Greetings dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
In this article, I want to let you know about the great servant of God and the father of modern missionaries, a social reformer, and a translator, Dr.William Carey, who came to India as a missionary and did many great deeds in the love of Christ.
The Bible says: “ Remember those who are leaders over you, meditate on the consequences of their conduct (or, the way they behaved to the end), and follow their faith.” – Hebrews 13: 7
William Carey was born on 17 August 1761, in Paulerspury, UK. Carey was a British Christian missionary, Calvinistic Baptist minister, translator, social reformer, and cultural anthropologist who founded the Serampore College and therefore the Serampore University, the primary degree-awarding university in India. He visited Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1793.
One of his first contributions was to start out schools for impoverished children where they were taught reading, writing, accounting, and Christianity. He opened the primary theological university in Serampore offering divinity degrees and campaigned to finish the practice of Sati.
William Carey’s Early Life
William Carey, the oldest of 5 children, was born to Edmund and Elizabeth Carey, who were weavers by trade, within the hamlet of Pury End within the village of Paulerspury, Northamptonshire. William was raised within the Church of England; when he was six, his father was appointed the parish clerk and village schoolmaster. As a toddler, he was inquisitive and keenly curious about the natural sciences, particularly botany. He possessed a natural gift for language, teaching himself Latin.
In 1790, Carey became concerned about world evangelism, as he could not bear to see his church fail. Carey argues that it is not enough to sit around praying that the gospel will be preached throughout the world. He was told to do something, to adopt a duty approach.
In 1792 he published an experimental essay entitled ‘An Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens’. In it he expressed the feeling that we too must join hands with God to fulfill his glorious plan. George Smith, author of Carey’s biography, noted that “this is the first of its kind in research essays on missionary service in English, and is still the greatest today.”
Opposition to Carey: After entering India was unusual. The British Parliament, the East India Company, the military, and Oriental scholars are all against him. It is unfortunate that there is opposition from the Society Board who sent him strangely, and from the people to whom he came to serve.
It is natural to think that missionaries spread the culture of the West and erode the local culture. However, anyone who has examined Carey’s missionary work will agree that this view is wrong. It is undeniable that no other Indian has done as much before and since, as Carey has done for the preservation of the indigenous culture and indigenous languages of India. Just being a missionary is not enough to make William Carey.
The title ‘Father of the Modern Missionaries ’ is not enough for him, as Christianity praises today. Social opposition, insane wife, often sick children, financial problems that are constantly haunting.
In the midst of all this, we will be amazed to know what he has done and how much he has achieved. How an average missionary is able to accomplish so many tasks in his or her lifetime will always be a major challenge for missionaries worldwide.
The Society originally decided to send William and John Thomas to India as missionaries. However, at the end of a meeting in London, Carey expressed his desire to translate the Bible into the vernacular. William Ward, a printer who attended the meeting, encouraged Carey to come to India together.
William Carey’s Missionary Life In India :
Carey, his eldest son Felix, Thomas, and his wife and daughter sailed from London aboard an English ship in April 1793. Dorothy Carey had refused to go away to England, being pregnant with their fourth son and having never been quite a couple of miles from home; but before they left they asked her again to return with them and she or he gave consent, with the knowledge that her sister Kitty would help her give birth.
On the way, they were delayed at the Isle of Wight, at which era the captain of the ship received word that he endangered his command if he conveyed the missionaries to Calcutta, as their unauthorized journey violated the trade monopoly of the British Malay Archipelago Company. He decided to sail without them, and that they were delayed until June when Thomas found a Danish captain willing to supply them passage. Within the meantime, Carey’s wife, who had by now born, agreed to accompany him provided her sister came also. They landed at Calcutta in November.
During the primary year in Calcutta, the missionaries sought means to support themselves and an area to determine their mission. They also began to find out the Bengali language to speak with others. a lover of Thomas owned two indigo factories and needed managers, so Carey moved together with his family north to Midnapore.
During the six years that Carey managed the indigo, he completed the primary revision of his Bengali New Testament and commenced formulating the principles upon which his missionary community would be formed, including communal living, financial self-reliance, and therefore the training of indigenous ministers.
His son Peter died of dysentery, which, alongside other causes of stress, resulted in Dorothy suffering a breakdown from which she never recovered. Meanwhile, the missionary society had begun sending more missionaries to India. The primary to arrive was John Fountain, who arrived in Midnapore and commenced teaching school.
He was followed by William Ward, a printer; Joshua Marshman, a schoolteacher; David Brunsdon, one among Marshman’s students; and William Grant, who died three weeks after his arrival. Because the Malay Archipelago Company was still hostile to missionaries, they settled within the Danish colony in Serampore and were joined there by Carey on 10 January 1800.
Carey was a botanist: Carrie brought the flower plant ‘English Daisy’ to India. Introduced the Linnaean approach to gardening to India. Carey is the editor of Florica Indica, a botanical textbook written by William Rosberg. He also published other science books such as ‘Hortas Bengalonis’. He named a plant Careya herbacea in recognition of Carrie’s work in botany. He often speaks at science awareness conferences to let people know that this creation is not a Mayo myth, that it is real, that it is the handiwork of God, and that we must take care of it.
William Carey Works in India :
Carey Missionary Work in three parts:
1. Evangelism
2. Bible translation
3. Establishment of schools.
Carey could not tolerate the misery that had kept Indians in the darkness of superstition for almost three thousand years and the religious culture in which education and knowledge were confined to the upper castes. He co-founded Serampore College with his friends to educate children of all castes, in defiance of the caste system. It is well known as the first-degree college in Asia. In the next twenty years, the Sirampur missionaries opened 103 schools (about 7000 students in those days!).
Founded the ‘Agri-Horticulture Society of India’ in 1823, 30 years before the establishment of the Royal Agricultural Society in England. He did systematic research on agriculture in India and frequently contributed articles to the journal Asiaticrecourses to bring about reforms in agriculture. Carey’s goal is to turn the country, which is about 60 percent forested, into fertile, arable land.
Carey as Forest Conservator: – Carey is the first person to write on forest conservation in India. About 50 years before the Government of India first took up forest conservation measures in Malabar, Carey wrote articles on forest conservation. In response to an article in his journal ‘Friend of India’, the government-appointed Dr. Brandis to the forests of Burma and Dr. Clegham to the forests of South India.
Carey was also the first to introduce a Steam Engine to India. He encouraged local blacksmiths to model it and make a domestic steam engine with local equipment and kits.
For the publishing industry, he was the first to produce paper domestically.
Introduced the idea of ’ Savings Bank’ to India to counter the fact that unjustly high-interest rate robbery is not in line with the sentence.
Lepers were cremated until before Carey’s arrival. Jesus loved lepers. Touched and healed. So we all want to see them as love, Carey was the first person in the country to mobilize for the healing of leprosy patients.
Carey is the father of print technology in India. He brought, taught, and developed modern printing and publishing to India. Founded the largest Serampore Mission Press in India in 1800. All printers buy their fonts at Serampore Mission Press.
Can you believe that 212000 books were printed in Serampore Mission Press from 1800-1832?
Carey published the first prose book in Bengali. The first printed book in Sanskrit was ‘Hitopadesham’ by Carey. Together with his colleague Marshall, he translated and printed the Sanskrit Ramayana into English.
The first regional newspaper to be published in 1818 was ‘Samachar Darpan’ because of Carrie. A monthly magazine called ‘Digdarshan’ was published in Bengali to know the nerve of the people’s representatives and leaders. It was a sensation in those days.
The English magazine ‘Friend of India’ published by him was the source of the social activism that erupted in India in the first half of the 19th century.
Carey was a good linguist: He has written grammar books in Maratha, Punjabi, Telugu, and Bengali. Especially the Bengali language. Made it the best literary language in the country. He also provided a Bengali-English dictionary called ‘Bangla English Abhiyan’. He also wrote Christian devotional songs in Bengali. He also worked on grammar books in Kannada, Orissa, Kashmiri, Nepali, Gujarati, and Assamese.
It is not surprising that Rabindranath Tagore himself said, “No matter how much effort has been made for the revival and development of the Bengali language, it must be because of Carey and his colleagues.” In recognition of his services to the Bengali language, he was appointed Professor of Bengali in 1801 at Fort William College. He taught Bengali as well as Marathi and Sanskrit.
Carey is a great lexicographer: He Wrote and published the first Sanskrit dictionary for scholars. He has also done dictionaries in Marathi, Bengali, and Bhutan.
William Carey was a Great Reformer. By the time Carrie landed in India, the situation in the country was dire. Here are the worst superstitions in the world. Polygamy, (female) infanticide, child marriage, incest, illiteracy of girls, etc. Ironically, Hinduism is the epitome of all this. He systematically studied, wrote, and published Hindu social texts and spiritual texts to shape these evils. From the common people to the government officials, from Bengal to England.
He fought tirelessly for years to stop ‘Sati’. Opened schools for girls. When widows converted to Christianity, he married them. William Carey is the inspiration for Raja Rammohan Roy and Keshav Chandra Sen in this regard!
Carey never neglected to translate the Word of God into the vernacular – his original work, no matter how many affairs, reforms, and problems he faced. He himself translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese and Sanskrit. Carey has worked tirelessly to translate the Bible into almost forty languages, in whole, in part, in translation, publishing, or editing. It is unfortunate that the Telugu Bible translation by Carey was burnt in the fire at Serampore Press.
Carey died on 9 June 1834 in Serampore.
Can you believe Carey, who achieved so many extraordinary successes, dropped out of school at the age of twelve? How is it possible for a cobbler to completely modernize this country? ‘Carey is greater than Bishop, Archbishop. He is an apostle ‘, says the famous minister John Newton. We can only imagine the greatness of Carey.
Expect great things from God and attempt great things for the Lord
– William Carey
Biography of William Carey PDF in English ↓ Download
Biography of William Carey PDF in Telugu ↓ Download
Glory to God
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