One of the biggest surprises for me, was to find in Jharkhand a keen interest in Ferdinand Hahn, my great great grandfather. Initially I thought it was an interest only among a few scholars of the Gossner Evangelical Luther (GEL) church and the Northwest GEL as a founding missionary of the church. However, when I went to Lohardaga (45 miles from Ranchi) I further discovered that he was remembered for his civic and advocacy leadership. He had layed a legacy of civil participation in the Church that continues on till today. Anyone studying the Jharkhand Adivasi history, language and culture would come across the name of Ferdinand Hahn. The fact is that they share a historical connection as part of their heritage with my family through our ancestor, Ferdinand Hahn. 

It was encouraging and humbling to find the recognition of Hahn's significant contribution in preserving Adivasi (tribal) language, culture, and identity. With the Jharkhand movement and the creation of the state in 2000 there is a growing awareness and interest in the unique history. While visiting several colleges and Universities in Ranchi of extensive efforts to promote tribal languages. The Central government had just passed a law permitting students to take exams in their mother tongue.

​Two of the missionaries recognized among Adivasis for their work in preserving language are my anscestors. In addition to Ferdinand Hahn's work among the Oraon (language Kurukh),  Alfred Nottrott worked among the Munda. He is a great great uncle.  His brother Ludwig Nottrott, my great great grandfather, also did some writing from Germany on the history of the Adivasi in this region.

Along with my father and cousin everywhere we went we were received with overwhelming hospitality. The fact that the descendents of these important figures in Adivasi history had come to visit was a great honor. Mutually we shared a common interest in the contributions of these anscestors. Together we share a rich heritage that these anscestors passed on to this generation.

Despite the fact that I am not researching this heritage as an academition I was greatly honored that they asked me to Give a lecture on Ferdinand Hahn at the First Public Lecture on Adivasi culture and language.

I've already wasted some time in trying to figure out how to edit the video and power poin presentation. Since I lack the technical skills I've decided to submit the raw footage of most of the lecture if anyone is that interested in hearing the talk. I am not a public speaker, and find it very ackward. So I apologize ahead of time.  In regards to the content, I  have found that even over the past two months I have learned still more about Ferdinand Hahn's work and impact.  I will be now turning my attention to writing an upadated biography on his life, that I hope to complete within this year while I continue the historical novel based on the life of his wife.

During our visit in Jharkhand we learned that our ancestor, Ferdinand Hahn, was well remembered in the region for his part in establishing the church and seminary, his civic engagement and advocacy for the people, and mostly for having written the grammar of Kurukh, the language of the Oraon tribe. The family spent 25 years in Lohardaga where Hahn lived so closely among the Oraon that he was able to compile the oral traditions and stoiries and begin tos translate the Bible into the native language.

However for the last 10 years of his life he lived and worked in a predominantly Santal region of Purulia, which is now in West Bengal,1901-1915. The Gossner Mission in Chotanagpur had started a tribal church, schools and Leprosy Asylum in the mid 19th century.

The work among the lepers in Purulia was started by a Heinrich Uffman and his wife Catherine. In around 1870 Purulia was a market crossroads. Where people would gather, lepers would gather. They were outcaste from society reduced to relying completely on alms for their livelihood. On market days they would be arrive from far and wide and line up along the side of the road, hoping for enough to sustain themselves. While they were a crowd of lepers, most of them sat in isolation even amongst each other. Showing their wounds aand deformaties in hopes of eliciting enough pity to be thrown a few small coins or crumbs. 

​I visited Purulia with my father and cousin and a guide, the Professor of Bengali at the Gossner College. We found few in Purulia or the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church (GEL) remember this beginning history of the Leprosy Mission. Even the plaque on the church next to the Leprosy Hospital had Ferdinand's name written incorrectly. Much of this is due to the fact that in WWI the leprosy mission work was handed over to the Anglican Church and the Mission to Lepers (based in Scotland).

The self-sufficiency of the community of Lepers made it possible for the community to survive on its own independent of the church.

Still we were able to see the big bungalow, still called Uffman house, but the other mission homes had been torn down.

Both the Uffman and Hahn widows, Catherine and Doris continue on in Purulia after their husband's died.  To me this indicated that they were more involved in the running of the mission than anyone has ever recognized.

I wanted to share a brief description from Doris' Diary (translated By Ilse Nottrott Peetz) of where they stayed in Purulia. As I was finding the spot in the Diary i discovered that it was April 12th, 1910 that Ferdinand left Purulia and Chotanagpur for the last time.  He was ill and went to Mussoorie to recuperate, but instead died there, far from his people,  family and home in Chotanagpur. It was 106 years ago when things, not just for the Hahn family, but for the Mission started to unravel.  What would come out of the following difficult years for the Gossner Mission would eventually lead to the authonomy of the Adivasi church. In the transition there was much "forgetting" and yet the seeds of remembrance are sprouting again.  People are interested in their history. They recognize that a legacy was passed on to them through men like Ferdinand Hahn. The stories, including this one I tell, are beginning again to be told

The houses that Doris mentions below are the "big House", the "police  bangalow" may be same as the "red bangalow" (we saw the site which is now just rubble). The only problem is that there is no evidence of elevation nor a pipal tree. Perhaps there is yet another house I did not find, or in the course of history even the landscape is altered.  None of the grounds are kept today in the same fastideous manner the old missionaries kept their homes, walkways and gardens.To imagine those days in the early 20th century takes imagination.

She wrote:
"All together, we celebrated a very happy Christmas (1908) in the large house in Purulia. Soon after New Years, Wagners moved into the red bungalow which the Wenzlaffs had vacated in order to move to Lobardaga. Sister Marie lived in the small house at the lake where Beckmann’s had lived earlier."
And,
"At the end of May(1909) Paul (son-in-law) let us know by chance that the physician in Purulia had declared that Mariechen’s lungs were affected. Even then, we did not understand it as the beginning of the consumption. Only when we returned to Purulia in July and witnessed her breakdown, her deep suffering became clear to us, and also that something radical had to be done for her health. First we managed the move. We moved into the so-called Police Bungalow which had been renovated recently and stood at the quiet, separate south corner of the Mission compound, and Wagners moved into the large house close to the church. So it was convenient for our respective work. Paul was close to school and church, and father, who had given up congregational work and wanted to concentrate on his Secretarial (for Gossner Mission) and Asylum work, had it quieter. How pleasant and homey it was for us in this dear “senior home”, which seemed to be a better place to be in its elevated position under the large, glorious pipal trees and more healthful than those of the other missionaries in Purulia. Father recovered here more and more from his cough and was rather well, even into the cold season."

Thanks to all who followed my photoessay documentation of my Heritige Trip on FaceBook.  I had every intention of posting on this blog, but unfortunately the strength of WiFi coverage was not so good and so there were extreme limits to what weebly could do.  Now that I am fully on line I hope to do a summary of the trip which was only partly about researching my family roots in India, partly connecting to my own connections, and discovering India as it is today.

In regards to the research I would have to say that a primary theme underscoring the whole experience was "Where are the women's voices?" It began on one of the first days in Ranchi when I was shown a very treasured book of the 50th anniversary of the Gossner Mission in what was then called Chotanagpur (today Jharkhand). I was glad to find this photo of the missionaries in 1871, soon after Doris and Ferdinand were married in Christ Church in Ranchi.  They are on the far right of the picture. Doris brother, who had not yet married is the 4th from the left man standing. And then 4th man to the right of him is Alfred Nottrott, who also may still have been single.  All these men are part of the story that i will be telling.  Note that all the men are named in the picutre, but not their wives. There were a few pictures of women clearly doing some of the mission work, but with little discription.

This discovery pointed to me early that I would be hard pressed in India to find more information about the story of the missionary women. I am hoping that I will have better luck in Germany.  It also is a matter that much is in old German and I am limited in my comprehension of what is written.

I would also discover that the story of the adivasi people, both men and women, also are hard to find.  Here the matter is primarily due to an oral tradition. Within families, I am told the stories of their family and clan are passed on. But with a generation being raised in the age of mass media those stories, are at risk of being loss. 

Whereever I went in Jharkhand, people were very happy that I was writing a history of their early history. They were even more inspired when I encouraged them in the art of storytelling and in the preservation of their stories. I tell the youth to record the stories of their mothers and grandmothers. For there will be a unique telling through their eyes. When I had opportunity I encouraged the recording of stories, and sharing of stories to revive a greater understanding of the hisorical legacy for future generations. I discovered many writers who are in the process, and I hope to be part of creating an anthology to bring these stories together.

Despite the pull and tug of modernization I was grateful to see how dance, drum, and song continued to be reinforced in the churches. [1/2 of Adivasi in the region are Christians].and the schools. Even while we were in Ranchi, the central government passed a law that permitted students to take exams in their native tongues  In rural areas the tribal languages are still spoken.  But many are having to learn the tongue of their ancestors in college. Still there is a push now to make sure songs and dances are known and led by the young people

The first sunday in Ranchi was Women's Sunday.  The significance of that wasn't lost on me.  As I watched the Hindu and Muslim boys play cricket in the maidan (open field) behind the church I wondered what impression they had hearing the voices of women cast over their game from the loud speakers.  Every religious group blasts over loudspeakers their call to worship, songs and sermons. On particular days when there is a cross over of important ceremonies the sound in the air can become quite a cocophany. But typically they take turns.  So on Sunday there are five services coming from the big red church in the center of town.  On Woman's sunday all the songs and sermons were given by women.  No other religious group has the voice of women on the loud speakers, except occassionally some woman's voices are amidst the singing chants of the devoted from a Hindu or Jain temple. Still even in the church, that permits women pastors and preachers, I often pointed out that the women working behind the scenes are often over looked.

The Heritage journey is coming to a close. If I am able to summarize the experience, I will try. I apologize that I was unable to post as much as I had hoped on this blog because to upload pictures takes more than the 2g that I had most of the time. It still is challemging.

If you were on FB you had a chance to see my daily photo portrayals of India. Lets see if I can get a few more pictures up of the past 2.5 months? In my photo essaying I attempted to communicate several things about India: diversity, color, vibrancy, and chaos.

One cannot actually truth fully portray this country. Just little glimpses that give a partial portrayal of a vastly diverse region. Clearly the smells and sounds don't come across. I noticed even the colors in any photo I took were never like the color I saw with my naked eye. It is clearly a place to be experienced. Portrayal must be understood just as that.

I may add that even a movie will fall short, as much as movies a central part of India. I remember years ago going with friends to see Salaam Bombay in the US, and I was asked if it was authentic. For the part of Mumbai, which was the red light district, yes, I thought so, but for the smells. If people could only smell those scenes of cramped humanity. I wondered if anyone would ask if the red light district anywhere in the US was representative of America? Many people have thought they understood India better after watching Slumdog Millionaire. To that , I would have to say, with a big sigh, hardly! Though it had some wonderful glimpses.

Essentially the only real misconception of India is that it's all the same. Its not all Hindu, or, even any One kind of Hinduism. The number of Muslims is larger than most muslim nations. One must be settled with the possibility for all conceptions being partially true. It doesn't mean that you can't hold fast to one particular view, it makes for interesting conversation.  Furthermore, any minority of 2%, for instance, is still several billion people.

With technical difficulties I can only post this much today.