PANDITA RAMABAI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16559, 25 May 1914, Page 11

PANDITA RAMABAI.

THE WONDERFUL WOMAN OF

■ INDIA. i MISSION work; among her own PEOPLE. At tho Grand Theatre yesterday af- > tonioon there was a large attendance, ' when a Pleasant Sunday Afternoon ’ gathering was hold under the auspices [ of tho Central Methodist .Mission. The 1 Rev <l. Cocker officiated at the service, and Sirs R. • Nalder gave an inI teresting address on the life of Paudita Kamabai, the remarkable native missionary of India. Mrs Nalder is touring the world on behalf of the Child Widow Mission, for which she has been working for a number of years. Airs Nalder said that if anyone asked ! her who she thought was the most wonderful person in the world, she would reply that Pandita Ramabai, the famous and well-known Indian missionary, was undoubtedly, in her opinion, that person. When Pandita ltamabai was born, there was a general idea among the natives of India that the women and girls of their country had no brains and no brain power.'" There were, of course, a few missionary schools which provided a means of dispelling theso ideas, but it was Ramabai’s father who dared to disregard these ancient beliefs, and put to a practical test his : own belief that their womankind were possessed of as excellent a brain power , as tho men. He took his wife ,thon a young girl, to his mountain home, and there Ramabai was one of a happy family. She was brought up in a loving home, and in n world of lovo and of confidence in her parents. Although they were heathens, there was perhaps more love and true religion in that homo than there was in tho homes' of many Christians. In India, continued the lecturer, there came those periodical famines that are brought about by the failure of the monsoons. When those famines ravaged tho country, the natives were in very had condition. Half tho population of tho three hundred millions of India often went to bed hungry, or perhaps with just enough to sustain their lives. It was one of these famines hv which Pandita Ramahai’s home was broken up. The failure of the moncoon meant to them llio failure of their crops, and soon Rnmabai’s father and mother were without enough money to buy food. Day by clay this unfortunate family grow worse and worse in their conditions, and finally they decided to leave their home and go out into the jungle. There Ramabai and her brother-buried their dear father and mother, and they were left alone in the world. Ramabai was married at the age of twentytwo years, and a year later slio was left a widow with a young baby. It was in Nova Scotia, Mrs Nalder said, that she first met Pandita Ramabai. She was so childlike, so lovable, and her belief in God was so deep that it was little wonder that in the body of this little orphan God found a prophetess to go among His people; and. it was little wonder also that she was called to-day the Aloses of India, She began to care for the women of her native land. Their had conditions at that time were entirely due to their religion. This was because the people were idolaters, and the religion of India was, perhaps, one of the worst in the world. Little girls, had to he married before they were thirteen years of age, and sometimes they were married at tho early ages of .six. and seven years. That was the principal reason of the large number of child widows in India to-day, and it was Ramabai who strove to bother their conditions. Ramabai left India and went to England. There she watched the customs of the people, and later she became a Christian. She learnt to speak English fluently and perfectly. Then she wrote her first book, the sale of which brought her in her first money. She was then asked to go to India to form a school, and the first one she established was at Poona, where she commenced with fifteen pupils. The school grew rapidly, and at the present day there were over 2000 pupils. It was twenty-six years ago when she commenced her first school, and since then Ramabai has been working for her reli-

gion and her God. It was at the request of Pandita Ramabai, Mrs Nalder continued, that she was undertaking this world’s mission on behalf of the good work that was being done. The speaker stood before them chosen by Ramabai to carry out this work which she had been doing for the last twenty years. Sl>. had toured the whole of America, and now at the invitation of the people of this country, she had come to visit their dominion. Ramabai had rescued thousands of people in India. She believed that Ramabai was chosen by God to go among her people. She dared to cut herself, adrift from the traditions, religion and ancient customs and beliefs of her race in order that

she might do good for her fellowpeople. She had her Bible and her God. and her work was remarkable. During all the years that Ramabai had been working in India, she had had to fight against the heathenish and idola-trojts practices of the natives. She had won hundreds over to her Christian religion, and her church was always well Idled. With Ramabai' all denominations were the same, for, as she explained herself, she found nothing in tho Bible about the different denominations of tho Christian religion. They were all the children of God in her estimation. In her words, she would say, “Wo all belong to the Church of Christ.”