Indore

Indore
City in India
Bahá’í Conference in Indore, 1962.
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Indore is the largest city in Madhya Pradesh state, in central India.

The Bahá’í Faith was first proclaimed in the city in 1888 and a community was firmly established in the 1950s. The first Bahá’í Teaching Institute in India was established in the city in 1961 and was holding deepening classes for over four hundred Bahá’ís by 1962. The Institute modified its focus in 1983 to providing education to women from rural villages to promote economic independence, literacy, and health awareness, developing into the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women. In 1990 a Chair for Bahá’í Studies was established at the University of Indore.

History[edit]

In 1888 Jamál Effendi visited Indore during a teaching tour of India.[1]

Martha Root visited Indore in 1938, accompanied by Shirin Boman and her husband, and she delivered a public lecture on the Bahá’í Faith in the city. In 1945 Boman's brother Merwan Irani pioneered to Indore with his family, becoming the first pioneers in the city, and in 1947 two residents of Indore declared through their teaching efforts and they established a Bahá’í Group. A Local Spiritual Assembly was formed around this time but lapsed after a short time.[2]

In 1953 Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker visited Indore and observed that the Bahá’í community was in need of restoration and she delivered many public talks in the city aiming to reinvigorate the community. The local Bahá’ís continued teaching work after her departure through teaching their personal contacts and a Local Spiritual Assembly was firmly established in 1958.[2][3]

In 1961 a mass teaching campaign was launched in India resulting in thousands of declarations in a short period of time and the National Spiritual Assembly of India, in consultation with Hand of the Cause Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir, decided a Bahá’í Teaching Institute needed to be established to deepen new Bahá’ís and train Bahá’ís to deepen in rural areas where mass conversion was taking place. A large plot of land with a building was secured in Indore in 1961 to serve this purpose and it was dedicated in November that year at a ceremony attended by Collis Featherstone. In December, 1961, a major mass teaching Conference was held at the newly established Institute attended by Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir and Jalál Kháḍih,[4] and in 1962 over four hundred and fifty Bahá’ís studied deepening courses at the Institute.[5] In March, 1964, Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited the Indore Teaching Institute during her tour of India.[6]

In 1975 a week long exhibition on the Bahá’í Faith was displayed in Indore resulting in several thousand people becoming aware of the Faith.[7] In 1981 Dwight Allen visited Indore during a travel teaching trip across India.[8]

In the early 1980's a group of Bahá’í women in Indore approached the National Spiritual Assembly with a proposal to establish a training programme to assist rural women using the Indore Bahá’í Institute building. The Assembly granted permission resulting in the establishment of the Faizí Rural Women’s Vocational Bahá’í Institute, later known as the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women,[9] in 1983.[10] The Institute immediately began holding vocational training classes for rural women providing education on basic hygiene, healthcare, and cottage industries hoping to grant economic independence, in addition to Bahá’í concepts and teachings,[11] and by 1985 it was receiving grants from the government of India.[12] As of 1989 the Institute was providing education on literacy and money management.[13]

In 1990 the National Spiritual Assembly of India reached an agreement with the University of Indore for the establishment of the Chair for Bahá’í Studies at the University, later renamed Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya.[14] The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message to the National Assembly recognising the accomplishment:

CONGRATULATIONS ESTABLISHMENT CHAIR FOR BAHAT STUDIES AT UNIVERSITY INDORE. THUS A NEW STEP IS TAKEN AIMED AT ENHANCING PRESTIGE FAITH AND RAISING CALL GOD IN ACADEMIC CIRCLES. EXTEND OUR APPRECIATION TO THOSE WHO LABOURED IN INDORE AND ELSEWHERE FOR SUCCESS THIS OUTSTANDING PROJECT.[15]

In 1991 the University of Indore established a cooperative relationship with the Bahá’í inspired Landegg Academy in Switzerland,[16] and in 1992 the Indore Rural Women's Institute was awarded the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 award.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Moojan Momen, Jamál Effendi and the Early History of the Bahá'í Faith in South Asia, Bahá'í Studies Review, 9. Accessed 11/05/2026
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 William Garlington Bahá'í Proselytization in Malwa, India, From Iran East and West: Studies in Babi and Bahá'í History Volume 2, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1984/2001
  3. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 278, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ Baha'i News (1962). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 372, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1962). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 380, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1964). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 404, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1975). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 529, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News (1981). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 601, Pg(s) 15. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2002). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 29 (2000-2001), Pg(s) 220. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (December 1985). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 657, Pg(s) 8. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1983). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 633, Pg(s) 15. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1986). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 661, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Baha'i News (1989). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 695, Pg(s) 14. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 454. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 454. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 455. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1993). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 21 (1992-1993), Pg(s) 124. View as PDF.
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