphans, were not eligible for support from the funds of the Sadan. Some of these were maintained in Mission Schools at Ramabai's expense, and she received some as members of her own family. A few she adopted entirely, they having no natural guardians to whom they owed any sort of allegiance.
Ramabai felt it was her duty to instruct these girls in the principles of the Christian religion. They were therefore aroused an hour before the other inmates of the Shadan to join in the early morning Scripture study and prayer. Neither was the door closed against any others who might be drawn to come and listen from motives of curiosity, or from a genuine desire to learn what it was in Ramabai's religion which made her so different from any one they had ever known before. And they did so, till, at the time of Soonderbai's return to India in the spring of 1893, fully half of the widows were attending these early morning meetings, and the
Spirit of God was evidently applying the teaching powerfully to many hearts.
At this time there were two other resident teachers in the school, who, though professing Christians, neither showed any sympathy with the movement nor attended the prayer-meetings.
6o PANDITA RAMABAI
As in a thrifty English household fruits are preserved and pickles made for winter use^ so a good Brahmin housewife has her season for drying and preparing a store of various fruits and herbs for use during the rainy season. Their season comes in the month of
May, while ours is an autumn function. At this time, the middle of the hot weather, school holidays were given in Poona ; Ramabai's store room was likewise replenished—and a vacation from school work meant the employment of the girls in all the mysteries of preserving, pickling, and preparing tamarinds, limes, mangoes, chillies, and the various spices used in the complicated culinary art as understood in well-managed Brahmin households. But it was not all work; now and then some delightful excursion was arranged, looked forward to, and much enjoyed.
It was the time of an Indian festival in the middle of these holidays, and on the eve of the principal day of the feast Ramabai told her pupils that she had ordered conveyances for the morrow to take them to a beautiful spot, a few miles away, for a picnic. They would go in charge of the aforementioned teachers, and she trusted they would have a very happy time. To the eager inquiries as to why Bai and Ukka were not going, she replied that they had need of a day alone with God; adding that if any of the girls wished to stay and join them, thev were at liberty to do so. Out of a total of
OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION 6i sixty or sixty-five, about thirty elected to forego the picnic and remain for a day of prayer. The whole day was spent in devotion, the study of the Scriptures, prayer, and exhortation. Before it was ended, more than twenty declared themselves to be inquirers after the truth, and some seemed to have really received it into their hearts with joy and gladness.
Ramabai and Soonderbai were filled with joy. A small Christian Endeavour Society was formed, officers appointed, and a little upstairs room set apart for a prayer room.
But " a city set on a hill cannot be hid," and it was soon noised abroad that Ramabai was making all the girls Christians. Then arose a storm.
From time to time Ramabai had encountered difficulties from her Brahmin friends. In Bombay a " Managing Committee " had been appointed, who aimed to make the Sadan a strictly Hindu home, and imposed full observance of caste restrictions, the effect of which was to shut Ramabai and other Christian teachers out from certain parts of the dwelling. No pupil was free to attend any sort of Christian service, but any might worship at Hindu temples. This being decidedly against the strict neutrality enjoined by the American
Committee, an appeal was made, and Ramabai was instructed to resume the management herself.
In an interview published in a Madras paper concern-
62 PANDITA RAMABAI ing the conversions just named, Ramabai said:
" When we came to Poona, an Advisory Board was appointed to advise me with regard to outside matterspurchase of land, building, etc. They had nothing practically to do with the internal management of the
Sadan. This Board consisted of three well-known
Hindu gentlemen. We went on satisfactorily for some time, but when the number of girls attending my private prayers rose to about twenty, the matter was reported to them. We did nothing in secret. My room was always open. They asked me whether some of the girls attended my private prayers. I replied that they did.
Then they asked me to prevent them from doing so.
I told them I could not conscientiously do that—I could not restrict my intercourse with the pupils. As a Christian was at the head of the institution, the girls must be more or less under Christian influences. The members of the Advisory Board therefore tendered their resignation, and issued a circular-letter to the parents and guardians of the scholars, asking them not to send their girls to the Sadan."
About twenty-five of the girls were thus withdrawn. Many affecting scenes occurred. Some parents yielded to the entreaties of their daughters, and allowed them to remain, with the strict promise not to attend the prayer meetings in future. Some poor girls were carried off to certain persecution and ill-usage. In one
OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION 63 or two cases where Ramabai knew they would be taken av/ay to inevitable moral ruin, she resorted to various justifiable expedients to save them.
The escape of one girl, in which my household had some share, was in some of its features as sensational as that of many an old-time negro slave. The escape was from as real a slavery. Only part can be told here.
This lassie was one whom Ramabai had adopted as her own. Her mother, a Gujerathi widow, was living the life of a temple woman in Bombay (a " holy " Hindu harlot). A prominent Hindu reformer in Bombay, editor of a newspaper, sent the girl to Ramabai to save her from her mother's fate. But when he heard that the girls were becoming Christians, he joined in the popular outcry, and incited the mother, vile as she was, to claim her daughter. He was only one of many who plainly showed that they would rather see Hindu girls become harlots than Christians.
A chronic complaint, at that time troublesome, was a reason for sending the girl to a hospital in Bombay,
This would gain time. A message was sent also to me asking me to visit her, and if possible devise some way of saving her from her threatened fate. Owing to the riots then raging in Bombay between Hindus and Mohammedans, it was some days before I could get to see her. Mrs. Man Sukh Lai, then living in our house, accompanied me, and visited her frequently afterwards.
64 PANDITA RAMABAI
To her the girl opened her heart. She wanted to be sent away where her mother could not get at her to ruin her. She dreaded the day of her discharge. Frequently the mother and some priests wei'e found there at the visiting hour. They brought her the Hindu
Shastras and wanted to take her Bible away from her.
Day by day the hospital was watched at the hour of discharging patients. But, by the kindness of the matron, we were permitted to remove her at a different hour, and at once sent her out of the city to the care of a missionary friend; Ramabai being purposely kept in ignorance of her whereabouts. But the mother continued to trouble Ramabai, claiming now that her daughter was two years younger than she herself had stated when first given to Ramabai, while the latter believed her to be of legal age to decide for herself.
Renewed torrents of abuse were poured out upon
Ramabai by the entire native press. She was then consecrated up to the point of not caring for her own reputation—but her school must not be ruined. She came to me and said the school would be ruined if the girl were not given up. I declined to have any hand in producing the girl, but at Ramabai's entreaty gave her the name of the missionary friends who had taken charge of her. They finally arranged to bring her to the head police office in Bombay and let the matter be decided there. The girl was brought, but the mother did not
OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION 65 keep the appointment. The Christian PoHce Superintendent declined to give her to the Hindus who came to represent the mother, and she was again removed by my friends. A subsequent attempt to gain possession of her was at once abandoned when it became known that the missionary in whose house she had been staying had baptised her ! The deed was done, she was now a Christian, and was at once reHnquished to her fate by her mother and the priests. Ramabai's perfidy was again pubHshed to the world, although the baptism, administered at the girl's own ardent desire, took place entirely without Ramabai's knowledge or consent.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM.
"Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves." Zeph. iii. 3 THE storm raised over the baptism of the young woman mentioned in the last chapter was fiercer even than that of the previous three months. It threatened to annihilate the institution; more pupils were removed, and the leading Hindus of the Bombay presidency seemed to be determined that they would never rest until they saw the Sharada
Sadan die an ignoble death. But God gave Ramabai three promises at that time of great trouble. They were as follows:
" No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." ^
" These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 2
* Isaiah liv. 17. John xvi. 33. 66
MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM 67
' Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."*
These promises were a great source of comfort and strength to Ramabai, and have been marvellously fulfilled, as will be seen later on.
In a report made subsequently to her American friends, Ramabai thus succinctly explained her policy. Reminding them that she had all along insisted that the institution should be unsectarian, she said : " We give them (the pupils) all liberty to keep their caste and customs, and we have made all arrangements for it. They are not prevented from praying to their own gods, nor from wearing those gods around their necks, if they want to ; and some girls in my school do so, as I used to do years ago. Do you think I have gone against the religion of the girls ? No, not in any way. I have not taught the girls any religious system. If they wanted any religious training, they might go out of the school to the missionary, or to the Hindu teacher. But I am glad to say that some light came to them—not from ourselves, but from God.
" I was a Christian woman, and I had a home of my own, and a daughter for whom I thought I must make
* Malachi iii. 10.
68 PANDITA RAMABAI a home. I had made the resolution of Joshua, * As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord/ That shall be my resolution to the end. I let my girls do what they like ; but I have the freedom with which Christ has made me free : and why should I keep my light under a bushel? I do not mean to do it. When I had my family worship in my own room, not in the school-hall, some of the girls began to come in ; and we gave them freedom to come, if they wanted to.
" My Hindu brethren thought it was going too far, and that I was Christianizing those girls. They wanted me to shut my room when I was reading the Bible and praying. I said, ' No ; I have the same freedom to practice Christianity which these girls have to practice their religion. Why should I shut the door of my room, which I do not shut at any other time during the
' The Hindu friends
twenty-four hours of the day ?
were much offended at it, and wanted to pull our school down, and raise another school on its ruins; but I am glad to say that the foundations of this school have not been set on the sand, but on the eternal Rock, and it stands there to this day, and it will stand for ever and ever."
In the cold season following the events narrated, Mrs.
Judith Andrews, President of the Executive Committee of the American Ramabai Association, visited India.
She spent several weeks at the Sharada Sadan, and fa-
MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM 69 miliarized herself with the work and workers. The pupils, taught by Ramabai to be courteously attentive to all guests, were charmed with the gentle white-haired old lady, and bestowed upon her the endearing appellation of Ahjibai (grandmother).
During the visit of Mrs. Andrews, the school-house alluded to in Chapter IV. was publicly dedicated, though it had been in use for some time. The meetings on that festive day, March 12th, 1894, partook of the same character as those of the dedication of the previous buildings. Much sympathy was expressed by the speakers for Ramabai in the severe trials through which she had passed, and the hope was voiced that she would not be again burdened with another " Advisory
Committee." And she never has. Some Hindu gentlemen present also expressed their repentant sympathy, and an account of the meeting, written at the time,
God has greatly helped Ramabai and sustained says, her work. Her prospects are brighter now than they have ever been before."
No trip to India is considered complete without a sight of some of her ancient palaces, temples, and tombs. As the most noted of these are in North India,
Mrs. Andrews desired to take the usual trip to Agra,
Delhi, etc., and prevailed upon Ramabai to accompany her. She could not have had a better guide. Ramabai had been there before; and under her auspices Mrs.
70 PANDITA RAMABAI
Andrews saw sights that other travellers miss—sights calculated to give a more just idea of the lives really led by those who once peopled these ruined marble halls.
In the grounds of what is now called the Agra Fort are some ruined palaces of the Moghul emperors.
Ramabai must tell the story herself and draw the moral as she alone knows how : " The guide showed us the
Rani's private rooms, the gardens and grand marble buildings, once occupied by the kings and queens. He also showed us the beautiful pleasure tower called Saman Burj. Visitors are shown all that is beautiful here, and they go away carrying very pleasant impressions of Agra with them.
" I was not satisfied with seeing the outside beauty of those ' poems in marble,' but wished to see the dungeons, and the place where the unfortunate women used to be confined and hanged at the pleasure of the king. The guide at first denied the existence of such places in the palace ; but, finally—on obtaining a promise to get a little more money for his trouble—he consented to show the dungeons. He opened a trap-door on one side of the palace, let us in, and guided us about, showing us the many small and large underground rooms where the queens who had incurred the king's displeasure used to be shut up, tortured, and starved, until it pleased the monarch to set them free. The guide then lighted a big torch, and took us to the
MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM 71 furthest end of the prison, into a room underneath the
Saman Burj, or Jasmine Tower. The room was very dark and octagonal, with a deep, dark pit in the centre, and a big beam placed on the walls right over that pit.
This beam, beautifully carved, served for hanging the unfortunate women who once occupied the throne of the king as his queens, but had by some unknown cause fallen under his displeasure, and had to suffer such a cruel and ignoble death. Their lifeless bodies were let down into that dark pit, whence a stream carried them to the waters of the Jumna, to be eaten by crocodiles.
Thus the poor, miserable wives of the Moghul emperors suffered toture and death in that dark hell-pit under the pleasure-gallery, while their cruel masters and rivals sang songs, enjoyed life, and made merry over their grave in the beautifully decorated, grand, Saman Burj.
I think but little of those lovely places, but always remember seeing that dark room, and compare it with similar places of torture which exist in many sacred towers of India. If the walls of that horrible room had the power of speech, oh, what stories of human cruelty and misery would they tell to-day
" I beg of my Western sisters not to be satisfied with looking on the outside beauty of the grand philosophies, and not to be charmed with hearing the long and interesting discourses of our educated men; but to open the trap-doors of the great monuments of ancient Hin-
72 PANDITA RAMABAI du intellect, and enter into the dark cellars, where they will see the real workings of the philosophies which they admire so much. Let our Western friends come to India, and live right among us. Let them frequently go to the hundreds of sacred places where countless pilgrims throng yearly. Let them go round Jagannath
Puri, Benares, Gaya, Allahabad, Muttra, Brindraban,
Dwarka, Pandharpur, Udipi, Tirpatty, and such other sacred cities, the strongholds of Hinduism and seats of sacred learning, where the Mahatmas and Sadhus
' sublime ' philosophies are daily dwell, and where the taught and devoutly followed. There are thousands of priests and men learned in sacred lore, who are the spiritual rulers and guides of our people. They neglect and oppress the widows, and devour widows' houses.
I have gone to many of the so-called sacred places, lived among the people, and seen enough of those learned philosophers and possessors of superior Hindu spirituality who oppress the widows, and trample the poor, ignorant, low-caste people under their heels. They have deprived the widows of their birthright to enjoy pure life and lawful happiness. They send out hundreds of emissaries to look for young widows, and bring them by hundreds and thousands to the sacred cities to rob them of their money and their virtue. They entice the poor, ignorant women to leave their own homes to live in the Kshetras, i e., holy places, and then, after
MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM 73 robbing them of their belongings, tempt them to yield to their unholy desires. They shut the young helpless widows into their large Mathas (monasteries), sell and hire them out to wicked men so long as they can get money; and, when the poor, miserable slaves are no longer pleasing to their cruel masters, they turn them out in the street to beg their livelihood, to suffer the horrible consequences of sin, to carry the burden of shame, and finally to die the death worse than that of a starved street dog ! The so-called sacred places—those veritable hellg on earth—have become the graveyards of countless widows and orphans.
" Thousands upon thousands of young widows and innocent children are suffering untold misery and dying helpless every year throughout this land; but not a philosopher or Mahatma has come out boldly to champion their cause and to help them. The teachers of false philosophies and lifeless spiritualities will do no good to our people. Nothing has been done by them to protect the fatherless and judge the widow. If anything has been done by anybody at all, it has been by those people who have come under the direct influence of Christianity. Education and philosophies are powerless before the caste rules, ancient customs, and priestcraft. That is why our educated men and our learned Sadhus are so indifferent toward their own brothers and sisters. The educated men and learned
74 PANDITA RAMABAI priests do not like to move about. They don't want to take the trouble to go about to see how dreadfully the widows have to suffer, and how many thousands of lives are destroyed by their priestly brethren. They mourn over a few women who have the boldness to declare themselves as free women, and to follow their conscience; but they say nothing of the thousands who die every year or lead shameful lives. I earnestly beg the women of America and England to come to India and live in our sacred cities, not living in European and American fashion, but living like the poor beggarwomen, going in and out of their dirty huts, hearing the stories of their miserable lives, and seeing the fruits of the sublime philosophies. Let not my Western sisters be charmed by the books and poems they read.
There are many hard and bitter facts which we have to accept and feel. All is not poetry with us. The prose we have to read in our own lives is very hard. It cannot be understood by our learned brothers and comfortable sisters of the West."
The iniquitous traffic in widows alluded to here by Ramabai opens the door to a subject in connection with Hinduism, the knowledge of which has been a sore burden on Ramabai's heart, and has forced from her many tears and groans on behalf of its victims. Some twelve months or more after this visit with Mrs. Andrews, Ramabai set off on a visit to Brindaban, a sacred
MARBLE HALLS OF HINDUISM 75 city about forty miles from Agra, to see what she could do to rescue some of the miserable victims of priestcraft. She disguised herself as a poor pilgrim and took a mean lodging in the city, going in and out among the women, heard their stories of cruel wrong, and tried to plan some way of escape for them. She found an organized method of entrapping them. The agents of the rich priests who own this city of sacred temples, go about the country and by inquiry find where the rich young widows live. They enter into conversation with them, and persuade them of the merits of pilgrimage to expiate the sins which have caused their widowhood.
They tell them they will go direct to heaven if they will live at these sacred places and serve the priests and
Sadhus and worship Krishna. They are courteously received on arrival, then subtle temptations are laid to deprive them of their money and jewels, and when these are gone their virtue follows. Brindaban is largely devoted to the deity Krishna, whose vile and immoral character is rejoiced in by his followers. If these poor women are unwilling to live immoral lives, they are told that it is no sin to do so in these sacred precincts, which are specially favoured by Krishna. Ramabai found hundreds of widows here, mostly from Bengal. She planned for the escape of six or seven of these women but her plans were frustrated, and she returned sick with the mental depression, the moral debasement, and
76 PANDITA RAMABAI the actually foetid conditions of life which she underwent in her efforts to save some of these perishing ones.
The dark features of Hinduism thus portrayed, not only infest the " sacred " cities, but spread like a miasma into every region of Hindu life. Ramabai computes that ten per cent, of the women and girls who have come into her hands during the twelve years of her experience have been sinned against by heartless men.
In her efforts to help widows, Ramabai has been frequently asked to shelter deserted wives. Childless women are constantly being driven from their husbands' homes by a more favoured rival. Many of these have come into Ramabai's hands, and in some cases she has been successful in obtaining for them a divorce. Persecuted wives, too, have fled to her for help and shelter.
Some of these have needed protection from husbands who were " going about to kill them "; and I have known Ramabai have two or three such in hiding at one time from the rage of those who should be their natural protectors.
CHAPTER VIL
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE; RAMABAfs SPIRITUAL EX-
PERIENCES.
She considereth a field and buyeth it : with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Proverbs xxxi. i6. WHEN Pandita Ramabai arranged with her friends in America to support the Sharada
Sadan for ten years, she confidently expected that at the end of that time the Hindus virould have become so convinced of the benefits of education for women that they would willingly pay for it. But, as the years went on, it was evident that this prospect became no nearer realization. Ramabai's mind became exercised about the future support of the school—how, could it be brought about ? After considerable thought and prayer, she conceived the plan of purchasing a piece of land in the country, and planting it with fruit trees, the produce of which should yield a fair income in the course of a few years.
Acting upon the principle that " If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask,
78 PANDITA RAMABAI it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven," Ramabai and Soonderbai joined in prayer that if the thought was of the Lord, He would send the money to purchase such a fruit-farm. They then began to look out for answers. Ramabai mentioned the plan to several of her friends both in India and in
America. Money given to be used at her discretion was placed to this fund; it gradually grew. In 1894, two years after they had began to pray, the money was in hand, and the purchase of the farm an accomplished fact.
A suitable piece of ground was found to be for sale at Khedgaon, close to a railway-station on the recentlyopened Southern Marathi Railway, about forty miles south of Poona. Ramabai planted a portion of the land with hundreds of young orange, lime, and mango trees. A fine well was dug, and a vegetable garden made, which in a few months supplied most of the vegetables used by the school. The remainder of the hundred acres were, by degrees, cleared of the junglewood, by which they were covered, and planted with various useful crops; leaving only one very rocky portion, of which the Government took a part in making a new road.
There was a charm about life at the Sharada Sadan that always captivated me. I learned more about the ways and thoughts of genuine Indian life by a few days
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 79 with Ramabai than in months and years of ordinary
European experience in Bombay.
When therefore Ramabai asked me to spend the New
Year holidays of 1895 with her, I was very glad to be free to accept the invitation. The Sharada Sadan was
" Liberty Hall " for guests. They could either have their meals sent to their rooms, or join the family. I usually prefered the latter. When breakfast or dinner was ready, Ramabai herself would come to escort me to the refectory. This was a long, shed-like building, with a verandah in front, on which we left our shoes.
There was no furniture, save a row of stools along each wall. I call them stools for want of a better name; they were simply boards about one foot by two feet, raised about two inches from the ground. These were the seats. I was placed next to the hostess, who commenced by pouring water over her hands and mine.
She then inspected the brass vessels which were placed in front of us, and usually rinsed out the shining brass plates.
Then the girls who had been cooking came in and deposited quickly a small mound of rice on each plate another followed with a pot of ghee (clarified butter) and poured a little on the rice ; another served us with two kinds of curry, made of lentils or peas, in small brass basins. Others followed with hot chappatties
(unleavened bread), then vegetables of several kinds.
8o PANDITA RAMABAI all cut small and fried with herbs and pepper. In addition to this, the ordinary fare, Ramabai always served her guests with fruit, cake, and milk. I enjoyed the food, and succeeded fairly well in my endeavour to eat it in the same fashion as my Indian sisters, without the aid of fork, knife, or spoon.
On the visit of which I am writing, I spent several pleasant days, the last being New Year's Day. All the
Christian girls who understood English attended the
Watch-night Service with Soonderbai and Manorama, while Ramabai conducted a service of her own at home in Marathi for the other Christian girls. All were up bright and early on New Year's morning in anticipation of a happy day. Ramabai informed me that we were invited to breakfast with one of the Christian teachers of the Sadan who lived with her family in the city, but that she was going on a round of New Year visits first and I could accompany her.
The dumnie, a heavy covered wagon, drawn by two fine white bulls, came round about 8 a. m., and we started off. Manorama and some others of the children were included in the party of s;x. In the front of the wagon and beneath the seats were piled huge baskets of sweetmeats, from which I partly guessed the nature of the visits we were about to pay. We first alighted at the Anglo-Indian Children's Home, a work of faith, founded by the late Miss Dawlly, which cares for desti-
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 8i tute children of European and Eurasian parentage. As we waited the appearance of Mrs. Hutchings, the devoted successor of Miss Dawlly, I related to Ramabai the peculiar history of one of the children in that institution. " I wish to support a child here," said Ramabai
" I will support that very girl." And from that day that dear child has found a kind friend in Ramabai.
Her holidays are spent with Ramabai ; and when I last met her she was looking forward to taking up some post of usefulness in connection with the work in years to come.
One basket of sweetmeats was left here, and I fancied also a more substantial gift, by the happy and gratefullooking faces we left behind us. The Government poorhouse was our next destination. This covered a considerable extent of ground, and here we saw maimed, halt, blind, and lepers. Ramabai went through all the compounds, and herself gave a large ball of sweetmeat to each inmate, while the respectful salutation of " Salaan^ Bai," sounded gratefully on all hands. Indian sweetmeats are a food as well as a luxury—this was a peculiarly nourishing kind, made of lentils, butter, and sugar.
" Poor things, they have no pleasures," said Ramabai.
Our next visit was to the lunatic asylum. The distribution here was assisted by two of the keepers. We saw, sad sights here indeed, and some that were com-
82 PANDITA RAMABAI ical. One man, a Mahommedan, looked very fiercely at me, and ordered me (in Hindustani) to go back to my country, saying that I had only come there because I could not get enough to eat in my own land.
Gratitude there was none. The poor creatures snatched the sweetmeat and cried out for more. Ramabai persevered in overseeing the distribution. She dared not leave it to the officers of the place, lest any should lose their share. On leaving, she remarked to me that it was evident that a large proportion were there through opium and ganga (hemp-drug)—^their appearance showed this.
The breakfast prepared for us at the teacher's house was very elaborate. Plaintain leaves were spread for plates. A merry party of about twenty sat down to cat the repast, which was strictly vegetarian. One very delicious dish so closely resembled custard that one could scarcely believe it was made without eggs; but
I was assured it was a combination of rice and cocoanut.
The great event of the day was to be a Brahmin dinner given by an aunt of Ramabai's, a Hindu, who was visiting her. The old lady took great pleasure and pride in cooking this dinner and serving it up, though she would by no means have defiled her caste by sitting down with us—Christian outcasts—^to eat it. Two missionary families and several Indian Chris-
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 83 tians joined the dinner party. The festivities ended with a surprise party of Soonderbai's planning, held in the large schoolroom. A monster bran tub furnished presents for pupils, teachers, and visitors. The little ones had toys and picture books; the pupils had each the material for a choli (a short bodice that they all wear) with knitting-needles, crochet-hooks, wool, etc., etc. The party dispersed after a happy day, and Ramabai and myself took the night train to Bombay.
The battle had been decided as to whether Hinduism or Christianity should have the ascendancy in the Sharada Sadan. As Ramabai's Christian life strengthened and deepened, she became more independent of even the opinions of her quondam Brahmin friends. At the same time, she kept strictly to her covenant of giving an entirely unsectarian education, with freedom to her pupils to observe all their Hindu customs. The Brahmin community gradually came to the conclusion to let
Ramabai alone. They accepted the fact among themselves that she had gone irrevocably from them; and that all the benefits of her work which they had looked upon to shed lustre on their ancient religion were quite lost to them. A rival institution, or what was intended to be a rival institution, to the Sharada Sadan, was started as a boarding establishment in connection with the Poona Girl's High School; but though it existed for a few years, it never flourished greatly. Some of
84 PANDITA RAMABAI the girls who had been rernoved from the Sadan were placed in this institution, but more than one finally returned to Ramabai.
As time went on, the light of Christianity shone more and more brightly in the Sharada Sadan. The Christian
Endeavour Meetings prospered. Morning and evening prayers were held in a larger room, and attended by the majority of the pupils. Ramabai's little daughter,
Manorama, whose heart had been early opened to divine influences, took a leading share in carrying on the work among the girls. Those who were interested in
Christianity, and not forbidden by their guardians, attended Church and Sunday-school outside,, as well as the ministrations of a Poona missionary, who held meetings in the prayer-room once a week.
The natural outcome of all this teaching was the creation among those girls who had received Christ of a desire for baptism. They wanted to become Christians in fact and deed, as well as in heart. Ramabai, however, was in favour of their remaining unbaptized —at least, while pupils in the Sharada Sadan. The school, she affirmed, was not for Christian girls, but for Hindus ; and, consequently, she could not encourage the proposed baptisms. Several of the girls, however, made their own arrangements with the missionary whose classes they attended, and were baptized in the
Methodist Church at Poona. Ramabai let things take
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 85 their course; but, after the baptisms, she told these girls that she could no longer accept them as pupils of the Sharada Sadan. As they all declared their readiness to work for their living, work was found for them.
One or two became teachers in other schools; some were employed as teachers in the primary department of the Sadan; and others, unfit for teaching, accepted posts as servants of the establishment, cheerfully undertaking menial work as unto the Lord. Thus the difficulty was bridged over, and time was allowed for continuing their studies in part to those who wished it. Among the pupils thus baptized was one particularly nice and good girl, whose early history illustrates the condition and hardship of the little widow more than many.
This poor little child, married at the age of five to a man forty years her senior, became a widow at six.
She was left in charge of her husband's brother, a Brahmin innkeeper in a country district, a day's journey by rail from Poona. As the child grew up, she became a regular little slave, beaten and half-starved. She was employed constantly in going backwards and forwards to a well a quarter of a mile away to fetch water, which she carried on her hips and her head in great copper vessels. She was very miserable and her treatment was no secret to the people around.
One day Ramabai received a letter informing her of
86 PANDITA RAMABAI this poor child's forlorn condition, and of the location of the well where she might so often be found. One of
Ramabai's helpers visited the place in disguise, gained the confidence of the child, and arranged to take her away by the night train. The girl was then about eleven years old, and with her shaven head was easily disguised as a Mahomedan boy. Before the train started she was missed, and her people were in pursuit of her. They were at the station, but failed to recognise her; and she escaped. She bloomed out into a most lovable and estimable girl, and was married in 1897 to a fine Christian young man.
In a little tract published in Bombay, in 1895, Ramabai told the story of her own spiritual experiences.
She said : " When I turned my attention to searching for the truth in the Hindu and Christian religions, and comparing them with each other, I found Christianity to be the better of the two, and accepted it. I was duly baptized in the Church of England. I believed the
Apostles' Creed, and all the essential doctrines of Christianity. My mind was at rest; and I trusted in God, believed on Christ, and prayed in His name. I did not adhere to any special sect, nor do I now. It was enough for me to be called a Christian, on the ground of my belief in Christ as the Saviour of mankind. I used to pray in a general way, and had never known that my special need was—
* Believe on the Lord Jesus
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 87
Christ, and thou shalt be saved/ Salvation, I thought, was something to be good in the future. That is how the future tense in the above text is abused by the converts, especially the intellectual converts of the present day in this country. I had many doubts and many difficulties in the matter of belief. So many sects, so many opinions, so much want of spirituality and much shallow talk in the name of religion. All these troubled me very much, and I began to see much the same in the picture of Christianity as I have been accustomed to see in that of the Hindu religion. But all this time I was conscious that God was leading me; and I determined not to take the opinion of men as my ground of belief, and went on reading the Bible only and trusted in
God's mercy.
" Some years ago I was brought to the conviction that mine was only an intellectual belief—a belief in which there was no life. It looked for salvation in the future after death; and consequently my soul had not
' passed from death unto life/ God showed me how v^y dangerous my position was, and what a wretched and lost sinner I was ; and how necessary it was for me to obtain salvation in the present, and not in some future time. I repented long ; I became very restless and almost ill, and passed many sleepless nights. The
Holy Spirit so got hold of me that I could not rest until
I found salvation then and there. So I prayed earnest-
88 PANDITA RAMABAI ly to God to pardon my sins for the sake of Jesus Christ, and let me realize that I had really got salvation through
Him. I believed God's promise, and took Him at His word; and when I had done this, my burden rolled away, and I realized that I was forgiven and was freed from the power of sin. * The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.' *
I became very happy after that. There was not a shadow of doubt as to my having obtained salvation through Jesus Christ. * But as many as received Him
[a person, not a thing ; not a religion, but a living person], to them gave He power to become the sons of
God.' ^ * And this is life eternal, that they might know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.' ^ In the Old Testament God is not revealed as Father, but as the Creator, the Mighty God, the
Judge, the Jehovah. It was left to Jesus in the New
Testament to reveal the Father. Men talk about God, but they cannot know Him except the Son reveal Him.*
These things are hid from the wise and prudent, but
'^ That is why He
God has revealed them unto babes.
says, * Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' *
' He that believeth on the Son hath everkisting life.' ^
I knew I had everlasting life, i. e., knew God; and
viii. i6. ''John i. 12. 'John xvii. 3. * Matt. xi.
27. "Matt. xi. 25. "Matt, xviii. 3. ^John iii. 36.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 89 the Spirit was sent into my heart, crying
' Abba,
Father.'
" Last year I happened to read the Life of Amanda
Smith. She had been a slave in America, and had been freed. When she was converted, she shouted and said she had been deHvered out of bondage twice—once out of slavery, and once from the slavery of sin. And I have a right to praise God too ; for I have been first delivered from the slavery of man's opinions, from the fear of man which holds so many of my dear people, and a second time from the bondage of sin. As I read further in this book, where she gives an account of her spiritual experience, I felt my need of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in me.
" I prayed earnestly to God to show me the way, and to remove all the hindrances that came in the way of my receiving this great blessing. I read in the papers that Mr. Gelson Gregson was to hold some special mission services in Bombay. I longed to go, but could not easily leave my school and be away from Poona.
I did not know anything about Mr. Gregson, but the desire to hear him preach became very strong. I left the matter in God's hands, and rested quietly. One morning I received an urgent letter from a girl whose mother was supposed to be in a dying condition, and who wanted very much to see me. The girl urged up-
*Rom. viii. 15.
90 PANDITA RAMABAI on me very much to start at once and come to Bombay.
I did so, recognising in this call the special providence of God which was taking me to Bombay in answer to my prayer.
" I heard Mr. Gregson preach his first sermon from the text, * I am crucified with Christ ' ^; which impressed me very much. I stayed three days, and attended the services. The subject was exactly what I wanted and needed to know. In April at the Lanouli camp meeting I heard Mr. Gregson preach again. He preached as one who had received and was filled with the Holy Spirit and knew the deep things of God. I then opened my heart to a friend, and told her of my intense desire for the gift of the Holy Spirit; and we together sought a conversation with Mr. Gregson. I asked him many questions, which he satisfactorily answered in the words of Scripture. We prayed then that I might receive the Holy Spirit; but it was not until the evening of that day that I felt conscious of
His presence in me. Since then I have received much blessing, and am ever grateful to God for showing me the way of this blessed life."
* Gal. ii. 20.
CHAPTER VIII.
ASKING GREAT THINGS OF GOD.
" Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it."—Psalm Ixxxi. lo.
THE
camp-meeting is a feature of American
Christian life, which transplants to India remarkably well. Near the summit of the Western Ghauts, eighty miles from Bombay, nestling in the bosom of the mountains, are the Lanouli woods, an ideal spot for such a gathering. The situation, amid the grandest natural scenery, irresistibly recalls the thought that, " as the mountains are round about Jerusalem [Lanouli], so the Lord is round about His people." The grove of closely planted trees, which forms a perfect shelter from the noonday sun, is situated on the breezy hill-side, sufficiently near to the village and station of Lanouli to be convenient, yet far enough away to be secluded ; and forms an equally welcome change in the hot season from the moist and enervating heat of Bombay, or the sultry, hot winds of the
Deccan.
92 PANDITA RAMABAI
To organize here a camp-meeting as an annual Easter gathering, was the inception of an earnest Methodist preacher, known as " Camp-meeting Osborn " in his own land. This servant of God, Rev. W. B. Osborn, was located for a time in charge of English work in
Bombay, some fifteen to twenty years ago. Its organization was an inspiration, and it has formed a brightly anticipated rallying point for earnest warmhearted Christians of many denominations. Rev. W.
B. Osborn returned to America soon after; but the meeting continued, conducted by various qualified brethren, none of whom have been more appreciated as a leader than the present presiding Elder of the Poona
Methodist Church, Rev. Dennis Osborne, akin in name and spirit, though not otherwise related to its founder. To attend this camp-meeting, whole families migrated from Poona and Bombay, and in fewer numbers from other parts of Western India, till the grove was peopled with fifty to sixty tents. Missionaries and people in business or Government employ, pastors, teachers, and Bible-women, Brahmin and Parsee converts to
Christianity, and those of other castes—till it seemed like a foretaste of the time when all kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, shall join in the glad heavenly chorus of praise to the Great Redeemer. Many Christian schools sent contingents of boys and girls old enough to enjoy and profit by such an occasion; and frequently,
ASKING GREAT THINGS OF GOD 93 not the least blessed and enduring work was done among the young people.
Few who have spent an Easter Sunday with this assembly would be likely to forget it. Awakened at dawn by the sweet voices of a band of young Christians, singing Easter hymns and anthems, seven o'clock found an assembly gathered in the large tent for a short and bright Sunday-school session in which young and old joined. At nine a prayer meeting; at ten breakfast, served with simplicity in another large tent. At eleven a love feast (including a communion service), when hearty, bright, and cheering testimonies were given in
English, Marathi, Gujarathi, Hindustani, and occasionally others of India's many tongues; and so on throughout the day. In the large tent something was always going on. When^ the English attenders were resting, the Indian Christians were having a turn in their own tongues. The large tent was wonderfully expansive, and after sundown became a roof only; for no walls would have held the Sunday evening congregation, augmented as it was by large contingents of hearers from the railway settlement, which forms the
European quarter of the Lanouli village.
The camp-meeting of 1896 was the last. By Easter of 1897 India was in the grip of the terrible plague and famine; and it was not felt wise or right to hold it.
Three years have passed, and the hand of God is still
94 PANDITA RAMABAI heavy in judgment: when it shall be lifted we may confidently expect that the voice of the assembled multitude will again make the woods of Lanouli vocal with songs of praise to their risen and reigning Lord.
In 1896 one of the chief speakers was a native evangelist, who was so full of zeal and holy joy that it was difficult for him to leave off preaching and expounding long enough to eat ! If he was not in the rostrum addressing a congregation, he would be surrounded by a private group of Indian Christians, and either in English or through an interpreter was continually making known the way to be a joyful Christian to an eager group of listeners.
Ramabai was present at this camp-meeting, with a fine group of Christian girls and young women. Several with note-book and pencil showed that they understood and appreciated the opportunity here afforded them. An experience befel Ramabai here, indicating in a remarkable degree how the Lord was preparing her for a greater work : this must be told, however, in her own words. She says:
" This camp-meeting proved to be an occasion of special joy to me, as I was accompanied by fifteen of my own girls who were believers in the Lord Jesus, and had confessed Him before the public as their Saviour.
Amid the troubles and trials that faced me at that time, I rejoiced much to think that the Lord had given
ASKING GREAT THINGS OF GOD 95 me fifteen immortal souls whom I could call my spiritual children. One day, early in the morning, I went out to a quiet place in the woods, where I saw the sun rising in all its glory. Then I thought of the Sun of Righteousness, and wished much that my people who were sitting in darkness should be willing to open their eyes and hearts and see Him rise in all His heavenly glory.
At that time my heart was full of joy and peace, and I offered thanks to the Heavenly Father for having given me fifteen children ; and I was by the Spirit led to pray that the Lord would be so gracious as to square the number of my spiritual children, increasing the number to two hundred and twenty-five, before the next campmeeting takes place. Every circumstance was against the very thought. For, in the first place, no more than sixty or sixty-five girls at the most could be admitted in my school. Then the number of my school-girls was but forty-nine, and some of them were to leave during the summer holidays. Things were going very much against my school, and I did not know where to get even fifty girls for my institution. My mind began to be doubtful, and I asked the Lord if it were advisable for me to venture to pray such a prayer, and if it were even possible for me to have so many girls in my school. I then prayed to God to give me a clear word about it, and He graciously gave me the following words : * Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh
96 PANDITA RAMABAI is there anything too hard for me ? ' * This proved to be a rebuke to my unbeHeving soul, as well as an assurance of the great things which God meant to do for me. I noted those words in my note-book; put down the date on which I claimed two hundred and twentyfive souls from God on the strength of this assurance and waited for Him to fulfil His promise in His own good time."
It will thus be seen that Ramabai's spiritual experience was continually deepening and widening. She had asked great things of God; and having received great answers, was hungering and thirsting for more.
Her increase of faith and enjoyment of the Holy Spirit's leadings, following on a path of obedience, enabled her to testify from a full cup to others. She longed that her own people who had professed the name of Christ, the members of the Indian Christian Churches, should* be led out into a fuller life of service for their Lord. To a few who were privileged with her confidence, and especially to one sweet missionary woman ' who had been used of God in leading her into some of these deeper experiences, Ramabai poured forth her longings.
This friend expressed her belief that God would have
Ramabai give her school over into the hands of others, and herself do the work of an evangelist, proclaiming to Indian Christians all over the land from the fulness
'Jer. xxxii. 27. ^ The late Mrs. Jennie Fuller.
ASKING GREAT THINGS OF GOD 97 of her own experience what God was willing to do for those who would trust Him fully; and pressing upon them their responsibility in carrying the Gospel to the millions of heathen all around. This friend seemed to apprehend that God had some purpose for Ramabai beyond the training of the fifty girls at the Sharada Sadan. He had ; but it was not to be in the relinquishment of her former work, but in its fuller and more complete development.
Ramabai became quite willing to follow in any path of service of this kind, if the Lord should lead. She began to prepare herself for a life of itinerant hardship.
She felt she should relinquish her salary, and trust God for her own needs. Towards the autumn of that year,
1896, she says, alluding to her camp-meeting experience:
" Six months passed away from that time, and our work went on as usual. There was no increase in the number of my pupils ; on the contrary, the number went down to forty-one, and those Christian girls whom I had told in April that God was going to square their number before the next camp-meeting, were perhaps beginning to doubt in their mind as to whether I had not been carried away by my imaginations, and not inspired by the Spirit, to have prayed such a prayer whose fulfilment seemed to be next to impossible. I knew nothing of the famine in Central India, nor that I could
98 PANDITA RAMABAI get any girls fom that part of the country. In October
I heard of the terrible famine in the Central Provinces, and received my call from God to go there and rescue some of the young widows who were starving to death.
It was not until the last week of December that I had the courage to obey the call. There were many obstacles. I was doubtful whether I could get any of the kind of girl-widows whom I could admit into my school.
The next chief difficulty was the want of place to shelter the girls, and of money to maintain them, even if they were to be had. So I did not venture at first to step out of Poona ; but my conscience began to trouble me for not having obeyed the call at once, and I was obliged to leave my comfortable nest and go."
Human reason might well have thought there was cause for this delay and hesitation on Ramabai's part. Many would have said, " I will go if God sends me the money." But God's way with Ramabai was to make the obedience the test of blessing. There had been at that time some difficulty with regard to the remittances from America which supported the school, some miscarriage of money, delay or decrease in amount, which had necessitated diminished expenditure ; and when the
Lord thus called Ramabai to go to the Central Provinces and rescue three hundred girls, she tells that she had but a few rupees in hand. She asked where she should get the money ; but felt that God would have her
ASKING GREAT THINGS OF GOD 99 go on, and the money would come. God had provided the money, but He was testing her faith. As soon as it was known that Ramabai had started in search of widows left destitute by the famine, one of His servants in Bombay undertook the expense of their transit to
Poona. Another called and left a hundred rupees at the Sharada Sadan for current expenditure; and from one source and another money flowed in as needed for the work to which Ramabai was thus committed.
l.efC.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FAMINE OF iSgy, AND THE RESCUE OF STARVING
WIDOWS.
" By terrible things in righteousness wilt Thou answer us, O
Lord of our salvation." Psalm Ixv. 5. RAMABAFS doubts as to whether any widows of the kind suitable for her school (i. e., highcaste widows) could be obtained in the famine districts, were soon set at rest when she reached the spot. She was accompanied by a sensible, motherly,
Indian Christian Bible-woman; and as Ramabai went from place to place, gathering up the girls, she sent them in parties of from ten to twenty at a time by this
Bible-woman to Poona.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the work was the reception and feeding of these poor creatures after their arrival. It was heroically faced by Ramabai's helpers in Poona, led by Soonderbai Powar, and ably seconded by the Christian girls of the Sharada Sadan, who devoted themselves to the cleansing and civilizing of these poor victims of starvation. All were miserably dirty; many diseased—most were suffering from sore heads,
THE FAMINE OF 1897 loi sore mouths, and other complaints caused by starvation many were mere skeletons, and all clamouring for food, which to have given them in sufficient quantity to appease their hunger would have caused their death. ^ The older women and girls were the most trying, and a few ran away. Added to this, two or three rebellious spirits among the former pupils became troublesome, and seyeral attempts were made to burn down the premises, without any clue being found to the perpetrators of the mischief ; thus the position of affairs may be better imagined than described. Satan found an opportunity for harassing ; but the Lord, who is over all, over-ruled wonderfully, and preserved from the threatened danger.
Among those suspected of incendiarism was a Rajput woman, who had been acting as servant to Ramabai. From this woman Ramabai had discovered, to her horror, that the practice of infanticide was still prevalent in Rajputana to an alarming extent. She recounted to
Ramabai as many as eight or ten cases in her own family, in which girl-children had been exposed or strangled to their death to avoid the expense of their maintenance and marriage. A few weeks before starting for the famine field Ramabai had mentioned this to the Convention of the Women's Christian Temperance
Union, gathered at Poona, and had spoken of the terrible hardness of heart the cruel custom of infanticide engendered in those who practised it. She was in des-
I02 PANDITA RAMABAI pair, she said, of influencing this Rajput woman, nothing good seemed to touch her. It was natural, therefore, that she should be suspected of these attempts to burn the home that had sheltered her. There was, however, no proof ; but after she and one or two others had been removed the trouble ceased.
Aftfer some sixty girls and women had been gathered,
Ramabai returned to Poona for a few days. While there she wrote a rapid sketch of the way she had been led to enter this work of saving widows, prefacing it with the story of her own early experiences of starvation in 1877 (as related in Chapter I.). She sent the story to the Bombay Guardian, a Christian weekly newspaper published in Bombay, then under the editorial care of my husband and myself. In this narrative,
Ramabai told expressly of the fearful moral danger to which young girls were exposed in relief camps and poor-houses, and of the agents of evil who were abroad seeking to lure them to destruction.
It was a pathetic story, but would make my pages too long to quote it in full. The concluding portion, however, will help to elucidate this part of my narrative, and must be given here. Ramabai said : " My sympathies are excited by the needs of young girl-widows especially at this time. To let them go to the relief camps and poor-houses, or allow them to wander in the streets and on the highways means their eternal destruction.
THE FAMINE OF 1897 103
" Ever since I have seen these girls in the famine districts—some fallen into the hands of wicked people; some ruined for life and turned out by their cruel masters owing to bad diseases, to die a miserable death in a hopeless, helpless manner; some being treated in the hospitals, only to be taken back into the pits of sin, there to await a cruel death ; some bearing the burdens of sin, utterly lost to the sense of shame and humanity—hell has become a horrible reality to me, and my heart is bleeding for those daughters of fond parents who have died leaving them orphans. Who with a mother's heart and a sister's love can rest without doing everything in her power to save at least a few of the girls who can yet be saved from the hands of the evil ones ?
" The Father, who is a very present help in trouble, has enabled me to get sixty widows, forty-seven of whom will go to school to study, and others will work. To go to work to get these widows, to fetch them here from Central India, and to feed and to clothe them, is an expensive business. Harder still is the work of civilizing them and teaching them the habits of cleanliness. Some are little better than brute beasts. The filthy habits they have acquired during this period of famine have become second nature with them. It will take a long time to civilize and teach them. We can do all things in the power of the Lord. The Lord has put it into my mind to save three hundred girls out of
104 PANDITA RAMABAI the famine districts, and I shall go to work in His name. The funds sent to me by my friends in America are barely enough to feed and educate fifty girls ; and several people are asking me how I am going to support all these girls, who may come from Central India.
Besides their food and clothing, new dormitories and dining rooms must be built. Our present school-house is not large enough to hold more than one hundred girls at the most. And how are these emergencies to be met ?
" I do not know ; but the Lord knows what I need. I can say with the psalmist * I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me ' ; and He has promised that
' Ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you ; and My people shall never be ashamed.' My girls and I are quite ready to forego all our comforts, give up luxuries, and live as plainly as we can. We shall be quite contented to have only one meal of common coarse food daily, if necessary; and so long as we have a little room or a seed of grain left in this house, we shall try and help our sisters who are starving. It seems a sin to live in this good house, and eat plenty of good food, and be warmly clothed, while thousands of our fellow-creatures are dying of hunger, and are without shelter. If all of us do our part faithfully, God is faithful to fulfil His promises, and will send us the help we need at this time."
THE FAMINE OF 1897 105
This narrative touched many hearts. It was reprinted from the Bombay Guardian, and edition after edition disposed of. Missionaries and others bought it in quantities to send home to their friends in England and
America. They declared it to be the most keen description of famine suffering which had yet been depicted, and it proved to be no small factor in rousing sympathy for India's sufferings in the hearts of Western
Christians.
After Ramabai had launched the story and had attended to necessary business in Poona, she started again to the Central Provinces for more girls, determined not to rest till her three hundred were saved. Within a fortnight, however, she was called back to Poona by telegraph. Fresh trouble had arisen. The bubonic plague, which had been raging in Bombay for several months, had spread to Poona. The authorities, at their wits' end to cope with it, were introducing stringent measures here and there. A strict system of inspection of dwellings was instituted. The magistrate sent eighteen of the famine victims who were suffering from some ailment or other to the hospital for observation, and ordered that the number of the permanent inmates of the Sharada Sadan should not be increased. This caused the stoppage of the buildings which had been commenced on the Sharada Sadan compound with a view to housing the fresh pupils.
io6 PANDITA RAMABAI
Here was a dilemma! But Ramabai found a way out. She hired a dozen tents, and sent the whole establishment out into the open country twenty miles away.
Soonderbai went in charge of the girls, and Ramabai remained herself in Poona for awhile. This could only be a temporary arrangement. What was to follow?
In this difficulty Ramabai's thoughts reverted to her farm at Khedgaon and the piece of rocky waste land there. She cabled to America for permission to utilize this as a temporary home for the famine-stricken—-for the farm lands had been duly placed in trust under the same board of trustees which held the Sharada Sadan property. Permission was received in three days, and the famine girls were transferred from the tents to grass huts erected on this waste land at the farm. A large barn was speedily in course of erection, with a view to forming some sort of shelter in the coming rainy season.
When the rains began in June, all the intelligent girls of school age who had sufficiently recovered from the effects of starvation were transferred to a house at
Poona, near enough to the Sadan for school purposes, and their education commenced. The remainder, including older women up to forty years of age, were continued at Khedgaon under the best shelter possible.
A few very small children, some almost babies, had come in from the famine districts with the older girls
THE FAMINE OF 1897 107 and women. Ramabai appealed to the Sharada Sadan pupils for volunteer mothers. The appeal was eagerly responded to, and very tenderly these poor little starved waifs were cared for by those to whom the responsibility was entrusted. One very bright Christian girl of fourteen picked out the most forlorn-looking baby of all. When rallied by her companions for choosing such a monkeyfaced child, Subhodra replied, " Not to take a pretty and attractive child, but to take a wretched and unattractive one is love." This dear girl, it was truly remarked at the time, had learnt well one of the divinest of lessons.
Subhodra herself, when a baby, had been thrown out into the road to perish by a heartless Hindu father. She was taken in and cared for by a neighbour, and at his death came with his young widow to the Sharada Sadan. She was then a bright little girl of seven or eight, brimming over with fun and mischief. She proved a clever child, made good progress with her studies, and, best of all, became a true Christian. Her relatives, however, kept track of her, and began to agitate for her to be returned to them, in order that they might get her married. One of her brothers actually came to Poona to fetch her; but time had flown faster than he had reckoned on, and when he saw his sister he found she had passed the age prior to which the Brahmins of his caste consider it a duty to give their girls io8 PANDITA RAMABAI in marriage. To Ramabai's great joy he was therefore obliged to return without the fulfilment of his object, and Subhodra is still an affectionate and useful little daughter to Ramabai.
The work of rescue went on all through those months of 1897 till the autumn harvest ended the famine.
Gungabai, Ramabai's faithful Bible-woman, visited poor-houses, relief camps, and mission stations, in the affected districts, and altogether gathered from five to six hundred starving women and children. After all the girls and women really suitable for the Sharada
Sadan had been selected, Ramabai passed on the remainder to various mission orphanages. She found herself with just the three hundred God had told her to take.
Ramabai greatly rejoiced in all these as her own Godgiven children, whom, free from the interference of bigoted parents or guardians, she could instruct in the way of life. All the available spiritual help she could obtain was pressed into the service of teaching the Word of God to these as they returned to health and strength. Ramabai believed that God was going to answer her prayer and give her that measure of spiritual blessing, which she had, as it were, seen in vision, at the Lanouli camp-meeting. The Spirit of God worked with the means used. Ten months after she started out in faith to the famine districts she was able
THE FAMINE OF 1897 109 to report that ninety of these girls had given their hearts to God, and were showing signs of a real change of heart by serving and helping other girls, by their selfforgetfulness and love one toward another. As these girls professed salvation, they were taken to the river by Ramabai, and baptized by a missionary in the name of the Triune God.