{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 79,
  "chapterName": "1822. Krishna Pal’s Account of His Conversion",
  "pageFrom": 102,
  "pageTo": 104,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 102,
      "ocrText": "102\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nSyrians. After his death, however, and the death of those who\nhad followed him, everybody reverted to the ancient habits.\nOn Tuesday, 23rd April, 1751, the Maphryan Basil, the Metro-\npolitan Gregory and the Chorepiscopus George came to us; and\nMar Basil ordained John the great (or the elder) bishop. May\ntheir prayer be a rampart to us! In the year 1595 a Synod was held\nin the church of Autin Firur; its heads were bishop Alesos\n(Alexis), priest Franciscus, called the expert, priest Androscon,\npriest Jacob of the church of Palluruti in Malabar, and Arch-\ndeacon George, the Governor of the holy churches in Malabar.\n79. KRISHNA PAL'S ACCOUNT OF HIS CONVERSION\n(1822 A.D.)\nKrishna Pal, the first convert through the work of the Serampore\nMission, gave an account of his conversion in a letter to a friend in\nEngland. The importance of this document, apart from the events\nit describes, lies in the fact that we have very few writings from Indian\nChristians themselves during this period. The letter, probably trans-\nlated from the Bengali original by the Serampore missionaries, was\npublished in the Baptist Missionary Society's Periodical Accounts,\n1822. Cited in R. D. Paul, Changed Lives, pp. 8-11.\nMy dear Friend in Lord Jesus,\nI have not the pleasure of knowing you in the flesh but if I remain\nsteadfast in the Lord Jesus Christ, I hope to meet you in the world\nto come. I have received the letter you sent me and bless God\nthat though personally strangers we are united in spirit.\nBefore I embraced Christianity, I worshipped my brahmin and\nguru. When he visited me, I washed his feet; and with the hope\nof obtaining the divine favour, sprinkled my head and breast with\nthe water. This relieved me from the devotions of the day, because\nthere is no occasion for worship the day the presence of the guru\ncan be enjoyed. While thus spending my time I was taken seriously\nill, when a person from Ghosepara came and told me that if I\nbecome the follower of the true guru (Chitunya), I would un-\ndoubtedly recover. To this I consented, and he gave me the initia-\ntory mantar. Some time after I had received it, I recovered my\nhealth, and assuming the character of a guru, collected many\ndisciples, to whom I imparted the same mantars. Thus I spent\nsixteen years of my life, after which God in his great mercy sent his\nGospel to India.\nOne day, on my way to the market, I met Dr. Thomas, Mr. Ward\nand Mr. Brundsdon, who had gone out to the bazaar to preach.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 103,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n103\nDr. Thomas called me and said, 'O Bengali brother, where is the\nschool of the brahmins?' I answered, At Bullubpoor.' He\ninquired whether he could visit it, and return in an hour. I said,\nNo; on which he told me he was going to proclaim glad tidings\nand asked me to attend, to which I consented. He then declared\nto me the tidings of salvation through the death of Christ; and said,\nthat those who believed in his death, would be saved from sin, as\nhe offered his life a sacrifice for sinners, because the great sins of\nmankind required so amazing a sacrifice. On that day the Lord\nwas gracious to me. I considered that neither in the Shastras,\nnor among the Ghosepara disciples was sin prohibited.\nDay after day I examined the question with anxiety among my\nfriends and relations and began to seek an acquaintance with the\nmissionaries. A circumstance soon after happened, in which\nI have to acknowledge the rich mercies of the Lord. As I was\nwalking toward my tank, my foot slipped and I dislocated my right\nshoulder-bone. While I was suffering under this affliction, a\nrelative told me there was a surgeon at the mission house and\nrequested me to call on him or entreat him to visit me. I immedi-\nately sent my daughter and the child of a friend to beg his assistance.\nThe missionaries were then sitting down to breakfast; the doctor\nseeing the two children, inquired their errand. My daughter\nanswered, 'My father has broken his arm and is in great torment;\nwill you come and see him? On which Dr. Thomas and his\nbrethren came to my house, and set the bone, telling me that a\nfather chastises the son he loves; using likewise another simile\nthat a father by making an incision on the arm of his child, saves\nit from the smallpox. In the afternoon they visited me again with\nsome printed papers, which they gave to me and the by-standers to\nread. In them I read, with delight, that he who confesses and\nforsakes his sins obtains salvation through the intercession of\nChrist. On my recovery, I continued to visit the mission family,\nwhere Mr. Ward and Mr. F. Carey used to read and expound the\nScriptures to me.\nDr. Thomas one day asked me whether I understood Mr. Wards'\ninstruction. I said I understood that the Lord Jesus Christ gave\nhis life up for the salvation of sinners; and that I believed it, and\nso did Gokool, my friend. He then said, 'Now I can call you\nmy brother; let us eat together. The table was then laid out\nfor tiffin and Gokool and I sat down to eat, for the first time,\nwith the missionaries. This circumstance was quickly noised\nabroad through the town by means of the servants; in consequence\nof which, we were illtreated by the populace on our return home\nand abused as feringees.\nSoon after, my connexions came and carried away my eldest\ndaughter. Hearing of this, Dr. Thomas took two of my daughters",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 104,
      "ocrText": "104\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nhome with him, leaving the youngest with me. My neighbours\nthen took my wife and me before the magistrate, who inquired\nwhat crime I had committed. They replied that I had eaten with\nEuropeans, and become a feringee. The magistrate said that he\ncould not interfere and sent us to the Governor, who put the same\nquestions to my accusers, and received the same answers. He told\nthem I had not become a feringee but a Christian, and that had\ndone right. He likewise forbade their injuring me; on which I\ninformed him how my relatives had taken away my daughter. He\nimmediately sent two persons for them and commanded them to\nrestore her to me. They said I had lost caste, but she had not, and\nought not therefore to be permitted to remain with me.\nconsiderable altercation she was given up to me.\nAfter\nReturning home with her we were assailed and illtreated by a\nlarge crowd. My wife on this burst into tears and said that all our\ncountrymen would from thenceforward esteem us outcastes.\nDrs. Carey and Marshman were at this time in search of us, on\nseeing whom the crowd dispersed a little; and the former\ncoming up endeavoured to console my wife, but was himself\noverpowered with tears, while he told her that the distress they now\nsuffered originated in no crime they had committed, and arose\nfrom their attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ, who should un-\ndoubtedly comfort and console them.\nOn our return home, Gokool said, 'O brother, we are no sooner\ndelivered from one difficulty than another threatens us. Our\nrelatives and friends have determined to disguise themselves as\nrobbers and murder us to-night, to prevent our destroying the\ncaste of others.' I immediately sent a message to Mr. Ward who\nwrote to the Governor, by whom a sepoy was sent to guard my\nhouse and to prevent any disturbance.\nThe next day Dr. Thomas sent for me and said that he should\neat with me at my house that day, but requested that I would incur\nno extra expense on his account. I prepared the meal at Gokool's\nhouse. Dr. Thomas arrived at two the next afternoon; on his\nentering the door, Gokool's wife and mother ran out, while Gokool,\nhis son, my four daughters and I, sat down with our European\nguest. He asked a blessing before and returned thanks after the\nmeal. On his return home, he was so overcome with joy that he\nfell into a state of derangement.\nSoon after, Gokool, my wife, her sister, Mr. F. Carey, and I\nwere received into the church, but on the Sabbath morning, as the\nmissionaries came to my house to converse with us on the subject\nof baptism, Gokool and the two women through bashfulness\ndeclined the ordinance, so that only Mr. F. Carey and I were",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}