Bible translations into Malayalam

Translations of the Bible into Malayalam began from 1806, and have been to some extent influential on the development of the modern language.[1]

History

The first attempt to translate bible into Malayalam was done by Pulikkottil Ittoop (Joseph)Kathanar (later enthroned as the Malankara Metropolitan H.H. Joseph Mar Dionysius) and Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban with the support of Mor Dionatius the Great and Rev. Claudius Buchanan. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, a missionary who visited Kerala in the early 19th century, persuaded church leaders to translate the holy text into Malayalam and gave guidance to local scholars. At that time Syriac was the liturgical language of Christians in Kerala. Pulikkottil Ittoop (Joseph)Kathanar and Kayamkulam Philippose Ramban who were Malankara Syrian Christian monks firstly translated few books of Holy Bible from Syriac to Malayalam. They were assisted by Timapah Pillay for language editting. Using the Tamil version translated by Johann Philipp Fabricius, they made a Malayalam copy. Bible Society of India (then known as an Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society) paid for 500 copies to be printed in Bombay in 1811. Timapah completed the New Testament in 1813, but this was found to include vocabulary known only to Syriac Christians and not to the general Malayalam population.[2] Now this Bible is known as Ramban Bible.

After the Ramban Bible, it was Benjamin Bailey who continued the effort to transale the Bible to Malayalam and finally translated it enirely. His translation of the New Testament was finished and published in 1829 and the Old Testamen in 1841.

Hermann Gundert updated Bailey's version and produced the first Malayalam-English dictionary (1872).[3][4][5] Other sources record that a Phillipose Rampan (c. 1780-1850) also translated parts of the Bible into Malayalam.[6]

Modern versions

Protestant

The Bible Society of India Kerala Auxiliary (established 1956) has made minor revisions to the Malayalam Old Version in 1910. A new Malayalam Common Language Bible project is ongoing.

Biblica had translated and published the New India Bible Version (NIBV) in Malayalam which was released in 1997 "Malayalam Bible". Biblica. Retrieved 12 Oct 2015. 

The World Bible Translation Center India provides the Easy-to-Read Version "Downloads". World Bible Translation Center. Retrieved 12 Oct 2015. 

Catholic

In 1967 the Pastoral Orientation Center of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council started a new translation of the Bible [7] and completed it by 1981. This bible is also known as the POC Bible.

Syriac Orthodox

The Syriac Orthodox Church uses the Pesitta version as its official bible and hence all the translations that were done within the church where that of the Pesitta.

Ramban Bible

The first bible translation (partial) into Malayalam was done by Pulikkottil Ittoop (Joseph)Kathanar (later enthroned as the Malankara Metropolitan H.H. Joseph Mar Dionysius) andKayamkulam Philipose Ramban(Syriac monks) in 1811 under the direction of the then Malankara Metropolitan Mor Dionasius. It was printed at Bombay Courier press with the help of the British missionaries especially Rev. Claudius Buchanan, who visited Kerala in the early 19th century and gave guidance to local scholars for translations. The translation was of the four gospels alone.

Syriac Orthodox Bible Society and Vishudha Grandham

The Syriac Orthodox Bible Society of India published the translation of the Syriac Pesitta bible into Malayalam adopting a rather direct translation of the term "Holy Bible" as "Vishuddha Grandham" (വിശുദ്ധ ഗ്രന്ഥം). The Translation was made by the famous Syriac scholar Kaniyamparambil Kurian Cor Episcopa with the help of some priests. In 2015, this translation was made available online.[8] Vishudha Grandham is the only audio bible available for free use on the Internet. This bible is used as the official Malayalam bible of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church.

Jehovah's Witnesses

In 2009, the New Testament of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released in Malayalam by Jehovah's Witnesses.[9] The full version was released in 2016.[10]

VISHUDHA SATHYAVEDAPUSTHAKOM

The Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakom, the translation of the Holy Bible by Bro. Dr. Mathews Vergis in modern Malayalam language was released on the 22nd of December 2000. Many had attempted to revise the 1910 edition of the Bible in the Malayalam language by the Bible Society of India, but none of them became popular and the outdated translation continued ignoring the rapid growth of the Malayalam language - which included even the modification of the alphabets. Bro. Dr. Mathews Vergis took into consideration all these factors and made the translation with unique, user friendly features not found in any other translations of the Bible in Indian languages – also putting it on top of Bible translations in any Indian language. It is the most popular Malayalam translation.

These unique features found only in the Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakom include:

1. Statistics: Each book opens with statistics about the book, including the important people, places and events in the book.

2. Upasheershaka Soochika or the Subtitle Index: The 1189 chapters of the Bible are divided further into around 2000 topics with a subtitle assigned to each division. Thus anyone can access any information in a minute by searching the Subtitle index. Thus any topic pertaining to a person, place or event can be traced in a moment.

3. Athmeeya Darshanam or Spiritual Insight: Athmeeya Darshanam is an exposition and explanation of the Word of God. They are useful tools in meditations, messages and spiritual guidance.

4. Vignana Veedhi or the Path of knowledge: Vighana Veedhi serves to capture the attention of the reader into minute details of the Word of God which may escape the attention of an ordinary reader of the Bible.

5. Ottanottathil or At a Glance: Ottanottathil puts together salient points of several chapters into a capsular form to understand them at a glance instead of researching several pages again and again.

6. Tharathamyam or Comparisons: Tharathamyam is a brief comparative study of people, places, and events of the Word of God illuminating the truths of the Word of God.

7. Naazhikakallukal or Milestones: Naazhikakallukal depicts events in the life of Jesus Christ which are found only in that particular Gospel.

8) Colored Photographs: The Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakom has sixteen color pages showcasing the important landmarks in the history of the Bible. The photograph of the Mount of Temptation or the 'Quarrentel' is the only one of its kind found in the Bible in any language of the world.

9. A chart of all the parables spoken by Jesus is yet another feature drawing the reader closer to teachings of the Master.

10. A record of all the miracles performed by Jesus Christ proves beyond doubt that Jesus is the Son of the Almighty God.

Different Editions of the Vishudha Satyavedapusthakom include:

· Pocket Bible (The Old and New testaments with Athmeeya Darshanam)

· Aaradhana Bible (Vishudha Satyavedapusthakom with 150 Hymns)

· Slimline Bible (Special edition printed in thin pages)

Online versions

The Complete Malayalam Bible in Unicode was published online on 14 August 2004. By Nishad H. Kaippally.

The POC Bible released online and mobile versions for Android and iPhone

Vishuddha Grandham of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church was released online in 2015.

The New World Translation of Holy Scriptures published by Jehovah's Witnesses is available in Malayalam online. It is also available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone incorporated inside the official JW Library application available in app stores.

Audio version

A free complete audio version of the Syriac Orthodox Peshitta Bible was released online in 2015 [www.vishudhagrandham.com].

Usage of different versions in churches

Nearly all churches in Kerala use Bibles in Malayalam; they differ in which version they were translated from and therefore which books they include.

Saint Thomas Christians, Anglican, Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches use the Bible Society of India version.

Saint Thomas Christians

The Saint Thomas Christians may have used the Peshitta Bible at church services until the sixteenth century conflict and church divisions. Today the different Saint Thomas Christian churches use different Bibles depending on their affiliation. Except for Protestants, all Christians use the "deuterocanonicals", though they vary on which ones they include.

The Peshitta (Syriac Bible) translations by Andumalil Mani Kathanar and Fr. Mathew Uppani (Kottayam, 1997) are popular in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

The Peshitta is also used by the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The Peshitta was translated into Malayalam in 1811 partially by Pulikkottil Ittoop (Joseph)Kathanar (later enthroned as the Malankara Metropolitan H.H. Joseph Mar Dionysius) and Kayamkulam Ramban. A separate translation of the New Testament was done by Konatt Rev. Abraham. A complete translation was made in 1991 by Kurian Corepiscopa of the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church and was published by the Syriac Orthodox Bible Society of India (SOBSI).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: devraj to jyoti Amaresh Datta, Sahitya Akademi (New Delhi, Inde) - 1988- Page 1660 "The first Malayalam edition of the Bible was published in 1811 [typo 1841], and its first translation was done by Benjamin Bailey in 1829. Modern Malayalam has been to some extent influenced by the Bible. During the latter part of the 19th century, Kerala, ..."
  2. ↑ Bagster, Samuel (1848). The Bible of every land, a history of the sacred Scriptures. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons. p. 124.
  3. ↑ Dr. Hermann Gundert and Malayalam language Albrecht Frenz, Skar̲iyā Sakkar̲iya - 1993 "5.4.2 Looking back at various early translations of the Bible in Malayalam one may not hesitate to acknowledge the great literary quality of Gundert's translation. He has rendered Hebrew poetry giving consideration to the rhythm of ..."
  4. ↑ Maritime Malabar and the Europeans, 1500-1962 K. S. Mathew, Université de Lyon II. Institut de recherche et d'intervention en sciences humaines - 2003 "On 18 September 1840, Gundert sent the German translation of his first Malayalam Bible tract, Genesis 1-11, to Basle, but for a long time did not get a sanctioning reply from there for printing it. Luckily Gundert had it printed and ..."
  5. ↑ The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj To Jyoti): Volume 2 - Page 1660 Amaresh Datta - 2006 "Later, others like Robert Drummond and H. Gundert followed the trend. Gundert's Malayalam bhasha vyakaranam (1851) ... The first Malayalam edition of the Bible was published in 1811,[typo 1841?] and its first translation was done by Benjamin Bailey ..."
  6. ↑ History of Malayalam literature R. Leela Devi - 1977 ... who accompanied Kariattil to Rome wrote the first prose travelogue Varthamana Pusthakam, in malayalam. His kristhyanukaranam is a translation of Imitation of Christ. Phillipose Rampan and Pulikkottil Ittoop Ramban (1740 - 1816) translated Bible into Malayalam.
  7. ↑ http://www.keralabiblesociety.com/pages/en/POCBible.html
  8. ↑ Holy Bible in Malayalam online
  9. ↑ "WatchTower publications", Watchtower publications Index(1986-2011)
  10. ↑ Link to New World Translation Malayalam Bible online

External links

Online Bibles

Bible Societies

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