[1] His father, Shiu Narayan Deoki, was initially a farmer in Navua but the decline in the sugar industry in the district forced him to move to Suva, where he set up a grocery business.
At the age of twenty-one he was sent to Melbourne High School to study with students much younger than him.
He worked for several years as a local preacher and teacher before being accepted on probation in 1934.
He was a minister for more than 20 years and as Secretary for Education in the Synod promoted the Missions schools.
He was also a founding member of the Indian Reform League, a social and sports organisation formed in 1924 to cater for the needs of Fiji Indians.