Pal, Krishna

( 1764-1822 )

   first Baptist convert in India and Indian missionary

   Krishna Pal was born in Birra Gram in Bengal, and was raised as a Hindu. He eventually became a guru (teacher) and had taught for some 16 years before meeting Dr. John Thomas of the Serampore mission established by William CAREY. Pal had broken his arm, and Thomas set it for him. Converted to Christianity, he was baptized by Carey on December 28, 1800.

   Shortly after his BAPTISM, Pal erected a chapel and continued to work directly with the missionaries for the next few years. In 1804, they sent him to Calcutta (where they themselves were not allowed access) as a missionary. He worked there for five years and then traveled around the region, settling in English Bazaar for six years and then returning to Calcutta, where he died on August 22, 1822.

   Pal's success prepared the way for other Indian Christian leaders, first as unordained missionaries, then as ordained ministers, and finally as leaders of established denominations.

   Further reading:

   ■ The First Hindoo Convert: A Memoir of Krishna Pal: A Preacher of the Gospel to His Countrymen More Than Twenty Years (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1852). Available online. URL: http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/krishna_ pal/krishna-pal.htm

   ■ Eleanor Jackson, "From Krishna Pal to Lal Behari Dey: Indian Builders of the Church in India or Native Agency in Bengal 1800-1880." Available online. URL: http://cp.yahoo.net/search/ cache?p=%22Krishna+Pal%22+Eleanor+jackson&ei =UTF8&n=20&fl=0&url=xxYXiLD5pyAJ:www.multiHYPERLINK "http://faithnet.org/mfnopenaccess/research/online/drafts"faithnet.org/mfnopenaccess/research/online/drafts. htm. Accessed on January 11, 2004

   ■ "Short Account of the Conversion and Baptism of Kristno Paul," in The American Baptist Magazine, and Missionary Intelligencer, New Series, vol. 1, no. 2 (March 1817): 65-67.