Glimpses #133. Pandita Ramabai Reclaimed Rejects for Christ
Product Code: GLM133
Format: 4-page bulletin insert
Our Price: $2.00 per pack (each pack contains 25 copies). Back issues are available only in packs of 25 copies.
Product Description: Anant died and soon was followed to the grave by Ramabai's mother and sister. Ramabai and her brother wandered 4,000 miles more, hoping to find favor with the gods. In their quest for truth they suffered cold, hunger, and thirst, even burying themselves in sand to keep warm, but their search proved futile. Finally, the two gave up their quest for salvation and settled in Calcutta.
Pandita Ramabai's immense knowledge impressed Calcutta's Hindu scholars. They called her "Pandita," which means "learned." She was the first woman ever awarded this tide. Leaders asked her to lecture their wives on the duties of highborn Hindu women. Studying Hindu scriptures that had formerly been denied to her, Ramabai found that the books disagreed on almost everything—except that women are worse than demons. She could not believe this because her father had taught her otherwise.
In Calcutta Ramabai first heard about Christ. She discovered that salvation is a free gift from God, not a reward earned by pilgrimages and payments. But Ramabai thought a Christian had to adopt European customs. Since she did not like European food or clothes, she joined a cult that mixed Christian and Hindu ideas. She escaped this only after a missionary explained that Christianity allows great freedom. She could eat and dress in the Hindu tradition. Meanwhile, her brother died. Ramabai married, but her husband died, too, of cholera. She was left with a baby daughter, whom she named Manoramabai, "Heart's joy."
