My father, my paatti (grandmother), and a great-aunt (a sister of my patti’s), among others, had stories to tell about a Christian missionary-run hospital in a place called Dohnavur.
The great-aunt was a newly married woman when she accompanied her mother-in-law for treatment at this hospital, which, according to my calculations, would have been in 1949 or 1950. Another member of the extended family too went there for medical treatment a few years prior.
In their stories, rice and other important ingredients to make simple meals went in bullock carts (oxen cart, for those unfamiliar with the word bullock) from paatti’s village, Pattamadai, to the family members who were taking care of the patients at Dohnavur. Because of the extended stay for treatment, I suppose people accompanying the patients cooked for themselves and the patients.
This is merely one of the many family stories that I have heard and accumulated over the decades of listening to the elders. From a young age I have been keen on such stories from the past, and it appears that there are no younger people in the extended family who want to know such family tales. You, dear reader, perhaps know more about my family stories than many in the extended family do!
But, through all these years, I never got a clear understanding of this Dohnavur hospital. Of course, I always knew it was somewhere close to Pattamadai, and not far from where the old family temple is. But, how close? Who established the hospital, and when?
And, what about the strange sounding name. Dohnavur? To one who is not familiar with place names of that region, Dohnavur might not trigger any questions. Understandably so. But, to one like me who knows something about that region, well, there is something odd about the place name.
Two years into doing nothing, I now have time to dig into these questions.
There is one keeper of stories that we are all familiar with: Google. It helps me understand the location:
Dohanvur is by the hills, where the plains meet the rocky and forested areas. As the map shows, it is not that far from the tip, the cape, of peninsular India, Kanyakumari, which the British referred to as Cape Comorin because they could! Our old family temple is in that vicinity, a scenic setting even when it is hotter than hell.
If one were to walk, it is 18 miles from Pattamadai to Dohnavur. A bullock-cart would have easily halved the time that walking would take. Even then, it would have been a two-hour bullock cart ride, if not more, from Pattamadai to Dohnavur. Oh my!
Google also helps me with how the name Dohnavur came about:
Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu, thirty miles from India's southern tip. The name derives from Count Dohna, who initially funded German missionaries at the site in the early 19th century, on which the Rev. Thomas Walker then established a school.
Finally, the name makes sense. Oor, or ur (ஊர்) in Tamil refers to a place. Dohna + ur = Dohnavur. Aha!
But, wait, Count Dohna? Early 19th century? Who was Count Dohna who funded German missionaries to set up camp deep in the south of Tamil Nadu?
Google has its limitations. It does not know everything, after all. Well, there are a couple of Wiki pages on the Count of Dohna, but nothing to link a Count to Dohnavur.
Despite my paatti and father referring to Germans at the hospital, well, it was not established by Germans, however. It was an Irish Christian missionary, Amy Carmichael, who did that in 1912 after already having spent a decade-plus in Dohnavur.
So, who was Amy Carmichael? The Fellowship at Dohnavur has details, which begin with:
Miss Amy Wilson Carmichael was born on 16th December 1867 in Millisle, Northern Ireland. She was the first missionary sent out by the Keswick Convention. After a few years in Japan she came to Southern India and served for 56 years. She founded the Dohnavur Fellowship and remained there till her last breath, without ever returning to Ireland.
Christianity Today notes:
In March 1901, Carmichael and the Starry Cluster arrived in Dohnavur, a place of refuge for persecuted Christians that had been established in 1827. The Dohnavur complex included small huts, houses, a church, and a group of nominal Christians.
So, the German Count’s deed goes back to 1827!
Another site adds this about Amy Carmichael:
After traveling with other women as a band of itinerant evangelists—she called them the “Starry Cluster”—she settled at Dohnavur in 1901, opening an orphanage and beginning ministry to former temple prostitutes. …
The orphanage continued to grow. In 1912 the complex added a hospital, and in 1918 it began to also minister to boys (some were children of temple prostitutes). …
She died in 1951 and was buried at Dohnavur. The Dohnavur Fellowship still exists, entirely under Indian leadership; it runs the orphanage, the hospital, a dairy farm, and several educational endeavors.
As much as I do not care for religions and proselytization, which requires a remarkable level of confidence in one’s belief that their god is the real one and is superior to other gods, I am equally impressed by individuals like Amy Carmichael who left her home in Ireland and ended up in a remote part of India where she lived for 56 years without ever visiting Ireland even once. This was back when there wouldn’t have been a telephone even towards the end of her life. Now, that is commitment!
The last time I was in that part of the old country was in early 2012. I have not been to the deep south of Tamil Nadu since. The chances are slim to none that I will travel to those old places anytime soon. If I do, I know I will want to check out the hospital and the old church and everything else there. Perhaps they will also educate me who the German Count was!