Publishing history of the Bible

THE BIBLE SOCIETY OF INDIA 1811-2000 — Imaging the Word a Millennium Perspective: Chiranjivi J. Nirmal, G.D.V. Prasad; The Bible Society of India, Post Box No. 320, 206, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore-560001. Rs. 185.

THERE IS, perhaps, no single book that has been translated into so many diverse tongues as the Bible. Here is a very interesting and illuminating narrative of an institution that has involved itself for the translation of the Bible into wide-ranging Indian languages from Marathi to Mundari, from Boro to Bengali, from Sindhi to Santali. Some of the pioneering missionaries mastered the major languages and dialects of the country and they employed their expertise to translate the Bible. The history of the Bible Society of India by the authors takes us into a world of dedication and heroism of some of the missionaries of yesteryears and numerous Indian Christians who followed their footsteps. From their stories, we all can learn what it means to be committed to a cause and to be perseverant in spite of all odds and adversities.

It may not be an exaggeration to state that the story of the translation of the Bible and its publication is also the story of the Indian languages and the history of printing in India. In this connection we cannot but recall that the great missionary, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, who landed in Tranquebar in the beginning of the 17th century, did the very first translation of the Bible into any Indian language in Tamil. Along with Ziegenbalg, we need to single out the work done by William Carey and Henry Martyn at a later period. There was apparently something more than mere translation of the Bible. Behind such dedication, we are also able to identify the conviction about the importance of local languages. They brought to the local people a sense of pride about their own languages. Way back in the 16th century when the Bible remained a book inaccessible to the ordinary people, it was Luther who embarked on the translation of it in the language of the people, German, which meant also a challenge to the hegemonic Latin of the Roman Empire.

The authors of the book under review give us a very good overview of the printing of the Bible from the colonial times up to our times. The printing of the Bible brought in several cases, the first instance of printing in the Indian languages at all. They note that "the Serampore type foundry became Asia's biggest and largest in the world for oriental fonts in many Asiatic languages including Chinese, Burmese, Javanese and Malay languages.'' Political theorists like Benedict Anderson, Antony Smith and Ernest Gellner tell us about the importance of print as a crucial factor in awakening the consciousness of a people and their national identity and pride. Against this background we are able to understand the statement of the authors that "the palm leaf manuscript was translated into the printed page, making it a battleground in which many political and religious wars were waged." The authors probably invoke here the importance of print and media in the Independence struggle of the country.

Very insightful are some of the observations of the authors, which derive from the experience of translation. For example, the authors note that when a new translation of the Bible, in keeping with the development of that particular language, is introduced, there has been fierce resistance to accept the new. People are passionately attached to the old. But with the passage of time, the new gets accepted. This seems to be a general pattern.

The book tells us also about the organisation of the Bible Society of India and its working through its many sub-units or "auxiliaries". Thanks to this well-knit organisational structure, the Society is able to run today not less than 70 translation projects. Another thing, which stands out from the narrative, is the fact that today translation is teamwork of many experts well versed in the particular Indian language and the Biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek). This is different from the former times when translation almost invariably was the work of a single person, who also did not always have much knowledge of the original languages.

The importance of the present work, as we could see, goes beyond the Christian community. For one thing, Bible like any other sacred book belongs to the whole of humanity for its noble ideals, inspiration and the light it throws for the day-to-day life of every man and woman. Hence the story of its translation cannot but be a matter of universal interest. That aside, from a technical point of view, the book could be considered an experimental contribution to the field of hermeneutics (science of interpretation), linguistics, semiotics as well as to literature in terms of languages and translation. In fact, here we see a concrete instance of the problems encountered by translators — no matter in which language. Could we expect from the Bible Society of India a detailed language-wise story of translation? For example the discussions and deliberations among the experts on why a particular word or phrase was chosen instead of other ones cannot but be enlightening. Such an endeavour will prove to be even a great contribution to the advancement of Indian languages and literature.

As a tailpiece I must add, how as a student of Latin, I was horrified to read in the introduction a Latin quote from St.Augustine as "toll, lege" whereas it should read "tolle et lege" (take and read).

FELIX WILFRED

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