South Maharashtra Section

South Maharashtra Section is a part of the Western India Union Section in the Southern Asia Division of Seventh-day Adventists. It was organized in 2004 and reorganized in 2011. Its headquarters is in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India.

Territory: The districts of Kolhapur, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, and Sindhudurg in the Indian state of Maharashtra

Statistics (June 30, 2022): Churches, 37; membership, 10,024; population, 17,243,999.

Early History

The early interest in the Adventist message in Kolhapur was aroused around 1929 through literature that had been sold by a lay member not yet baptized. He received a series of thirty Bible studies in Mahableshwar from S. O. Martin, who had joined the Adventist Church in 1919, and spread the Adventist literature in Marathi. Several people requested Bible studies, and one woman was already keeping the Sabbath. The Church sent Martin and his wife to Kolhapur City to work with the people interested in the Adventist message.¹ In November 1929 twenty people were baptized.² Later in the same year a church of twenty-seven members was organized in Kolhapur City. M. P. Jadhav provided valuable assistance to Martin.³

In 1930 a group of non-Christians was baptized at Patan Kodoli, about twelve miles from Kolhapur City. A school was also opened at this place. The Adventist message was soon taken to Pargaon Kodoli, with Brother Govind Borge in charge of the work. In time the group of new believers in Pargaon Kodoli was organized into a church. In 1930 Adventist evangelistic work was also started at Hingangaon, about five miles from Hatkangale, and several members were baptized. ⁴

In 1931 the Maharaja Rajashree Chatrapati Shahu of Kolhapur gifted seventeen acres of land for the church in Alte, Hatkangale, on which Martin built a bungalow.⁵ The site housed the mission headquarters, including the present South Maharashtra Section’s headquarters, and a boarding school.⁶

Organizational History

In January 1945 the South Marathi Mission was organized, which included the following districts and states: Belgaum, Bijapur, Goa, Gulbarga, Jath, Kolhapur, Mudbol, Ratnagiri, and Satara.⁷ In a reorganization of 1952 Poona was added to the mission. In 1954 the South Marathi Mission was absorbed into the territory that was organized as a union called the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Bombay State, in order to conform with the Bombay State that had been created. The South Marathi Mission was administered by the union. When the union’s name was changed to Western India Union in 1954, and South Maharashtra remained in that union.

In 1966 the South Maharashtra Section was again reorganized with the territories of Kolaba, Kolhapur, Osmanabad, Poona, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, and Goa because the membership had crossed one thousand, and facilities for the new headquarters were available in Hatkanagle.⁸

In 1971 the Western India Union was combined with the state of Andhra Pradesh to form the Central India Union,⁹ and in 1972 the Maharashtra Section was organized by combining the North and the South Maharashtra sections.

In 2002 the union leaders felt that the work within its territories required closer administration and that the work might grow faster if it was divided into smaller units. Thus, the union was divided into smaller regions, giving birth to three new regions. South Maharashtra Region was one of them.¹⁰

On April 23, 2004 the South Maharashtra Region was inaugurated with its headquarters at Hatkanagale. At that time it had 15 churches with 8,700 members. Dr. Bhupal Chandanshive was appointed as its first director. It comprised of five districts: Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg.¹¹

South Maharashtra Region was reorganized as a section with approval from the Southern Asia Division as the membership had grown to 12,714 in ten churches and twenty-five companies (groups of Adventist members not yet organized as a church) led by eleven workers and nineteen volunteers. The territory had three schools and one boarding school.¹² The organizing session was held June 10-11, 2010 at Hatkanagle.¹³

Executive Officers

Directors/Presidents

South Marathi Mission: Winston McHenry (1945-1950); S. L. Khandagle (1950-1952); M. D. Moses (1953-1954).

South Maharashtra Section: Ellsworth A. Hetke (1966-1970); S. B. Gaikwad (1970-1971).

South Maharashtra Region: Bhupal R. Chandanshive (2004-2008); Joseph T. Khajekar (2008-2010).

South Maharashtra Section: Bhupal R. Chandanshive (2010); Kamlakar Nade (2011-2016); Anupam Nowrangi (2016-2019); Daniel Borde (2019-Present).

Treasurers/Secretary-Treasurers

South Marathi Mission: Winston McHenry (1945-1949); A. M. Tudu (1949-1950); R. L. Juriansz (1949-1954).

South Maharashtra Section: D. L. Gaikwad (1966-1971).

South Maharashtra Region: Satish Stephen (2004-2005); Vijay Kumar Gaikwad (2005-2007); Bobby Wagh (2007-2010).

South Maharashtra Section: Satish Bhosle (2010-2016); Kapiljal Sagar (2016-2019); Ramesh Anumolu (2019-Present).

Secretaries

Shrikant Shinde (2016-2017)

Sources

Chandanshive, B. R. “South Maharashtra Section Formed.” Southern Asia Tidings, September/October 2010.

Guild, Cecil B. “India Unions are realigned.” Southern Asia Tidings, January 1971.

James, J. S. “A Few Field Gleanings.” Eastern Tidings,” September 1, 1931.

James, J. S. “Words of Battle Cheer.” Eastern Tidings, May 15, 1932.

Kedas, Ronald. (ed). Advent Movement in Western India 1905-2005. Pune: Earnest & Frank, 2005.

Martin, S. O. “Interest in Kolhapur.” Eastern Tidings, October 15, 1929.

Martin, S. O. “Kolhapur.” Eastern Tidings, November 1929.

McHenry, Winston “History and Work of The South Marathi Mission.” Eastern Tidings, August 1, 1947.

Michael, T. J. “Progress in Kolhapur District, India.” ARH, October 9, 1930.

Minutes of the Southern Asia Division Executive Committee, November 17, 2009.

Minutes of the Southern Asia Division Executive Committee, November 2003.

Minutes of the Western India Union Biennial Constituency Session, December 7, 1966.

Minutes of the Western India Union Constituency Meeting, January 5, 1945.

Notes

1. S. O. Martin, “Interest in Kolhapur,” Eastern Tidings, October 15, 1929, 12.↩

2. S. O. Martin, “Kolhapur,” Eastern Tidings, November 1929, 7.↩

3. Winston McHenry, “History and Work of The South Marathi Mission,” Eastern Tidings, August 1, 1947, 4.↩

4. T. J. Michael, “Progress in Kolhapur District, India,” ARH, October 9, 1930, 22. See also Winston McHenry, 4.↩

5. J. S. James, “A Few Field Gleanings,” Eastern Tidings, September 1, 1931, 3; J. S. James, “Words of Battle Cheer,” Eastern Tidings, May 15, 1932, 3.↩

6. For more information, see, for example, Winston McHenry, “History and Work of the South Marathi Mission,” Eastern Tidings, August 1, 1947, 4.↩

7. “Reorganisation of Western India Union Territory,” Minutes of the Western India Union Constituency Meeting #2364a, January 5, 1945.↩

8. “South Maharashtra Section,” Minutes of the Western India Union Biennial Constituency Session # 66-269, December 7, 1966.↩

9. Cecil B. Guild, “India Unions are realigned,” Southern Asia Tidings, January 1971, 1.↩

10. “Formation of New Region – South Maharashtra,” Minutes of the Southern Asia Division Executive Committee #2003-123, November 2003.↩

11. Ronald Kedas (ed.), Advent Movement in Western India 1905-2005 (Pune: Earnest & Frank: 2005), 64.↩

12. “Formation of South Maharashtra Section,” Minutes of the Southern Asia Division Executive Committee 2009-134, Nov 17, 2009, 117.↩

13. B. R. Chandanshive, “South Maharashtra Section Formed,” Southern Asia Tidings, September/October 2010, 7.↩