Sadhu Sundar Singh, who wore the robes of an Indian holy man to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of modern Christianity. Born in 1889 to a wealthy Sikh family, he was strongly influenced by his mother, a deeply religious woman. His father, a rich landowner, enrolled him in a local mission school to receive a modern education. At first, he rebelled against the Christian teaching of the school, even burning a copy of the New Testament. But one night, as he prayed for a sign from God, he received a mystical vision of Christ. The next day he declared himself a Christian. This was not the outcome his father had intended. He banished his son, who went out to devote himself to his living master, Jesus Christ.  

Though baptized in the Anglican Church, Sundar was determined to demonstrate an Indian way of following Christ. He donned the saffron robe of a sadhu, a holy man consecrated to God. Henceforth, with no fixed abode, he lived on alms while bearing witness to Christ through his life of poverty and prayer. Jesus, as he observed, had also lived like a sadhu.  

After he had wandered across India on foot, Western friends invited him on a tour of England and America, where he attracted much attention. He was disturbed by the materialism of the West and the evident absence of prayer. In April 1929 he set off on foot to Tibet. He was never seen again, and his fate remains unknown.  

“The true Christian is like sandalwood, which imparts its fragrance to the axe which cuts it, without doing any harm in return.”  —Sadhu Sundar Singh