ADDRESS ON INDIA

Southland Times, Issue 22497, 6 December 1934, Page 7

ADDRESS ON INDIA

MISSIONARY WORK '■•t ■ j,O • ;■ ; ; f - t. .. SPIRITUAL UNREST. On Tuesday afternoon the Southland Presbyterian Association held a meeting in the First Church Hall when an interesting address, “India,” was delivered by Miss A. Henderson, who has for thirty-six years been a missionary in the Jogardi and Kharar districts of the Punjab. The president, Mrs A. L. Millar, introduced Miss Henderson who opened her remarks by speaking of the grave need for missionary work and the lack of workers in the East. She said that the whole of India was humming like a beehive with unrest, especially spiritual unrest, for the people were deeply religious, and religion governed every part of their lives, even to the clothes they wore and the way they wore them, “The lives of the people,” she continued, "are wholly given to the pursuing of merit, for they believe that only with rebirth many times can they reach that stage of perfection which enables them to become absorbed in the deity which created them.” She then explained the various methods by which the people acquire merit, ■ and said that the whole of a wife’s life was given to acquire merit for her husband for there was no salvation for her apart from her husband, and that one of the results of this belief was infant marriage. . , . , .. Miss Henderson then explained the true meaning of the word Zenana with regard to the Zenana Mission. Zenana meant the part of the house belonging to the woman and all the work of the Zenana Mission was done by women and among women whereas the Punjab Mission, worked among both men and women. She further explained the word purdah, meaning a curtain, and purdah nishi, one who sat behind a curtain or a woman who lived a secluded life and always appeared closely veiled. “Mahatma Gandhi,” she said, ‘opened the first door to set the purdah women free when he started his boycott movement and since then a great body of these women has formed and" they are doing all they can to force others to become free.” Continuing, Miss Henderson said that a new marriage Act had come into existence in India combining the marriages of Hindus, Mohammedans and Christians under one Act, whereas formerly there had been three separate Acts. The marriage age had been raised and in time child marriages would be a thing of the past. In conclusion, Miss Henderson spoke of the work done among low-caste and out-caste Hindus and stated that 12,000 Hindus were brought into the Christian church in a month. She referred to the great work done by the purdah women who were free, with regard to the establishment of high schools for girls who had been freed by the raising of the marriage age, and the way in which they had used their influence to rid the towns of temple women and other undesirable characters. Mrs J. N. Armour proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Hay, the organist and to those who were in charge of the afternoon tea, and to Miss Henderson for her enlightening address. The meeting closed with the singing of the Doxology and the Benediction pronounced by Mr W. A. McCaw, Moderator of the Southland Presbytery.