Being principally
descendants of Brahmans, they hold a fair social position; but some
of them are extremely poor. About one-fourth are carpenters, one-
tenth blacksmiths, one-tenth servants, the remainder carters. The
Chuhari Mission was founded in 1770 by three Catholic priests, who
had been expelled from Nepal [after the Gorkha conquest in 1768].
There are now 283 converts, mostly descendants of Nepalis. They are
all agriculturists, and very poor (Article 'Champaran District' in
_Statistical Account of Bengal_, 1877).
The statement in _I.G._ 1908, s.v. Bettiah, differs slightly, as
follows:
'A Roman Catholic Mission was established about 1740 by Father
Joseph Mary, an Italian missionary of the Capuchin Order, who was
passing near Bettiah on his way to Nepal, when he was summoned by
Raja Dhruva Shah to attend his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He
succeeded in curing her, and the grateful Raja invited him to stay at
Bettiah and gave him a house and ninety acres of land.' The Bettiah
Mission still exists and maintains the Catholic Mission Press, where
publications illustrating the history of the Capuchin Missions have
been printed.
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