Children of India

by Janet Harvey Kelman

There was a little boy in Madras called Ramaswami, who went to worship Ganesa for the first time. As he trotted down through the bazaar by his mother’s side he chatted gaily. He had garlands on his arms, and his hands were full of incense. He had listened to his mother when she told him how to lay his gifts in the god’s lap, and when to bow to the god, but he was not thinking much about the god or the gifts.

The temple was a small place, as Hindu temples often are, for crowds of people do not worship in them together. One by one, or in small groups, they bring their gifts, offer them to the idol, and turn away.

The doors of this temple were wide open, and Ganesa sat in the gloom inside, right opposite the entrance. The boy saw a black figure as large as a man on the back of a great stone rat. The eyes, the tusks and the red mouth of the elephant-head gleamed out of the darkness, and the trunk was lifted up at one side, as if it would strike anyone who came near.

Ramaswami screamed with terror, and hid behind one of the pillars from the dreadful god. His mother had grown used to the appearance of the idol, and she only laughed at her wee boy for his fear. She pulled him from his hiding-place, but before she could drag him to Ganesa he had slipped from her grasp, and had run wildly down the street. When she saw that he was gone she hurried after him, and when she caught him she was breathless and cross. She pushed him back before her and said, “You little fool. Is your father’s son going to be a coward? The god will not strike you. Don’t you see he is made of stone and cannot move?” At last Ramaswami stood close before Ganesa, but his terror was still as great as ever. He threw down the garlands and the incense, but he forgot all his mother had told him of the way in which to give them, and the movements of worship to make before the idol, and when his hands were at length empty of the offerings he wriggled once more from his mother, and fled as if the elephant-headed god was at his heels.

But all Hindu boys are not frightened of the idols. There seem always to have been those who wished something greater to worship than a stone, and who could not believe that any good would come of senseless offerings. One of these was called Chikka. His home was in a village in Mysore, and one day a friend came to it with an image of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, and asked Chikka’s father to take care of the idol for him. Not long after that Chikka’s father found that he must leave the village. He did not wish to carry Lakshmi with him, so he laid her carefully in a box, and gave her to the village priest that he might take care of her. Misfortune came to the friend who had left the idol, and he began to fear that it was because he had not been worshipping the goddess, so he hurried to the village to which Chikka and his father had gone, and said to the boy, “Come along with me, and we will fetch Lakshmi here and worship her together.” Chikka was only ten years old then, but he had thought out some things for himself, and he said, “The goddess Lakshmi has left us poor, while you are rich. When she gives us good fortune we will worship her, but not till then.” His father was angry when he heard what Chikka had said, but his anger did not have any effect on the boy, for only a year later he did a far more daring thing. He and his brothers and sisters were ill, and a fortune-teller was called in to say what the parents should do to make them well. This man said that the reason of the illness was that no one in the house had been worshipping serpents. So two old stone serpent idols were brought out and consecrated. But though the others did honour to them Chikka would not. He watched for a time when no one was beside to interfere with him, and then he broke the stone snakes into pieces and threw the fragments away. When his father found out what had been done he was extremely angry. He was frightened too, for he thought that some terrible harm would come to them all because Chikka had insulted the idols. But in a few days the children were well again, and no other hurtful thing had happened to them, so Chikka won his parents over to his side, and they ceased to believe in the serpent god.

CHAPTER IX
THE KING OF INDIA

Once upon a time a boy was born in a manger in Bethlehem. When He was still a child wise men from the East came to worship and to lay gifts before Him, because they had seen a star which guided them to His cradle, and they knew that He was born to be a King. The wise men worshipped the child and returned to their homes in the East, and the child grew up to be a man. And when He had reached the full age of a man He went about in His own land, and taught and healed the sick, and there gathered around Him a band of men who walked through the fields and villages with Him. And as they walked with Him, it came to be known among them that this man was no other than the Son of God, that He had come to live on earth to save mankind from sin, and that He was indeed the ruler of all the peoples of the world. By and by wicked men put Him to death on the Cross, and those who had walked with Him were in deep sadness. But on the third day they saw Him again, and they were glad, because they knew now that He was greater than death; and they knew, what they had only guessed before, that He was indeed God. These men thought that their own nation was cared for by God more than others, but after their Master had withdrawn Himself from their sight, He taught them that all the world is beloved of God, and that in each land He must reign. So it came to pass that as these early followers of the King wandered hither and thither, when they came to countries that they had never seen before, they said each to the other, the men of these lands too are the servants of the King, though they do not know Him; let us tell them of His nobleness, and of the glory of His kingdom. In this manner the subjects of the King grew rapidly in number, and they came to be called Christians, because of the name of Christ, or Saviour, by which they spoke often of their King. At that time there was much commerce between the nations of the East, and great caravans with the rich wealth of India came to the places in which the Christians dwelt. And when men saw all these riches, they said let us also go there, that we may heap up to ourselves gems and gold. So it came to pass that families of Jews and of Persians bade farewell to the friends and neighbours of their youth, took the long journey across the desert, and made their home on the hot shores of India. And amongst the families who went there, there were some who had owned the Child of Bethlehem as their King, and because those who truly know Him find Him so good a King that they wish all men to serve Him, these early settlers spoke of Him to those with whom they met, and they won many of the simple folk of India. But the hot airs of the Indian valleys, and the strange faiths and fears of the peoples there, closed in on the little bands of Christians. They still named Him their King, but they did not any longer obey the laws of His kingdom, so the strange worship they saw around them had power to lessen their first eagerness. Down through the years they have owned the name of Christ, but much of the spirit of His kingdom has been lost.

But elsewhere the subjects of the new King pressed forward. And ever when they remembered that He had conquered death, and was a living monarch whom they must obey, they did great deeds to bring in the kingdom that He had bidden them win for Him. Hundreds of years passed on, and the countries of Europe all owned the reign of the Son of God in name, though many of the people there thought but little of obeying His laws. The commerce of India no longer came to Europe chiefly by the hot desert routes. Great ships sailed from the ports of Europe to harbours in India; and Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, Germany, Denmark and England each held possessions on the shores of India that had been given to them by those who ruled the greater part of the country—the warlike followers of the prophet.

And so, because these nations held land in India, their people spoke often of the men and women who dwelt in it, and of their trade and wealth. And the stories of travellers were heard with wonder round the fires of northern Europe, and under the sunny skies of Spain.

Now though there were many Europeans who cared for nothing except to get as much ease and comfort for themselves as they could, and who would not give up anything for the kingdom of Christ, there were many others who thought much of that kingdom; and when they heard that a new bit of land had been given to their country on the Coromandel Coast or on the Malabar Coast, they longed to know that the people who dwelt in it had been won for Christ. And when they heard stories of the cruel and dark deeds that were done to please the idols there, they longed to have the worshippers know that the real King of the world is served by good deeds, not by bad ones. And so as these thoughts grew amongst them, Christ the King came once more to earth, and laid His Commission on men and on women, and said to them, as He had said long ago to other followers, “Go ye into all the world, and lo I am with you alway.” Thus men went from Germany and from England and from Scotland and from America, and at this day the army of Christ’s followers in India, who have gone there from other countries, is great and strong, and throughout the land the tokens of the kingdom that is to be, can be seen to-day. There are churches where Indian men and women, who have welcomed their King, meet to worship Him. There are colleges where boys and girls can learn of the greatness of His work in the world. There are hospitals and leper homes, where the followers of Him who healed the sick in Galilee labour to heal and help some of the sore sickness of India. And still more real beginnings of His kingdom are seen in the lives of the men and women and the boys and girls who have found Him and loved Him.