The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-10-06
LETTER FROM INDIA.
Ceylon & India General Mission
Hindupur, Anantapur Dis, India
August 80, 1922.


Dear Friends in the Homeland
There are many in the old u. S. A.
to whom / would like to write per-
sonal letter, but with every day full
to OVERLOOKING, it is impossible to
write as many letters as would like,
so won't you just take this letter TO
the Opinion readers az personal to
yourself until such time as you re-
ceice one bearing your very own name.
Yesterday we returned from fif-
teen day preaching tour In the Paia-
samadram circuit of the Hindupur
talak County, SO some Of the in
cidents in connection herewith may
be of interest to you.
Our Hindupur taluk covers about
43O square miles, includes 165 vii
lagos and about $4,000 people. Every
month our preachers go on fifteen
day preaching tour and thus through
the year we reach all the villages at
times. This month our party con-
sisted of one other American mission
airy, two native Bible women and
four native preachers, this being the
first time for years that the women
have been out on tour. From Pala-
samudram as center we reached
between thirty and forty villages,
visiting some of them several times.
Palasamudram is nine miles from
the railway station, so after three
quarters hour ride ON the "poga-
hundy'' (raiD we went by bundy (ox-
carts) the rest of the way. The pro-
vision of bundles for our transporta-
ton was quite Providential. The
preachers, who had been on this cir
cult several times before, said that
bundles never met the trains, they
had to walk three miles to secure one,
so we just sent up a sky-telegram
that there might be bundy there
for us. And there was. This took us
To the next village, three miles, but
ON the way they told us it was
special day when all the bundles We're
in use and it would be impossible to
go on from there. However, in
response to another telegram" two
bundles were readily secured.
Although the usual thing is tent
life ON these tours, in few of the
centers there are what is known as
Travellers bungalows, builded especl-
ally for the use of Government Off
cials on their tours of inspection, but
rented to others when not in use. So
there we were very comfort able in an
airy three room bungalow and want
ing for nothing, unless 1t be mat
tsasSes to go on top of our wire
spring beds.
The night of our arrival we were
greeted with the piping of "maelumsY
and beating of drums, etc. which
continued until long after we were
in bed The occasion was the we'd
ding of our caretaker and this lasted
for three days Some wedding cere-
monies last as long as ten days, de
pending upon the caste of the parti-
cipants. Twice daily they parade the
streets with good number of viii
Layers following, this constituting
their town records as to the fact OF
their marriage.
The first appearance OF our white
faces in the streets caused consider
able excitement, for / suppose they
Mad never seen white woman before.
Alike, crowd of circus performers
we soon had a following and various
were the comments heard. They
could not decide whether we were
men or women, but the general i'm
pnession was that we were show
people of some kind, and probably
dancing girls and that our white
faces were masks. With few excep-
tions we acted as magnets to draw
the crowd together, but in two or
three villages the people scattered
AiSs magic as they saw US approach.
DhPir fears were soon dispelled by the
preachers who assured them that we
were women who had come to see
them and tell them "good news
Finally, as a means of Identification,
bought some "gossalus" (glass brace
aersS which are a part of every In
dian wunan's dress.
One day, the men walking and the
women riding, all went to suntaF
Nmsa1et) seven miles distant to
preach the Gospel. This being the
week before the "pundagah' (feastl
1T was an unusually large one and
there were probably 5000 people there
at least. However, it was not as
large as our regular weekly sunta in |
Hindupur where every sort of pro
duce is brought in from beads and
edldUiCo, WCoi ncASS, S0SA
ing utensils, etc. to live stock, sheep, |
goats and cattle. There are nearly
always beggars at these markets and
one in particular attracted our atten-
ton at this one. At first sight l
thought he had besmeared his face
with red paint, but upon closer
look, found that it was blood issuing
from wounds which he had inflicted
upon himself because people did not
give to him. His thought is, / pre-
sumo, that the people are thus TAX
ing his blood upon their heads and
will be cursed. At any rate it was
evident that some did not fear the
curse. Il
Returning from sunta, we walked
a couple of miles across the field to
see heather temple erected to the
god Soudamma In it is an image Oh
the god, his two ayahs Serving maids)
two sisters and some seven or eight
figures of giants and warriors. The
figure of the god (seated) is some
seven feet high and he is resplend-