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Show AN INDIAN LEADER BAPTIZED BY REV. J. F. EDWARDS, SIRUR, INDIA WE have just had the joy of baptizing our first convert here in Sirur. It is in every way a remarkable case. The man is a great leader among his people, the Mahars, being indeed the guru, priest, and chief religious authority of several hundred disciples who have obeyed his every word. His name is Chokoba Vithoba Gaikwad, and his town is a small place called Karda, about six miles from here. I well remember thinking as I was preaching in the town some months ago, "Can any good come out of Karda?" Chokoba, however, remembers that visit, for he had been listening to Christian preachers for many years in various out of the way places. A fortnight ago I sent Brother Sudoba Pateka, an earnest evangelist whom I took into employment two months ago, and two blind boys, with their Indian instruments, to a village in quite.another direction. A Hindu feast was being held there and Chokoba had gone to tend his flock. Who should pause to hear the Christian evangelist but the Mahar guru, who was so wrought upon that he stayed behind and asked, "Where can I get more light?" Sudoba arranged a meeting with me and the guru kept the appointment to the minute, though it meant leaving his disciples on a sacred day. My wife and I realized at once that we were in the presence of a very remarkable man. The talk we had with him we shall never forget. He said he came to us as a babe and we must feed him with milk, like a mother. Then he spoke of being blind, but that now light was beginning to shine in his heart. Very pathetic it was to hear this man, on whose words hundreds MISSION STAFF OF WORKERS AT SIRUR 15 |