Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Chapter 15
The following is taken from the "Biography of Purushotham
Chowdhary" by John Chowdhary published in 1902.
In Memorium
Purushotham's Centenary
By Mallela Solomon George
Jubilee chimes! There lies the laurell' d head,
A youth to fortune and to fame well-known
The singer of undying songs is dead;
I wish his soul doth dechth' eternal throne,
Lo times may change, the skies look strange the birds,
Depart the winds they drift, the grove decays
Empires dissolve, may die at all lowing herds-
The poet lies; his strains ne'er pass away
The pen is oft the cause of the nation's fame
Here is our bard of race divine
Purushotham in nature as in name, "Thou art
A David for the new psalms to impart
His hymns and songs for two and fifty years
Did he sing sweet in literary grace?
In Kerk, in public street and wanted spheres;
Thus, he usurped great Thyagaraja's place
From natures shrine he took the muses live,
His music sweet all castes and creeds did greet
Alike the linnet sang the verse alive;

Since bid his talents at His blessed feet
Rapt tho'  he from us Milton greets
Him, Shakespeare bids him welcome home, Lord
Tennyson salutes him, praises Keats;
And God-like spirits hail the guest restored
People say that Purushotham was ruddy in color, sturdy in body and
of medium height. He did not recognize me. He usually wore white clothes.
He was a loving, gracious, and long suffering person.
He never procrastinated. He never liked the term 'tomorrow.' In his
old age after answering a letter, he used to ask his daughter to write "Replied"
on the envelop. The Hindu scriptures he wrote 100 years ago are well
preserved. In  1869, a list of all his correspondence during his Chittivalasa
sojourn was found. Also found are the tracts he came across in 1825 and
1833.
Every three months, after receiving his salary, Purushotham used to
divide the amount under various heads and took care not to get into debts.
He was in the habit of reading Bengali, Oriya, and Telugu Bibles.
When he lost his eye sight due to old age, Martha Burder, his widowed
daughter or Mr. James Chinnaiah used to read the Bible aloud to him.
In his solitude or in a remote place, he used to sing one song that is so
dear to him, a song he wrote himself, "Show me once my master Jesus, I
will lay prostrate at your feet." While singing the old man of  God used to
bring his palms together in obeisance, nodding his head, as if  he has his
Lord before him and enjoyed the real presence of God. Our relatives in
Cuttack told me this. He always maintained clean habits.
Purushotham Chowdhary desired that his writings be published without
any changes. We communicated this to the Baptist Missionary Review
magazine in 1903 October. Since I am in Andhra, my family in Cuttack
entrusted his books to me and asked me to take care. After his death,
some people published his hymns with changes, without the consent of

the family. Seeing this, Rao Sahib Dr Rev T. Narayana Swami wrote in the
'Christian Patriot,' published on 2nd January 1896:
"He changed the best words, phrases and clauses of some of our
greatest hymns composed by a very eminent poet like Purushotham
Chowdhary. I humbly ask him to let me know on what authority he did
this. I don't think he would attempt to mutilate Shakespeare or Milton as
he has done with our poets."
Books written by Purushotham after becoming Christian.
Works of Poetry
Yesunayaka Satakam (1845), Yesu Kreestu Prabhu Satakam (1845),
Pancha Chamara Pannamulu (1845), History of Salvation (1846), Nistara
Rathnakaramu (1846), Vigraha Nirmanamu (1846), Radiance of  Christian
Righteousness (1851), Essence of the Bible- Deity of Christ (1871),
Dividing the Truth (1874).
Tracts
Test of Caste Traditions (1833), Path to heaven Revealed (1846),
Dispelling the superstition about smallpox (1852), Mind is the Root (1863),
Destroying the Darkness, The Divine Wisdom, Test of Jagannath, etc.
All the children of  Purushotham died, His grandchildren and great
grandchildren are scattered all over Bengal, Orissa and Andhra. We
eternally thank and praise God for bestowing this divine salvation to us
through this patriarch of ours.