An Advent Story: The Love of Ramabai

Advent in India...

The Syriac Christians of Kerala trace their ancient faith to the apostle Thomas, Jesus' own disciple, who brought the Gospel to southern India in the year 52 A.D.!  Even this Christmas, their churches will echo with the language spoken by Jesus and Thomas. 

A world away, in northern India, a high-caste Hindu girl named Ramabai was born in 1858.  Ramabai would find her path to Jesus born in Bethlehem not by way of religous legacy, but out of longing, compassionate love. This is her story.

Ramabai broke nearly every rule confining the life of a 19th century Brahmin Hindu woman.  Ramabai, called Pandita ("scholar), was taught to read sacred Sanskrit by a father who urged her to "serve God all her life."  After losing her parents to famine, she was widowed, a young mother alone at 23.  She decided, on her own, to convert to Christianity, convinced that the religion of Jesus promised spiritual life and personal liberation. 

In defiance of custom, Ramabai travelled to England and the United States, where she spoke out about the plight of Hindu widows, considered "cursed" by society, truly "the least of these" in India.  She returned to build a church and open the Home of Learning for widows, a Christian refuge where rescued girls and women were employed in gardening, carpentry, sewing, and dairy farming -- a community that continues today. In the name of Jesus, the One who loves best, Ramabai created a place of life-giving welcome for her sisters.