West Bengal's 4,000 Year Wait

—by by Patricia Depew

West Bengal is often described as exotic, beautiful and rich in culture. As the cradle of Indian renaissance and the national freedom movement, West Bengal has long been considered by many to be the cultural center of India. A land of aesthetes and political activists, West Bengal is famous for its many eminent writers, poets, artists, spiritualists, social reformers, freedom fighters, and revolutionaries.

However, hanging over this fascinating land is one of the darkest clouds of tragedy and spiritual oppression ever formed. Three-quarters of West Bengal's 82 million people live in poverty-stricken villages. In late 2000, the people of Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, chose to reinstate the traditional name, Kolkata, a name related to Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction. Kali seems to be very active in producing tragedies in West Bengal; typhoons, earthquakes, and famines are common in this part of India. One noted missionary who worked there many years stated that he believes this land is under a spiritual curse.

This state, which has produced a rich culture, political leaders, and abject poverty, has had its own unique civilization for nearly 4,000 years. The name of Bengal, or "Bangla," is derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga, or Banga. Early Sanskrit literature refers to the Bengal kingdom. Dravidian Indians created this civilization. Around 1800 BC, the Dravidian peoples of South Asia were invaded by the Aryans. Aryans were a nomadic tribe who probably originated in southern Russia and the Baltics. Their religious practices included gods represented by nature, rituals involving fire, and devotions to "sacred" rivers. They also introduced their varna (class or caste) system to the Dravidians. The original castes appear to have been priests, warriors and the commoners. The Dravidians and Aryans started to integrate their pagan worship with astrology called "Jyotish" or the "science of light" which also taught a belief in karma and incarnations. This early period of history in Bengal and India was known as Vedic, the Sanskrit name for "knowledge." It was from this thinking that the roots of Hinduism developed. Around 1000-800 BC, aspects of their belief were written in literature known as the Vedas ("knowledge"). One was titled, "The Rig Veda." Around 600 BC, the Brahmin priests emerged and with them came more developed written doctrines named the Upanishads. Mathematics and science advanced during this era.

To complicate matters, the ancients of Bengal also were influenced by other events in India. These included the birth of Buddhism by its founder, Siddharta in 563 BC; the invasions of the Persians by Cyrus in 509 BC and the development of Jainism by Mahavira in the late 400s BC. This was the time when Brahmins wrote the Mahabharata, the most used portion of Hindu religious literature.

Between 327-326 BC, the Greek army led by Alexander the Great invaded India, and he placed his officials in control of its regions. Around 304 BC, a strong Indian king named Chandragupta Maurya took power and founded the Maurya Dynasty and made the city of Patna his capital. In 250 BC, a general council of Buddhist monks met in Patna, where they selected the canon of Buddhist scriptures. By 184 BC, this dynasty had conquered most of India. After the last ruler of the Maurya Dynasty was assassinated, a number of successive rulers followed.

One of the last great empires that ruled West Bengal from the 8th-12th century AD was the Pal Empire. The Palas extended Bengal's boundaries into North India, Afghanistan, areas of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Burma. The Buddhist sages were strong during that time, and the Palas founded a university known as Nalanda. Students came from far away Greece, China and Persia to study science and religion. This empire declined, and by the 11th century AD barbarians from central Asia invaded.

Bengal came under Islamic rule starting in the 13th century. Three hundred years later, under the Mogul Empire, it developed into a wealthy center of trade and industry. Many of the Bengali-speaking people became Muslims during this time period.

European Colonialism and Independence
European traders arrived in the late 15th century, but they didn't have much power in the Subcontinent until the British East India Company took over the region in the late 18th century. Bengal was the jumping off point from which the British Empire extended their rule over most of India. In 1798, the British colonialists established Calcutta as their capital city. Because of the struggle for Indian independence and the civil unrest that came with it, the British transferred their capital to Delhi in 1911.

The British lost their hold of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947. The new South Asian rulers tried to keep peace between Muslims and Hindus by dividing their nation into two. India was to become the nation for the Hindus and Pakistan was for Muslims. Bengal wound up being divided between the Indian state of West Bengal for the Hindus and East Pakistan for the Muslims. (The latter won their independence from Pakistan in 1971, and became the nation of Bangladesh).

Kolkata, West Bengal's capital, was inundated with tens of thousands of refugees, primarily Hindu, fleeing from the Muslim-dominated region of Bengal to their east. These refugees, a population explosion, and economic hard times led to Kolkata becoming an urban horror story. Since that time, the peoples of West Bengal have looked to the Communist Party to provide a solution to their many economic problems. Ironically, last May, the leader of West Bengal's Communist Party requested help from the IBM Corporation to promote the development of software, factories and "American-style" malls. He hopes that this will produce jobs and develop more of West Bengal's urban centers.

Time will tell if this will happen, but the spiritual state of West Bengal is still dismal. According to Operation World, Hinduism, with its substrata of castes and tribes, claims the adherence of more than three-fourths the population (76 percent). About 23 percent are Muslim. Christians are less than one percent. There are over 200 people groups in this state, few of which have a significant number of believers. God has provided many openings of light through missionaries, including William Carey, to remove this darkness. But at almost at every breakthrough, the people have chosen the deception of their multiple gods and gurus. What will it take for the peoples of West Bengal to accept the Lord of Creation?

Recent Christian Breakthroughs
It's very possible that God's time to make Himself know in West Bengal is now. The Reach Bengal Movement started by Rev. Susanta Patra in 1991 brought new growth and unity to the Church of West Bengal. Reach Bengal has produced new prayer and evangelistic efforts that have resulted in 26 percent of the pin codes having a body of believers. This is a significant jump from having a few scattered churches, mostly in the urban areas!

Such developments have produced a strong reaction from Bengali Hindus. The following statement made by a Hindu expresses their concern about the growth of the Church. "The Church is trying to eliminate Hinduism in Bengal and all of India. This evangelization may be the greatest single challenge in world evangelization by Christians. One of the most effective strategies that missionaries have employed is to create indigenous missionaries. Indigenous missionaries can relate to the local population and are not faced with visa restriction. The Church is attempting to brainwash the Hindu tribal people, like the Santals into being indigenous missionaries and to indoctrinate the local population as well. The Christian advancement in India can be noticed by the simple fact that India has more indigenous missionaries than any other country in the world. The number of indigenous missionaries has increased nearly four-fold in less than a decade to 44,000 indigenous missionaries! If this trend continues, India will become a Christian nation. However, with coordinated efforts by the citizens and government of India, we can stop these missionaries and hope that India can remain to be a bastion of true religious freedom." Hindus are now producing organized strategies to stop the growth of the Church.

These Hindu leaders are reacting to a move of God that has been held back for over 200 years. Christian work has often reaped a meager harvest. Never has the light started to shine through the darkness as it is now.

Let us pray for lasting fruit for current missionary efforts like the Reach Bengal Movement. Pray that the new believers will grow strong in their faith and that the Hindus and Muslims will see God's glory, peace and enduring love, and thus be drawn to allow Jesus to be their only lord. Pray for efforts to reach Bengali Muslims as well as Hindus. At this time, there are few efforts to reach the Islamic populations. Pray that in every respect that the attacks and efforts to stop the growth of the Church in West Bengal will fail.