BEYOND THE PALE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 143, 21 June 1927, Page 10

BEYOND THE PALE

INDIAN OUTCASTS

THE MISSIONARY'S PROBLEM

HOPES EOlt THE FUTURE

There is no greater problem in India for tho missionary that that

of tlio outcast commuuity

So said tho Eev. J. L. Gray in his address this morning on "Problems of Outcast Evangelisation," boforo a gathering of persona interested in tho Presbyterian missionary campaign at present being held in St. John's Church.

Some people had an idea, said Jlr. Gray, that work among tho outcasts was all that was being done by their church in India, but this was not so. Tho outcast problem was a crisis and an opportunity which had been thrust upon their missionaries and they had to face tho question of what they were going to do for this class of people, who were not as low on the physical and mental scale ns some imagined them to be.

HOW THEY LIVE.

Outcasts were present in 300 or more villages in which Presbyterian missionaries worked, said Mr. Gray, but they lived right outsido them in a collection of mud huts, thatched with straw. They were scavengers, tho serfs of the land-owning classes. They themselves owned nothing. If thero was trouble, out they went, bag and baggage. Until recently their word was not taken in a Court of law, for they were looked upon as constitutional liars. They were compelled to bury their dead face downwards. The landowners stood over their graves and forced them to do it. Why not 1? They came from the dirt, let them go back to it! They were outside the pale of Hinduism except at election times, when oven outcasts might bo of value, and so there wore decided cffortß to keep outcasts within the fold and not allow them to become Christians.

TURNING TO CHRIST.

And these outcasts were turning to Christianity, said Mr. Gray; turning with the conviction that in the teaching of Jesus Christ there was hope,'and in one parish ho knew of there were 45,000 outcast Christians. The whole of an- outcast community would come to the missionaries and ask to bo baptised. The head men, representing perhaps forty people, would come and say, "We have thought about this matter. We have been thinking for years. We have had a meeting of our community council, and we have decided that wo should like to become Christians. We want you to bajftise us." Now what were they going to do? Instruction was given them in the rudiments of Christianity, and when they were ready tKey were baptised as a -community and their idolatrous shrines were destroyed. . :

"The requests for baptism come one after another," said the speaker. "The position is appalling. We almost dread anyone coming in at the compound gate in case it is another request for a teacher —another open door which we cannot possibly enter?"

NO SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT.

"I should not like to say that this is a spiritual movement," continued Mr. Gray. "I believe it is primarily a social movement. The outcasts want to rise, and they find in the Christian religion the message of hope and love. Let us not be troubled about this. I say, 'Thank God' for any movement which brings people saying,' 'Here are ourselves: we are willing to be followers of Christ.' But this movement must be spiritualised, or it will result in nothing. We must capture this movement for God.-"

SLAVE MENTALITY.

A difficulty to be overcome by the missionary was the slave mentality of the outcast people. They had been used for centuries to obey every whim and order of the Hindu land-owners, and were in terror of those higher in the caste list than themselves. They found it no easy thing when they became Christians, and intense persecution and organised oppression faced those people who were growing out of this stato' of slave mentality.

LAW AND CUSTOM.

The outcasts were entirely illiterate. The British Government opened the schools to outcasts, but as the teachers were always Mohammedans or Hindus, those children bravo enough to attend were often cruelly treated. The law said: "You may go," but custom said, "We'll make it so hard that you won't go." There were hopes, however, said Mr. Gray, of compulsory education being instituted, and this would solve a groat number of problems in the Punjab aud elsewhere.

Outcast evangelical work was expensive, and they did not want to retrench, but Mr. Gray said they must be prepared to put a good bit into the movement for many years. The morals of the outcasts were fairly loose, and a moral order must be built up, :Eor slackness in the matter would bring; a terrible harvest. There was also a strange reaction of outcast work upon tho missionary, who was apt to find himself looked at askance by the Brahmin or the Hindu, and he had to be careful of his contacts. The poverty, too, of the outcast was a drawback in the work done for them.

AN AIM IN VIEW.

It was hoped, concluded the speaker, to do something along an industrial line for Hie village outcast. The idea was to open :i small hostel where outcast village lads would be educated and .taught a trade, so that they might go back to their villages as Christian tradesmen, and gradually raise the economic status of the outcast, and make the possibility of a self-supporting Church less remote. They needed £2000, but much more than that they needed the prayers of everyone at home, that the missionaries -night be able to grip their great problem successfully.