Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Volume 4 Article 3

January 1991

Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

John B. Carman

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Recommended Citation Carman, John B. (1991) "Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 4, Article 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1041

The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. Carman: Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

John B. Carman Harvard Divinity School

DURING MY HRST visit to Kyoto in the question: what does "faith" mean to Chris­ spring of 1980, I was given the privilege of at­ tians? tending a meeting of the committee of scholars supervising one of the two series of transl~tio~s * * * Translations of scriptural texts, both those of Shinran Shonin's works now appeanng m done by members of a religious community and English. Except for Dr. Minor Rogers, an those done by outsiders, constitute a large part American scholar of Shin Buddhism, and my­ of the data of the modern comparative study of self, all the other participants were Shin Bud­ religion. The focus of this short paper is not on dhists belonging to the "Western Temple" translations as finished products but on some branch of Shinran's followers. Dr. Dennis Hi­ implications of the process of translating. I rota, who has contributed several of the draft want to suggest that such translating provides a translations, is a Japanese American. The rest distinctive model for the contributions of of the group were Japanese. The procedure scholars to interreligious dialogue. It is differ­ used by the committee to review a draft, li~e by ent from the model Father DeSmet has given line, and sometimes word by word, remmded us in the previous article on Robert de Nobili me of many Christian projects of Bible transla­ (or Nobili, as he often called himself) and also tion and revision. At this meeting an issue different from the models put forward by vari­ arose that has recurred throughout this project: ous others in Hindu Christian Dialogue: Per- whether the Japanese term shinjin should be spectives and Encounters. . translated into English as "faith" or as "true Nobili's accomplishments were remark­ mind," or simply be transliterated, remainin.g. in able. Without the Portuguese protection ac­ the English version as shinjin. Anyone familIar corded earlier Roman Catholic missionaries on with the history of Bible translations will be the coast of India, he managed to settle in reminded of similar debates, which, like this Madurai, become fluent in three Indian lan­ one, spread from the committee room to a guages (Tamil, Telugu, and'Sanskrit), and be­ much broader discussion, sometimes going be­ come an acceptable conversation partner for yond a single religious community. I~deed, al­ many Brahmins. As Farther DeSmet shows, though this project has been conceived and Nobili was able to utilize the concepts of carried out within a particular Buddhist com­ Hindu philosophy to develop basic Thomistic munity in Japan, it comes in response to a need arguments. Whether by the logical force of felt by Shin Buddhists in North America, fewer those arguments or by the force of his person­ of whom in each succeeding generation know ality, he was able to persuade a number of enough Japanese to read the original texts. Brahmins to become Christians, on a scale pos­ They live in a society, moreover, where "faith" sibly unmatched by any other Christia~ mis­ is understood in a non-Buddhist context, sionary before or sin~. The forms of hIS per­ whether Christian or secular. The committee suasiveness were, however, not new. For more meeting of Buddhists in Kyoto had to deal with than a thousand years Indian philosophers of the question of what "faith" means to people different religious persuasions had attempted who speak English, which certainly includes the

Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 4 (1991) 11-20

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12 John Carman

to convince one another in a process that re­ derstanding. The contrasting view, voiced by quired careful study of opposing positio~s be­ Robert Baird on behalf of many contemporary fore attempting to refute them. Accordmg to Western scholars in religion, is that scholarly the hagiographies, the hero of a particular en­ study of religion should be co~pletely ~e~a­ counter sometimes received Divine aid. In one rated from evangelism. (See Hzndu-Chnstzan story it was the confidence generated in Dialogue, ed. by Harold Coward, Orbis, 1989, R:lm:lnuja by a dream revelation that con­ pp.217-229). vinced his opponent to concede even before the day's debate began.1 Certainly Nobili pos­ * * * The model of scriptural translation I want sessed a large measure of such confidence, but to commend lies somewhere in between these it was not so much a belief in his own skill as other approaches, whether or not we co.ns~der confidence in a universal reason uniting human any of them "premodern." Protestant mIss~on­ beings across linguistic, cultural, and religious ary translators shared Nobili's confidence m a barriers. He could afford to be patient because universal human capacity animated by the Holy he believed that his debating partners would be Spirit. They believed, however, that this was convinced by their own reasoning. the ability; not to win a logical argument, but to DeSmet is not presenting his account for understand and respond to the Biblical mes­ antiquarian reasons. For him Nobili is a model sage. The act of translating assumes the ca­ for modern Christian scholars who want to pacity of those who read the translation to combine scholarship and evangelism in a understand its meaning, and in the era of the scholarly dialogue, and he wants to affirm this printing press this has generally mea~t the pos­ model at a time when it is being challenged, sibility of reading it on one's own wIthout the even by some Roman Catholic priests and accompaniment of an approved commentary. some Jesuit theologians in India. DeSmet What is equally remarkable is the in­ quotes a statement of Jacques Dupuis: "Nei­ volvement of non-Christian scholars in the ther on one side nor on the other process of translation. They are rarely given does ... [dialogue] tend to the 'conversion' of much credit in Western missionaries' reports one partner to the religious position of the on these translations; in many cases we do not other." DeSmet disagrees, and he also seems even know their names. Perhaps the most uncomfortable with Francis' conclusion that striking use of such Brahmin assistants was in Nobili's "belief in the universality of reason is William Carey's ambitious project to translate premodern and ... divides him from most and print the Bible in all the principal lan- modern missionaries and most modern guages of the East.3 . . scholars of religion." DeSmet believes that he Carey described his translation method m and his colleagues are still trying to follow No­ preparing the Bengali translation as follows: bili's example. In his final paragraph DeSmet states that what is most worthy of imitation in I employ a pandit.. .with whom I go through the whole in as exact a manner Nobili's approach to dialogue is his "respect as I can. He judges the style and syntax, for other minds' freedom of decision." The en­ and I of the faithfulness of the transla­ tire essay seems to me also to imply that dia­ tion. I have, however, translated several logue is legitimate, and even necessary, in the chapters together! w~ich have not re­ evangelistic effort to seek conversion to Christ. quired any alteratIOn m the syntax what­ Thus he thinks that Dupuis goes too far in ever; yet I always submit this article en­ saying that "Interreligious dialogue constitutes tirely to his judgment. I can also, by hearing him read, judge whether .he a mutual evangelization under the impulse of understands his SUbject by his accentmg the Spirit.',2 his reading properly and laying the. e~­ This "mutual evangelization" is some­ phasis on the right words. If he falls m times referred to in recent discussion as the t~is, I immediately suspect the transla­ aim of dialogue. For those who hold this view, tIon ... 4 scholarly dialogue is important, but only if such dialogue goes beyond the scholarly aim of un-

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol4/iss1/3 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1041 2 Carman: Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

Protestant Bible Translations in India 13

More information is given in an anony­ cism, by a publick adve7tisement circu­ mous New England Unitarian pamphlet of lated throughout India." 1825, drawing on a letter from William Ward The criticism came a few years later, from and from the ninth memoir of the translator, very close by, and it concerned the first and published in 1823. The Sanskrit and Bengali most widely used of the translations, William translations were done by William Carey be­ Carey's Bengali New Testament. The criticisms fore he moved to Serampore and joined Joshua were of at least three kinds, and were directed Marshman in teaching at the College of Fort both at Carey's translation and at another William. The senior Sanskrit pandit called Dr. translation by a "Mr. Ellerton." first, there Carey's attention to the "learned men ... from were a number of mistakes with Bengali idiom, the different provinces of India" who had ap~ some rather embarrassing. Second, there were plied for work at the College. Carey engaged some unwarranted additions of words not in these men, as fast as they were brought to him; the Greek text, for theological reasons. Third, and he put the translations relied on the Greek text used the Sanskrit Bible, as the original from for the Authorized ("King James") Version which they were to translate, into the rather than on the recent critical text of Gries­ hands of each of them. bach. Two of the younger Baptist missionaries Each Pandit...began to render the at Serampore, William Yates and William divine word into his native dialect. .. as­ Adam, joined with Ram Mohan Roy in work­ sisted ... by hints and directions from two ing on a new translation. A dispute arose as to learned Hindoos, who were prepared by whether dia in the Gospel of John 1:3 should Dr. Carey ... by having read the proofs of be translated with the Bengali preposition the ~anskrit and Bengalee with the Doc­ tor. meaning "by" or with the word meaning "through." Yates defended the reading that Both the translator and one of the two more the world was created "by the Logos," used in experienced assistants went over the first and the earlier translations, and withdrew from the second proofs to bring the translation as close project when Adam and Roy urged "through as possible to the original Sanskrit. The trans­ the Logos," because of its implications in favor lator then took the third proof to Dr. Carey, of a Unitarian position. In fact, some time and the two of. them went "over as many more later William Adam became a Unitarian, and proofs ... as the Doctor thought to be neces­ he resigned from the Baptist Missionary Soci­ sary." There was also frequent consultation ety. among the various translators. Most of the This translation project was unlike those "eighteen or twenty Pandits" knew Sanskrit that Carey had supervised, where only the mis­ and either Bengali or Hindi. They were thus sionaries knew Greek and where there was a able easily "to converse with one another, and stricter division of labor: the pandits responsi­ . with the European translator," "consulting one ble for the right linguistic -form and the mis­ another" about "any passage or phrase" whose sionaries for the right theological content. Roy meaning "they might not fully comprehend.,,6 was not a professional pandit, but knew both All of these translations were done with Sanskrit and Greek; Yates and Adam knew great care. The shortest period for translating Bengali; all three were equal partners regard­ any version of the New Testament was seven / ing the theological import. Indeed, it turned years, and the translation into two South In­ out that Roy played a decisive role, and Adam dian languages and into Chinese took twelve accepted Roy's interpretation, not in the first years. Even so, ,1 place of Hindu doctrines, but of the meaning of "says Mr. Ward, we are perfectly aware the Greek text of the New Testament. that they will be improved in every new version, as all the European versions The work on the Marathi translation ''was r I have been; and we court the severest in the first instance done by Pandit Vaijanath," 'I scrutiny, if it be honest and candid. As a with the Serampore trio of missionaries serving proof of which, we have invited criti- as the editorial committee. Carey wrote:

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14 John Carman

Whatever helps [sic] we enjoy, I have into Marathi, and one did an anthology of never yet suffered a single word or a sin­ Marathi poetry and translated several Sanskrit gle mode of construction to pass, with­ plays into Marathi. 11 We shall return later to out examining it, and seeing through it. Brother Marshman and I compare with the significance of the other writings of Indian the Greek or Hebrei' and Brother scholars participating in Bible translation. Ward reads every sheet. * * * The translation was a failure, however, for a Bishop Sabapathy Kulandran of the Jaffna reason the missionaries had not foreseen. Diocese of the Church of South India has writ­ Pandit Vaijanath spoke a dialect of a district ten an interesting article about a particular far from the center of Marathi culture, so most Tamil translation produced during the 1840s in of those in the Marathi area found it practically his home city of Jaffna (northern Sri Lanka) in 9 unreadable. While partial translations were which the contribution of the missionary Peter later done by the first English and American Percival's Tamil native assistant. was clearly missionaries in Maharashtra, the first complete major. Indeed, the Hindu biographer of Aru­ translation of the New Testament adapted muga Navalar "says that the version turned out Carey's procedure. There were five American under Percival'S supervision was really miSSionary translators, each responsible for Navalar's handiwork.,,12 Kulandran, himself a one part but exchanging revisions on the other Tamil Christian of the post-independence era, parts. Each missionary translator was "assisted urges an intermediate pOSition on the relative by one or more pandit." The assistance was importance of theological content and linguis­ substantial: tic style. In any case, as he points out, there The usual procedure was to give the were many others involved in the project be­ sense to the pandit direct from the sides the chief translator, Percival, a British original; the pandit then wrote it in his Methodist, and his brilliant young Hindu assis­ own words. Very little was written by tant. "Jaffna at the time had a tremendous the missionaries themselves, and that lit­ tle only with the utmost care to include fund of scholarship to draw from, both ... West­ the RlQIldit's corrections of idiom and ern missionaries ... and Jaffna-Tamils.,,13 After style. 1 noting the names and accomplishments of the This Marathi New Testament was issued missionary scholars Kulandran goes on to de­ in 1826, but it was immediately criticized as scribe the Tamil scholars and concludes, "stiff and obscure," and an English missionary, Probably these and quite a few others the Rev. William Mitchell, started a more id­ among Tamils were constantly con­ sulted. They are, however, not men­ iomatic translation. By 1831 a committee was tioned by name, as Western scholars of formed to supervise another translation of the those days had a firm opinion that work entire Bible, which was published in one vol­ of Eastern scholars could certainly be ume. in 1855. One of the members of that availed of, but that their names were committee was Captain J.T. Molesworth, who scarcely worth mentioning. The record had supervised the creation of the first large merely says tflt native pundits or assis­ scale Marathi dictionary, which was to prove tants helped. useful, not only for Bible translations, but for Since Bishop Kulandran has been decidedly much other literary work in Marathi, especially more positive about Western theology and the development of Marathi prose. I note this Western missionaries than some other Tamil work here, both because Bible translations and Christian scholars, his summation must be dictionaries were closely connected in many taken seriously. The attitude he describes is parts of India, and because the modern editor not confined to missionary scholars nor to the of the dictionary gives a brief biographical nineteenth century! sketch of the team that produced it, which in­ This translation, known as "the Tentative cluded not only Molesworth and two English Version" because it was turned down by the colleagues, but also seven pandits; three of committee in Madras for general distribution them translated English books on Mathematics in South India, was itself the first Tamil trans-

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Protestant Bible Translations in India 15

lation chiefly supeIVised by a committee. sizing Jesus' ethical teachings and omitting the Unfortunately, whether because of the mis­ miracles, he was denounced by the missionaries sionary attitude just described or for other rea­ and a series of acrimonious eXChanges ensued. sons, we have no record of all the conversations Both Roy and Navalar claimed that Christian in the committee or of what must have been missionaries were misinterpreting their own daily exchanges between the English Protestant Scripture by neglecting its evident meaning. missionary and the Tamil Saiva scholar, whose For Roy this meaning was the unity of God, name came to be attached in the memory of and for Navalar it was the observance of temple Jaffna Christians to the "Navalar Bible." sacrifice. In both cases these Hindu scholars, A{umuga PiHai, later called Niivalar, "the who had accepted the Protestant invitation to Learned," lived from 1822 to 1879. As a boy he read the Bible themselves, were proposing a studied Saiva works in Tamil with his father, more Jewish interpretation than the orthodox who was a Tamil poet. At the age of twelve he Christian reinterpretation of the Jewish tradi­ entered in the WeSleyan Mission School, where tion. he started reading the Tamil Bible. He was only sixteen when he was appOinted a teacher * * * It is clear that Hindu pandits had a major of Tamil, and when he was nineteen Peter Per­ role in many of the Protestant translations of cival hired him to help translate various trea­ the Bible into Indian languages. It is not clear tises and the Prayerbook, as well as to work on how many of the sometimes daily conversations the new translation of the Bible. He worked between Western missionaries and Indian with Percival for eight years, from 1841 to scholars touched on matters of theological im­ 1848. Already in 1842, at the age of twenty, he port. Discussions of both grammar and literary joined with other Saivas in responding to style may well have had theological implica­ Christian missionary attacks, and he wrote an tions. Choices had constantly to be made be­ anonymous letter to the Tamil Christian jour­ tween more philosophical, literary, or everyday nal in Jaffna in which he criticized the Chris­ terms. That most of these Indian contributors tians' ignoring of the temple worship he found to the translation were Brahmins certainly gave central to the Bible: "the missionaries had cre­ a Sanskritic emphasis to official Christian lan­ ated a religion that their own scriptures did not guage that has marked it ever since. support." The missionaries had indeed been I should be pleased to hear if there are brought by God, but that God was Lord Siva, records of the actual conversations in the midst who brought them to chastise the Tamil Saivas' of the translating process. It is such conversa­ in order to awaken them to the path revealed tions that I consider an unrecognized dialogue. in the Veda and the Saiva scriptures (the What we do have are some accounts of long Agamas). distance exchanges in journal articles on points Navalar was not only a learned scholar of Christian polemic and Hindu response, and and a gifted writer, but he was also a devout many of the participants 'in the translation Saiva who became a theologian and reformer. projects also wrote other works that may re­ After finishing the translation and accompany­ flect their point of view in such "dialogue." ing Percival to Madras to help plead for its In some cases the pandits may have been publication, he left his mission employment, uninterested in the theological issues involved started a Saiva school, and used the methods of and concentrated on the best phrasing in their missionaries to promote a revival of Tamil respective languages. Just as Carey involved Saivism.15 himself in the literary form of the translation, Navalar's Hindu reform can be compared however, so the Hindu scholars must have with that of Ram Mohan Roy in Bengal thirty sometimes been concerned with questions of years before, for Roy had worked with the religious or histori~l or philosophical mean­ British Baptist missionaries at Serampore and ing, and often form and content would have had co-edited with Yates a harmony of the been impossible to divide. Even if, which Gospels. When, however, Roy produced his seems quite unlikely, only the Christian partici- own selective version of the Gospels, empha-

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16 John Carman

pants in the translation process were concerned many divine beings of the Vedas. In south In­ with the Text's religious meaning, the use of a dian devotional movements, however, both language freighted with Hindu associations Siva and Vi~IJ.u are sometimes referred to by necessarily would involve questions about the their respective followers as deva, in a sense Hindu as well as the Christian significance of a synonymous to I~vara, meaning (Supreme) particular term in Bengali or Tamil, as well as Lord. It has been suggested that if capital let­ the ramifications of the meaning of that term ters were introduced in Indian alphabets, the for many related terms. English distinction between "God" and "god" The recent decision of one Shin Buddhist could be made; without the distinction, deva translation committee to transliterate shinjin must necessarily remain ambiguous in Indian while another translation series often trans­ languages. 17 Perhaps a more significant diffi­ lates shinjin as "faith" is strikingly parallel to culty is that Christians are trying to use some the very first efforts by St. Francis Xavier, al­ generic word for deity in contexts where Hin­ most four hundred and fifty years ago, to dus more frequently use a specific divine name, translate Christian theological terms. After especially when suggesting the God above all initially translating the Japanese word for God gods. Like other problems of translation, how­ with the name of a particular celestial Buddha, ever, this one may never be finally resolved. Dainichi, Xavier changed his mind when he Indeed, it points to a basic problem of such learned more about the Buddhist meaning of translation: to find a familiar word that will Dainichi and decided not to translate the Latin convey a radically new insight, which includes a Deus but rather to use Japanese translitera­ new understanding of that very word. tions for Deus and fifty other Latin terms in the Once a translation has been made it con­ catechism. Roman Catholics did not translate stitutes a new sacred language for those who the Bible in Japan, China, or India, but did use it in worShip and meditation, and there has translate the Catechism and. the Lives of the therefore often been great resistance to any Saints long before there were any Protestant new translation. This was a major reason why Bible translations in Asia. In India Roman the philosophically more sophisticated Tamil Catholic usage has continued to include many translation of Arumuga Navalar and Peter Per­ transliterated Latin terms. cival was turned down. In this respect as in Protestant translators have tried to trans­ many others, William Carey had a remarkably late as many words as possible. European clear view of translation as a continuing pro­ Protestants have had the example of such cess. translations into their own language and, de­ He never fell into the error of supposing spite a frequently gloomy :view of the effects of that there could be any finality in the sin on human mental capacities, they have gen­ work which he accomplished. He erally expected to find resources in every hu­ claimed that he never sent a fresh edi­ man language for translating the "Word of tion to the printers without a thorough revision. He made plans for others to God." continue the work of translation. In the The translation of the words for God college which he founded he made (Elohim, YHVH, and Theos) was a point of provision for the teaChing of Hebrew, continuing controversy in many of these Greek, and Latin to those who might translations. Navalar used tevan (Sanskrit de­ later be translating the Scriptures into va) instead of tampiran (the Absolute) or their mother-tongues. He prepared sarvesuran (Lord of All), used in previous grammars and dictionaries in many of the languages into which translations translations. Those who disliked his choice were made. He prepared copious notes said that he had promised his mother "not to for a Universal Dictionary of Oriental teach the correct word 'I~waran' (Lord) to the Language derived from Sanskrit, from Christians.,,16 It is true that in many parts of which a vocabulary in mruuscript form India, especially in the North, the word deva, is still kept at the college. which is the Sanskrit cognate of the Latin word deus, has been avoided because it refers to the

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol4/iss1/3 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1041 6 g Carman: Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

Protestant Bible Translations in India 17

It appears, however, that neither he nor any cases also developed a new understanding of other missionaries engaged in translation saw their own scriptures, on the model of the the full significance of the daily experiments in Protestant Bible, as printed books available in what, I suggest, were an important form of their own language. There have been learned interreligious dialogue. Certainly Carey and exchanges between Hindu and Christian schol­ other missionaries prayed that their Hindu as­ ars about these scriptural texts, but the avail­ sistants might grasp the message that they were ability of both Hindu and Christian scriptures helping to translate, and indeed some of them has also vastly broadened the range of partici­ did at some point become Christians. Even the pants in discussions within as well. as between most celebrated non-converts, Ram Mohan these religious communities. Roy and Arumuga Navalar, were influenced by These Christian translations of the Bible their study and had great respect for the Bible. occurred during the same period when Hindu It was the orthodox Christian interpretation of scriptures were being translated from Sanskrit the Bible that they both, in very different ways, into Indian regional languages and also into rejected. As part of his monotheistic reform of English and when older vernacular versions of Hinduism, Roy wanted to make his edited ver­ the Hindu epic were being printed so that they sion of the teachings of Jesus available to his could be read by the increasing number of In­ countrymen. Navalar tried, through his school, dians who were learning how to read. Hindus his sermons, and his many publications, to re­ and Christians were both involved in these vive the personal and collective worship of translations of Hindu scripture. The most Lord Siva and to give support for the social daring translations of Hindu scripture were institutions of the community of Siva's devo­ those of the Vedas, since they were not sup­ tees. posed even to be heard by the majority of Protestant missionaries believed that the Hindu men, or even, according to some author­ Holy Spirit would aid in the understanding of ities, by Brahmin women. Ram Mohan Roy's the bible and induce conversion, but they also translations of the Upanishads were intended thought that there was a preliminary level of to break the veil of secrecy in order to reveal understanding possible without conver­ the truth of ancient Hinduism to Hindus sion - otherwise all those Hindu pandits would knowing their own religion only in a later have been unable even to assist in translation. degenerate state. Roy had already completed They generally maintained that the chief gift of his translation of four Upanishads when he the Holy Spirit would be conversion, and they joined in the revision of Carey's Bengali New would usually not admit as theological discus­ Testament. The motivations of the Christian sion partners, or as personal friends, those who missionaries engaged in translating or publish­ had not confessed their faith in Christ. There ing Hindu scriptures were not always clear. I were some exceptions, and perhaps there were suspect that Carey's motivation was complex, many more conversations, sometimes focussing including both making Hindu classics available on a verse of Scripture, sometimes on a painful in a language everyone understood and expos­ or joyous circumstance, which were never ing what he considered the insufficiency and recorded. contradiction of the books Hindus considered In some respects the growth of more lib­ sacred. It is possible that there was also some eral views among Christians has altered the ambiguity in the motivations of the Hindu situation, but by the time Protestant theology translators and typesetters working on both had changed, the Bible translations had been Christian and Hindu translation projects. made, and further revisions of these transla­ tions involved more Indian Christians, but * * * I cannot recommend either the present or fewer Hindus. Hindus have continued to en­ the past situation of ,Protestant Bible transla­ counter the Bible, both in English, as a part of tion as a model for future dialogue, but there is their education in English in mission schools, a suggestive feature of the translation process, both Catholic and Protestant, and in the vari­ precisely when it is at its most preliminary ous Indian vernaculars. They have in many

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18 John Carman

stage: individuals meet around a text that is re­ enterprise. Whether such cooperative scholar­ garded by some of those present as more than a ship, especially collaboration or translation, human text, as a Divine communication or an constitutes "dialogue" depends not only on the agent of Divine intervention and conversion, as definition of dialogue but on the specific a sign of Divine grace. By the process of circumstances of each project. In any case we translation a new text is created, and possibly need more dialogical scholarship, more an old scripture is transformed. Those present recognition of the diverse vantage pOints and are usually aware of the difficulties and the distinct gifts of the different members of the risks of translation, and some might be skepti­ project, but we need not allow the distinctive cal about the possibility of genuine translation. meaning of a particular text to disappear into a With different kinds of expertise and different kaleidoscope of perspectives. Such scholarship motivations the process of translation gets should be aware of institutional constraints and underway. The process requires that what is a variety of social pressures. It does matter most solemn and sometimes most secret in a who is paying the salaries or providing the religious community be brought outside and grant, but neither our intellectual freedom nor openly discussed. The normal rules of moral or our moral responsibility are removed by the so­ doctrinal qualification are suspended, and cial reality of power. Perhaps one reason why those to whom the message is addressed be­ Indian scholars continue to be more generous come the judges, not only of its intelligibility than some scholars in the West to so-called but of its elegance. If it is to be "scripture" in "Orientalism," is their understanding of both an Indian context, it must express the truth, but the necessary connection and the crucial dis­ do so in an appropriately beautiful form. Then tinction between scholarship and power. even those initially unconvinced of its truth Translation and retranslation of sacred may be attracted by its beauty. texts continue to be important parts of both Translating done cooperatively by those religious and secular scholarship around the from different cultural and religious back­ world. In many cases translating can be far bet­ grounds is a rare opportunity in human interac­ ter done cooperatively and in some cases it may tion: working together in a way that has some involve some supervising committee and even rules but is not totally defined, working to­ larger circles of reception and response. The gether towards a goal that may be diversely explicit doctrines and the implicit values of di­ viewed by different participants. Such coopera­ verse cultures are inevitably part of the discus­ tion is not dialogue in Nobili's sense, where sion, as well as those distinctive possibilities each side seeks to convince the other of the and limitations in a particular language that truth of its theological position. Translating makes it so difficult to separate form from con­ together does not require all the participants to tent, which is what all translation involves. The set forth systematically their respective beliefs, excitement of relatively successful translation for the focus is not on the beliefs ofthe partici­ can even lead to the recognition of a new scrip­ pants but on the meaning of a sacred text in a ture, i.e., a text recognized as sacred in a new new language and a new religious context. linguistic setting. The inevitable failures in all Those from outside the community that has translations should remind us that translating considered the text sacred may view that text in is a continuing enterprise, is in some sense re­ a variety of ways, as other people's scripture, as vised in every sermon or scriptural discourse, a piece of great literature, or even as a relic of a with results that may go beyond scholarly vanishing culture. understandings: an ancient oracle may be heard We should now be concerned, not only as a new angelic voice, a call to repentance or a with the forgotten or unrecognized dialogues stimulus to insight. of the past but also with the ambiguous present and uncertain future of our scholarship. "Na­ * * * A few weeks ago here in Cambridge we tive assistants" may now be called "indigenous held a meeting of the group preparing a Tamil informants," but they ought to be recognized as text and English translation of the Tiruvtiymoli respected teachers and COlleagues in a common

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol4/iss1/3 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1041 8 Carman: Protestant Bible Translations in India: An Unrecognized Dialogue?

Protestant Bible Translations in India 19

for the Harvard Oriental Series. This sacred be pleased to have further information about poem, called the "Tamil Veda" by South Indian the topic on which I had originally planned to Vaishnavas, has had several partial and a few focus: conversations between Hindu pandits complete translations in the past century. All and the Christian missionaries supervising of them have had to face the problem of con­ their translations. veying both the literal meaning of the verses and the rich layer of meanings that the com­ Footnotes mentators have found implicit in the text. 1 I have summarized this story on pp. 41-42 of The Since those meanings are considered by some Theology of Riimiinuja (New Haven: Yale Uni­ to be the secret lore of committed members of versity Press, 1974). the community, there are further problems in 2 See Richard DeSmet's preceding article, "R. de preparing a translation. Those problems do Nobili as Forerunner of Hindu-Christian Dia­ not take away the challenge of once again at­ logue." tempting the impossible, which in this specific 3 See Appendix 1. 4 J.S.M. Hooper, Bible Translation in India, Pak­ case means translating Tamil poetry into En­ istan, and Ceylon, 2nd ed. revised by W.J. Cul­ glish verse. shaw (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. The three translators (A.K. Ramanujan, 33. The work of Carey that is quoted is not Vasudha Narayanan, and Francis X. Clooney. stated. S.J.) have already exchanged partial drafts. A 5 Anonymous member of the Unitarian Society, much larger number of scholars in both India Appeal to Liberal Christians (Boston: Office of and the United States have already contributed the Christian Register, 1825), p. 40. 6 Ibid., pp. 40-41. to the preparation for this project. We hope 7 Ibid., pp. 41-42. that that many more will respond to the 8 Hooper, p. 104. translation when it is published, for translating 9 Ibid., pp. 104-105. is never finished, and the meaning of this sa­ 10 Hooper, pp. 109-110. cred scripture is never exhausted. Will the 11 N.G. Kalelkar, Preface to Reprint of translation necessarily lose the sacredness in­ Molesworth's Marathi-English Dictionary (Poona: Shubhada-Saraswat, 1975), pp. 19-20. I am in­ herent in Namm~Uvar's "sweet Tamil" verses? debted to Dr. Gary Tubb for calling Molesworth's Is their true significance only comprehended by Dictionary to my attention. the initiated servants of the Lord whom the 12 The Right Rev. Sabapathy Kulandran, "The Ten­ poet is praising? Those remain open ques­ tative Version of the Bible or 'The Navalar Ver­ tions, like the meaning of Deus in Japanese, sion,' " in Tamil Culture, VII., (1958): pp.229-50, tevan in Tamil, and shinjin in English. They de­ p.245. . serve to be the subject of an open discussion, 13 Ibid., p. 235. which we may call an interlinguistic or an in­ 14 Ibid., p. 236. 15 I am indebted to Dennis Hudson for permission tercultural or an interreligious dialogue, dia­ to use his unpublished article, "Tamil Hindu Re­ logue that enlivens both the composition and sponse to Protestants amon'g Nineteenth Century the reception of new translation. Literati in Jaffna and Tinneveily." 16 Kulandran, p. 242. Postscript. Since I have touched on a number 17 A comment on this topic by Thomas Candy, one of topics that I have not been able to develop of Molesworth's COlleagues, in his introduction to adequately, I have asked Francis X. Clooney, the English-Marathi Dictionary, is of considerable interest, not least because it was written at the S.J., and D. Dennis Hudson to append some same time Navalar and Percival were finishing brief comments. I am grateful to both of them their Tamil translation. for their generous response and I want to thank [G]enerally when a Maratha uses that Dr. Hudson also for providing other materials word [deva], he thinks of some village for this essay. Much more needs to be said in god, some local idol, or red painted comparing the approaches in Tamilnadu of stone, and rarely of the Supreme Be­ Roberto de Nobili in the seventeenth century ing: nor has the language as yet capi­ tals, like our own, or ail article like the with those of the German Protestant Bible Greek, to mark the distinction. After translators in the eighteenth century. I should

Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 1991 9 Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 4 [1991], Art. 3

20 John Carman

all, as capitals are now being intro­ ampore Baptist mIssIonaries. He re-edited duced into Maratha deva thus written Carey's publication of the Bengali version of will be the best term, by which to ren­ the Mahiibhiirata and RiimiiyalJa. He was later der the word God. appointed Professor of Literature at the San­ J.T. Molesworth and T. Candy, A Dictionary of English and Marathi, skrit College in 1824. compiled for the Government of Mftyufijay Vidyc1laIikc1r was Carey's pan­ Bombay (Bombay: American Mission dit, employed at College of Fort William in Press, 1847). 1801. He wrote several books "at Carey's sug­ 18 Hooper, pp. 109-110. gestion," including a translation of Hitopadesa from Sanskrit to Bengali in 1808. He is the Appendix I presumed author of a later anonymous attack There exists some significant information from a conservative Hindu perspective on the about a few of these pandits involved in the theology of Ram Mohan Roy. Serampore translations. I am indebted for this and other informa­ Rc1mrc1n Basu was a non-Brahmin scholar tion about the Serampore missionaries and who worked with Carey even before Carey Ram Mohan Roy to Mr. Brian Hatcher, now a moved to Serampore (i.e., before 1800), and Harvard Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Reli­ helped with the Bengali Bible translation. gion writing his dissertation on the mid-nine­ i I Basu also wrote on his own an early work on teenth century Bengali educational reformer, monotheism and a later critique of Brahmins. ISvaracandra Vidyasagar. The information He was one of the first Indian language teach­ about these pandits is from their biographies in I ers (munshis) hired by the British East Indian Bengali. Some information can be found in Company College of Forth William (1801). various surveys of Bengali literature, such as Jayagopc11 Tarkalc1Iikar was sought out by S.K De, Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Carey in 1805 to teach Sanskrit and later edited CentUry and Sukumar Sen, History of Bengali the Bangali journal started in 1818 by the Ser- Literature.

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol4/iss1/3 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1041 10