May 2. On this date in 1943, Narayenrao Rangnath Shethji, the first known Hindu convert to the Bahá'í Faith, died.

 

May 2. On this date in 1943, Narayenrao Rangnath Shethji, the first known Hindu convert to the Bahá'í Faith, died.

 

Narayenrao Rangnath Shethji, better known as Vakil, was born in a well-known Hindu family in Navsari. He learnt about the Bahá'í Faith from Mirzá Mahram. He became a Bahá'í in 1909.

 

He graduated from Bombay University in 1911 with a degree in Law. He was an advocate of the Bombay High Court and one of the senior lawyers of Surat.

 

He went on a Bahá'í pilgrimage where he met 'Abdu'l-Bahá who said to Vakil "you will be eternally confirmed." He was elected chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of India and Burma in 1923.

 

He died on May 2, 1943.