Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Arrival at Berhampur; Hatred of the soldiers for Christianity; Extensive gospel preaching tours; Comfort of European Friends; Meeting with Mrs Helen Knott again. "I am not ashamed of the gospel." Rom 1:16. After Rev W. Brown's departure, there were no missionaries at Berhampur. The missionaries at Cuttack decided on Rev Isaac Stubbins as a missionary to Berhampur, and Purushotham as his helper. They wrote to Justice Story about their decision and asked him to send back Purushotham. Justice Story sent not only Purushotham and his family, but also Sahu and his family and the 14 Meria children along with necessary help, to Berhampur which was 80 miles away from Srikakulam. At Berhampur two languages were in use- Telugu and Oriya. At that time, it was a cantonment area. Even though the appointed missionary was yet to reach Berhampur, Purushotham started preaching there. After a couple of days on arrival, Purushotham and Balaji Sahu went to the market town between Berhampur and Bahapuram to preach Christ. Some soldiers gathered around and listened to them. But some wicked ones said "Are these two not thieves? Did they not kidnap children giving them sweets? Yes, you are indeed those thieves. Now we have caught you. We will take you to the police station. Come!" Saying this, they grabbed the two evangelists by force shouting "Look, we caught the thieves! Some shouted "bind them!" Some said "beat them!" The mob handled them roughly pulling them and pushing them, plucking their hair. They dragged them to Bahapuram police station. The police officer was rather kind to them and asked Purushotham, "Who are you, why did the soldiers bring you here? What have you done?" Purushotham and Balaji recalled the events of Lord Jesus having to stand before Pilot and Paul before Roman officials. They and told the officer that

they were preaching Christ. Then the police officer looked at the soldiers seriously and said firmly, "These men are not thieves. They are only preaching their faith. You brought these two men wilfully, though you know fully well they are innocent. Release them." When the officer said that, some wicked soldiers shouted back at him like the Jews of Jesus' time who shouted at Pilate, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" This made the peaceful officer rattled. He told them "You will not heed my words, so let us go to my higher officer." He led the two to the Subedar's house nearby. When the Subedar heard what had happened, he rebuked the soldiers severely in anger and said, "don't you know that preachers like this are with Church priests. If you don't clear the place quickly, I will take you to the Colonel for suitable action against you." At this, the crowd dispersed. Then he looked at the two tormented preachers and told them gently to go back home. To this the two replied, "Sir, it is getting dark. The wicked men may attack us again. So, kindly give us escort." The officer arranged a couple of soldiers on security duty to accompany the preachers. On the way, some wicked soldiers surrounded them, pulled off their clothes and hair, and started kicking them. Someone kicked Balaji so hard that he fell down crying "Oh, I am dead!" The escorting soldiers drove the mob away and lifted Balaji up. The soldiers walked with them until they moved out of the army lines. Balaji, infact was not badly hurt, but he cried and fell to the ground just to avoid more serious injury. Rev Isaac Stubbins' Arrival When the top officers of the Battalion heard about what persecution the soldiers subjected Purushotham and his associate, they sent out serious warnings to all the concerned with instructions not to meddle with Christian preaching. Then on, no one dared to do anything against Christian activities. Our two preachers were extremely happy with the warning sent out. On 6th March 1838, the missionary Isaac Stubbins arrived at Berhampur and stayed there for 5 years.

Baptist Church at Berhampur Established A Telugu man namely Aaron was converted to Christianity those days. Along with him, Balaji Sahu and his wife, With Purushotham and his wife, their eldest daughter Shanti Kumari Chowdhary who took baptism by that time, four foreigners, a total of 8 people, Rev Stubbins established Berhampur Baptist Church on April 1st 1838. Purushotham was initially made the first Deacon and later he took over the administrative as well as clerical responsibilities such as conducting the Lord's Supper and Baptisms. Purushotham and Stubbins went around the whole district of Ganjam preaching the good news to hundreds and thousands of people, distributing gospel tracts. Every year in the month of June, at the Chariot festival, Purushotham would travel long distances to be present at Puri Jagannath, where he would distribute tracts boldly and openly. The field of operations was geographically very large and there were no bicycles or motor vehicles. They would walk the distance with a servant helping or on a bullock cart. It is a matter of interest that during those days on August 9th 1839, John McLaurin was born in Anved, Ontario in Canada. The aphorism"Hard work would surely yield fruit," was amply proved in the growth of the Church membership. At that time Prafulla Kumari, Purushotham's adopted sister, lost her husband. Both Purushotham and his wife prayed for her salvation. Prafulla moved from Parlakimidi to Berhampur to live with her brother's family. One day in 1840, as Rev Stubbins was preaching, Purushotham to his great surprise, he noticed tears rolling down the Prafulla's cheeks. All present acknowledged that there was God's miraculous presence in that meeting.2 Later, Prafulla was established in the Lord, became a staunch believer and joined the Berhampur Church. At that time, Purushotham baptized six people. Considering the stress and strain involved in Purushotham's wide evangelistic travels on foot, Rev Stubbins, out of his natural generosity, got him a horse and took care of his maintenance as well. While

Purushotham and Radhamani were living in Berhampur, they had a son and named him David Chowdhary and three daughters- Mary Sundari, Martha Manorama, and Helen Hemangini. Rev Stubbins in his report (1839) said the following about Purushotham: "Mr Purushotham is known by all to be a man of honour as an individual and as a Christian. He is widely acknowledged as an exemplary man. Purushotham is extremely helpful to me in my travels as well as my missionary service. I thereupon gave a testimony many times about Purushotham's interests and activities, and his concern for the spreading of the gospel. Concerning the personal behaviour and conversations of Purushotham and Balaji, I can see that they are men after God's own heart. Purushotham is a skilful and a godly preacher, a wonderful man." In the same report Ms Kirsman says, "Last week, Purushotham was in Cuttack. I couldn't meet him because he had left Cuttack for Berhampur before I reached Cuttack. He appears to be a godly man. The message he gave on Sunday was very brief. I am extremely happy about the holy boldness and intense perception of Gangadhar's and about Purushotham's tender love and tenacity of purpose." Many in the East India Company had love and respect for Purushotham. So, Justice Story, Collector Mr Konvoy, Captain Milher and Mrs Helen Knott together arranged for the construction of a house with tiled roof for Purushotham in Berhampur. As he was settling there, his elder brother Jagannath Chowdhary claimed that Purushotham must pay a loan amount of 120 rupees to settle a family liability as a member of the undivided family. Justice Story and Major Brett, then at Madras together, paid off the debt. Five years later, before leaving for England, Rev Stubbins made arrangements for Purushotham to look after the Church matters in Berhampur. Later, when Rev Henry Wilkinson came to Berhampur, Purushotham joined him in preaching for a couple of years.

A Visit to Calcutta When Mrs Knott arrived in Srikakulam from Molman, she wanted to visit Purushotham's family. So, she sent a box cart for them and they visited her and stayed with her for a few days. There he learned to read and write Bengali which is considered sister language of Oriya. There he made friends with some Christians. Helen Knott was so loving towards them that she gave her name Helen to the youngest daughter of Purushotham. When Purushotham's eldest daughter reached marriageable age, they gave her in marriage to a believer from Cuttack by name Ghanasyama Babu. He was the son of Doyitari Naik. 1. Balaji Sahu died on 3rd June 1875. 2. Mission report 1840.