a el 
 
 a ee ee 
 
 RAJAHMUNDRY 
 
 The Center of 
 the Telugu Mission of the 
 General Council of the Evangelical 
 Lutheran Church in 
 North America 
 
 ame Ef me 
 
 By 
 
 CALVIN F. KUDER 
 
 Missionary at Rajahmundry 
 
 Published by the Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the General Council of the Evan- 
 gelical Lutheran Church in 
 North America 
 
 Copies of this pamphlet at the rate of three 
 cents a copy may be secured through the General 
 Secretary, Rev. George Drach, Trappe, Penna. 
 
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 Fh mee ne ee Be ree a Be IR me Ge Bn ame hn SE Mh en he 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2023 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/rajahmundrycenteOOkude 
 
Rajahmundry, the Center of 
 Our Telugu Mission 
 
 BY REV. C. F. KUDER 
 
 THE CITY 
 
 In the census of 1911, Rajah- 
 mundry lacked only a few hun- 
 dred souls of having 50,000 inhabi- 
 tants, and, therefore, of being a 
 “city” under the requirements of 
 British India. It’extends upwards 
 of three and a half miles along the 
 eastern bank of the Godavari, and, 
 measured at right angles to the 
 river, a mile from west to east. It 
 is the seat of a government college, 
 a sub-treasury, a small hospital, a 
 penitentiary, a sub-collectorate, a 
 district (county) court; contains 
 numerous temples of little import- 
 ance, as far as size and architec- 
 tural grace go, and a mosque dat- 
 ing from the thirteenth or four- 
 
 3 
 
teenth century, when Islam was in 
 the ascendency throughout India; 
 and it is a terminal division of the 
 East Coast Railway, a fact which 
 has caused large numbers of Eu- 
 rasians (people of mixed blood) to 
 settle there. The inhabitants com- 
 prise nearly a score of missionar- 
 ies, about a dozen Englishmen, 
 married or single, the Eurasians, 
 and, finally, the natives, of whom 
 about one per cent. are Christians, 
 from six to eight per cent. Moham- 
 medans, and the rest—about 45,000 
 —RHindus. 
 
 THE MISSION EQUIPMENT 
 
 Coming on the fine “state road” 
 from the east, a stranger would 
 first come to our Central Girls’ 
 School, which would be sure to 
 beget the hope in him, only, how- 
 ever, to be disappointed, that he 
 was about to enter a beautiful city; 
 for the aesthetic has, as yet, not 
 been emphasized in the municipal- 
 ity. One mile due west from the 
 school is charming Riverdale, in- 
 cluding in its compound two bun- 
 
 4 
 
galows, the printery, and one of 
 the schools for Hindu girls. A 
 mile and a half north from River- 
 dale, just outside of the city limits, 
 is the Boys’ Central School, situat- 
 ed on a gentle eminence called Lu- 
 thergiri (giri is hill) and com- 
 manding a view of river and moun- 
 tains of surpassing beauty; and 
 two and a half miles south from 
 Riverdale are the hospital, medical 
 home, and the buildings pertaining 
 to them. Not far from the centre 
 of the town, on the road that in the 
 main separates the caste from the 
 outcast quarters, and facing the 
 latter (perhaps _ significantly), 
 stands St. Paul’s Church. In a lit- 
 eral sense the Mission holds the 
 centre and the cardinal points of 
 the city: BUT IN NO OTHER 
 SENSE. 
 
 _ WEAKNESS OF THE MISSION STAFF 
 
 For it is true, notwithstanding 
 the fact that Rajahmundry is the 
 centre of our Mission, that much 
 less has been done in it, along cer- 
 tain lines, than in the outlying dis- 
 
 5 
 
tricts. With a single recent excep- 
 tion, and that of only a year’s dur- 
 ation, no ordained missionary has 
 ever been assigned to Rajahmun- 
 dry as his sole field of labor. Both 
 Drs. Schmidt and Harpster, though 
 in charge of the work in the city, 
 had far more work in other parts 
 of the mission field than in Rajah- 
 mundry. It is doubtless true that 
 they spent from three to four days 
 elsewhere for every day in head- 
 quarters, and for every evangelistic 
 or pastoral effort they made at 
 home they made probably not less 
 than a hundred in the mofussil 
 (district). The work in the villages 
 grew more rapidly than in the city, 
 and the missionaries naturally fol- 
 lowed the operations of the Spirit 
 wherever they became manifest; 
 and thus it came to pass in the 
 course of not many years that they 
 had insufficient time for even the 
 district work, let alone that in Ra- 
 jahmundry. This is not only not 
 an extraordinary condition in India 
 missions, but quite a usual one, as 
 reference to mission reports will 
 6 
 
show. The apparent growth is 
 slowest in the centres. 
 
 It is the simple truth that Rajah- 
 mundry is a neglected and unculti- 
 vated field. This is not said in dis- 
 paragement of the noble workers in 
 Rajahmundry, whether past or 
 present, nor in depreciation of their 
 work: the trouble has not been and 
 is not now with the quality of the 
 work, but with the quantity, which, 
 while great when one considers the 
 few laboring, is truly infinitesimal 
 when compared with what should 
 and could be done. 
 
 WHAT HAS BEEN DONE 
 
 It is usual, though incorrect, to 
 estimate the growth of a mission 
 by the number of its adherents. Sta- 
 tistics exhibit only a very small 
 part of the truth: they show only 
 numerical gains. Of growth in 
 popular favor, in influence, and of 
 other elements of strength, less 
 tangible but even more valuable 
 than mere numbers, they say noth- 
 ing. 
 
 Measured by the former test 
 
 ~ 
 4 
 
alone, it is true that our Mission 
 has scarcely made an impression 
 on Rajahmundry; for, although 
 our Christian community numbers 
 about 800 souls, these come for the 
 greater part from other towns and 
 villages, and consist mostly — of 
 school children and teachers, and 
 dependents or beneficiaries of the 
 Mission or the missionaries. That 
 the Mission has ever won even as 
 many as one hundred native Ra- 
 jJahmundrians is doubtful! But es- 
 timated by the less tangible re- 
 sults, the progress has been not 
 inconsiderable. The mere _ pres- 
 ence of the Mission has had a leav- 
 ening effect; its central schools and 
 the regular preaching of the Word 
 have injected something new into 
 the life of the people; Western 
 customs have stimulated thought, 
 and Christian doctrine has com- 
 pelled a comparison with Hindu- 
 ism; the medical work has been an 
 interpretation of the helpful, mer- 
 ciful spirit of Christianity (in 
 sharp contrast to Hindu indiffer- 
 ence to suffering), which the dull- 
 
 8 
 
est can understand; the schools for 
 Hindu girls have fostered female 
 education, enabled the gospel to 
 filter into many homes otherwise 
 inaccessible, anl filled up the heart 
 and mind of many a girl with liv- 
 ing seed; the zenana work has 
 borne much blessed fruit; mere 
 contact with Christians has worn 
 off the keen edge of a deep-seated 
 prejudice (a Brahmin school-boy 
 will not hesitate nowadays to take 
 a drinking-cup from the hand of a 
 Christian mate and drink out of 
 it; and not a few caste people, in- 
 cluding women, eat and drink in 
 the homes of missionaries); in 
 short, while only a few converts 
 have been won, the way for win- 
 ning many is being prepared. The 
 gap, that, intervening between the 
 two religions and their adherents, 
 would to any one but a missionary 
 full of faith have appeared impos- 
 sible of being bridged, is closing, 
 and, in some instances, has closed, 
 without, however, involving a 
 change of religious belief. 
 
 9 
 
THE METHOD 
 
 “Love at first sight” is the ex- 
 ception not only in marriage, but 
 also in every other relation in life: 
 especially so in the deepest thing 
 of life—religion. And we would 
 not have it otherwise. Impressions 
 easily made are twice easily ef- 
 faced (Query: Is the recent move- 
 ment in Korea a healthful one?). 
 In India the process will not be as- 
 similation first, and then perme- 
 ation, but permeation of the body 
 of Hinduism by Christian thought 
 and belief, followed by gradual 
 approach, not by lowering Chris- 
 tianity, but by raising Hindu stand- 
 ards; and then will come assimila- 
 tion of the people by the Church 
 of Jesus Christ. It will be—has 
 been—a slow process. A palm 
 tree may be planted in rich soil 
 and favored with every condition 
 necessary to its growth, but it will 
 not grow faster than it is its nature 
 to grow: moral and_ spiritual 
 growth is still slower, especially 
 among a people so conservative as 
 
 10 
 
the Hindus, and with so great a 
 past in the realm of thought as 
 theirs. 
 
 Coming back now to Rajahmun- 
 dry, the work of the Mission hith- 
 erto has been largely that of per- 
 meation and approach. More 
 should have been done to stimulate 
 these two factors, but it could not 
 be done: we hadn’t the men and 
 women to do it. Nevertheless the 
 missionaries are agreed that the 
 time of assimilation is at hand: 
 that there are at least first-fruits 
 awaiting to be gathered; also that 
 the instrumentalities for permea- 
 tion should be increased in every 
 way. 
 
 THE NEEDS 
 
 I. An Ordained Missionary 
 
 A survey of our present forces 
 will demonstrate the truth of this. 
 At present there is one ordained 
 missionary whose work is exclus- 
 ively in Rajahmundry; but his 
 work is altogether school-work, 
 and he does not even live in the 
 city. Moreover, he has been in 
 
 tt 
 
India less than three years, and, 
 though most efficient, has to con- 
 tend with the problems incident to 
 an apprenticeship. Another young 
 missionary, of equal length of ser- 
 vice, resides in Rajahmundry, but 
 his work lies across the river. The 
 50,000 people of Rajahmundry are 
 without an ordained missionary to 
 win them! 
 
 H. Schools for Hindu Girls 
 
 There are certainly 5,000 non- 
 Christian girls of school-going age 
 in the city. For these we have eight 
 schools, attended by about 400 
 girls. These schools are either a 
 help to our work or they are not. 
 If they are not, they should be 
 abolished—should never have been 
 begun. If they are a help (and 
 who will doubt it?), more should 
 be established. They furnish the 
 only agency within our power so 
 far for reaching the caste girls. 
 They are intended to be aids to 
 future results: future, because it 
 can hardly be expected that a child 
 under twelve years of age will have 
 
 12 
 
sufficient independence of judg- 
 ment-or .character: to reject the 
 religion of its parents and adopt 
 a faith which they oppose. The 
 functions these schools occupy in 
 the economy of the Mission is that 
 of seed-sowing for a future reaping. 
 The reaping has not infrequently 
 come within half a score of years 
 after girls have left the schools, 
 when the zenana workers followed 
 up the impressions made in child- 
 hood. In other cases the impres- 
 sions were perhaps weaker, or later 
 life kinder, and there are apparent- 
 ly no results; but only apparently: 
 for the mother who, as a girl, at- 
 tended one of our schools, will be 
 a step nearer Christianity than her 
 mother was, and will the more 
 readily send her daughter to school, 
 who will come a step nearer than 
 her mother. In this work permea- 
 tion and approach must be. the 
 watchwords. In general, it will 
 take several generations to break 
 down the middle wall of partition. 
 Certainly, the work is slow; but it 
 is invaluable, and it is the only way 
 
 15 
 
experience has so far shown to be 
 open to us or in any way fruitful. 
 
 Now what has the General Coun- 
 cil so far done in this direction? It 
 has furnished one woman mission- 
 ary for this work: only ONE. She 
 is now on furlough, and another 
 one has been pressed into her place, 
 at the cost of depriving her of her 
 rightful time to acquire Telugu. 
 One woman! Four hundred girs! 
 Why not five woman and two thou- 
 sand girls? (Peddapur, Samalkot, 
 Dowlaishwaram, Bhimawaram, 
 and Tanuku, to say nothing of 
 smaller places, have twenty thou- 
 sand girls that ought to be reached 
 and schooled. The Mission has 
 scarcely crooked a finger to do it!) 
 
 III, Bible Teachers for the Zenanas 
 
 There are certainly 15,000 non- 
 Christian women in the homes of 
 Rajahmundry. The General Coun- 
 cil has one woman missionary, as- 
 sisted by six Christian widows of 
 slender ability, at work among 
 these and the women of two near- 
 by towns. It is doubtless true that 
 
 14 
 
there are many _ consecrated 
 women in the Church at home 
 whom various good reasons (fam- 
 ily ties, inadequate health, etc.), 
 prevent from going to our Mission. 
 Nevertheless, the conclusion is ir- 
 resistible that there must be a la- 
 mentable shallowness of devotion; 
 for otherwise the call for more 
 workers would not continue and 
 continue to fall on deaf ears. Be- 
 tween 1,200 and 1,500 Hindu 
 women are reached with an hour’s 
 Bible lesson once a week. The 
 work has been blessed. But why 
 not ten women, so that 12,000 or 
 15,000 Hindu and Mohammedan 
 women could be offered the cup of 
 salvation? And why not ten oth- 
 ers, so that at least a beginning 
 might be made in Peddapur, Sam- 
 alkot, Bhimawaram, etc., the com- 
 bined population of which is not 
 far from 100,000, but where no Lu- 
 theran woman missionary’s tongue 
 or lips have yet spoken one word of 
 Jesus? Ten women going out this 
 fall and ten next would be only a 
 decent number for this work alone. 
 15 
 
IV. Doctors 
 
 A mission territory with nearly 
 3,000,000 souls: one hospital, with 
 one doctor, with the soul almost 
 worked out of her, compelled to 
 close the hospital while she gets 
 needed rest, and to refuse patients 
 because she can do no more than 
 she is doing. Why not several 
 more doctors, so the work can be 
 extended to other parts of the field, 
 more suffering relieved, more 
 doors opened for the Bible teacher, 
 more people brought under the in- 
 fluence of the gospel? | 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Rajahmundry has three churches 
 —Lutheran, Anglican and Roman. 
 The two last confine their activity 
 to caring for the members they 
 have: they make no effort to reach 
 the native people: are not mission 
 churches. Thus the responsibility 
 of evangelizing the city falls on the 
 Lutheran Church, which demanded 
 it, but has never met it. Its faith- 
 ful Indian pastor, because of caste, 
 is practically helpless as far as the 
 
 16 
 
people of higher caste rank than 
 his own are concerned. Great as is 
 the need for more women mission- 
 aries, it is not greater than that for 
 an ordained missionary, of good 
 ability and pleasing personality, to 
 work exclusively in Rajahmundry. 
 That we have none is generally— 
 and justly so—regarded as an ab- 
 normality, and has often been criti- 
 cized. Such a man would need 
 some adjuncts: a building compris- 
 ing a book-store and reading-room, 
 assembly room, games, etc., where 
 youths and men could freely gather 
 and thus afford an opportunity for 
 being influenced and won to the 
 * Saviour of all men. 
 
 To sum up: the Mission does next 
 to nothing—-nor does anybody else 
 —for the Protestant Eurasians in 
 Rajahmundry: theynumberseveral 
 hundred;' nothing at all for the 
 4,000 Mohammedans; far too lit- 
 tle for the 45,000 Hindus. Most of 
 our work in Rajahmundry is in- 
 stitutional, and designed to ad- 
 vance the work in the mofussil. 
 We have no Bible school to train 
 
 ig 
 
Indian Christian widows for work 
 in the zenanas; no refuge for help- 
 less caste women converts; only 
 one missionary for the Hindu 
 Girls’ Schools; only one for the 
 zenana; no man to work among 
 men and students. 
 
 The world offers few fields equal 
 to Rajahmundry in opportunity, 
 and, at the same time, in the weak- 
 ness of the staff of workers neces- 
 sary to seize the opportunity. 
 Dan. xii:3. 
 
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