Over the years, Ramchandra led dozens of others to Christ, including future church leader Tara Chand. It is said that even the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar summoned Ramchandra to dissuade him from becoming a Christian. However, this only led to one of the Emperor’s servants coming to faith in Christ. Ramchandra eventually became the headmaster of India’s first engineering college, Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now IIT Roorkee). Later, he became a tutor to the Maharaja of Patiala. However, the church in Delhi continued to look to Ramchandra for guidance until he died in 1880.
Recently, as I was preparing to teach a seminary class, I became interested in researching the history of Christianity in Delhi. However, it shocked me how few resources I could find on this important topic.
As I dove into the few materials available, it surprised me to learn that Delhi’s first known Indian Christian received baptism only in 1852. This is around 1800 years after Christianity first came to India! Not only did the gospel take almost two millennia to reach Delhi, but it also means Christianity has had a short history in our nation’s capital.
The fact that Delhi now has an estimated 6 lakhs of Christians and thousands of churches means that the growth of Christianity in Delhi in the last 170 years has been nothing less than stunning.
Additionally, it surprised me to learn about the incredible life of Ramchandra, Delhi’s first known Indian Christian. He was a famous mathematician and a central figure in the 19th-century movement, the Delhi Renaissance.
Indian Church History Matters
Ramchandra was the de facto leader of the church in Delhi from his baptism in 1852 to his death almost 30 years later. We may justifiably call him the father of Christianity in Delhi. Yet, in my nearly 20 years of ministry here, I had never heard his name!
Learning about Ramchandra’s life has reminded me how much we lose when we neglect the study of history.
Below, I share a brief sketch of Ramchandra’s remarkable life. However, apart from the fascinating details of his story, my larger goal is to interest my fellow Indian believers in studying the history of Christianity in our country.
History provides us with a deeper understanding of where we are today. It gives us a broader perspective on what God has been doing in India and inspiration from those whose shoulders we stand on. We miss out on all these things when we neglect to study those who came before us.
The Early Life of Ramchandra
Ramchandra was born in 1821 into a family of the Kayasth caste. His father served in the government as a tehsildar (revenue collector) in the Delhi district. He was the eldest of six brothers.
Ramchandra had been studying in a private school when his father suddenly died when he was only 10 years old. As a result, his mother sold her jewellery and other possessions to support her children.
Perhaps to alleviate the financial suffering of his family, they arranged for him to marry a girl from a wealthy Kayasth family. He was only 12 years old at the time. Astrologers arranged the union according to the horoscope. Only after the wedding, did Ramchandra discover that his wife was deaf. She was a good woman and a devoted wife, and they had three daughters together.
His Education and Professional Rise
Later, Ramchandra entered the Government English School in Delhi. He remained there for six years and proved to be a promising pupil. After his schooling, he worked as a clerk.
Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.