FR NELSON FALCAOS NEW EDITION OF THE KHRISTAPURANA OF FR THOMAS STEPHENS, WITH MARATHI TRANSLATION
Ivo Coelho, SDB Nashik, 14 November 2009. Fr Nelson Falcaos new edition and Marathi translation of Thomas Stephens Khristapurana was released at a well-attended function at Parshuram Natyagruha, Nashik, 14 November 2009 in the presence of eminent persons from the field of Marathi literature and learning. Mr Vinayakdada Patil, President of the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan and the Marathi Sahitya Parishad, Nashik, presided at the function. Bishop Thomas Bhalerao, SJ, former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nashik; Fr Francis DBritto of Vasai; Dr A.H. Salunkhe, well-known rationalist thinker and lecturer, and Dr Dilip Dhondge, specialist in the Sant literature of Maharashtra, were the speakers. The Khristapurana was written over 400 years ago in Goa by Fr Thomas Stephens, an English Jesuit who landed in Goa in 1579, and who has the distinction of probably being the first Englishman to have set foot in India. In response to requests by native Christians for a life of Christ that they could understand, he mastered Konkani and Marathi and immersed himself in the Hindu Vaishnavite literature to come out with his 11,000 verse purana, which has been acknowledged by many, including the speakers at the book release function, as a genuine masterpiece of Marathi poetry. Parts of the Khristapurana have been sung by generations of Christians along the Western coast of India, from Vasai in the north to Mangalore in the south. Fr Stephens monumental achievement is one of the great examples of inculturation in the world: just as St Paul communicated the Christian faith to the Hellenistic world, just as St Augustine made use of the Greek philosopher Plato, while St Thomas Aquinas borrowed from the other famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, so the enterprising English Jesuit expressed the Christian story in the form of a purana. Dr Salunkhe said that such an attitude and desire to understand the other was sorely needed at the present moment in the history of our country. There is urgent need, he said, of such bridging forces. Every single one of the speakers mentioned Stephens well-known verses in praise of the Marathi language. Fr Stephens made it evident so long ago that the Christian command of love covers not only the individual but also his or her culture and language. The novelty of Fr Falcaos new edition of the Khristapurana is that it is the first to be based on the Marsden Manuscript, which is a Devanagari manuscript discovered in the School of Oriental Studies, London, by Mr J.E. Abbott around the year 1923. Fr Stephens himself had his purana printed in Roman script because of the unavailability of Devanagari type. The subsequent three editions including the Mangalore one of J.L. Saldanha in 1907 were also in Roman script. There were two subsequent editions, that of Bandelu in 1956 and of Drago in 1996, which were in Devanagari script, but both were transliterations of Saldanhas Roman script version. The Falcao edition is therefore the first to provide us with a Devanagari text based on the Marsden manuscript. What makes the latter so special is the fact that it contains Sanskrit and Marathi based theological terms where the earlier editions had Portuguese or Latin based terms. An example is baptism, which is rendered as jnana-snana incidently, a term which Robert de Nobili also used, perhaps under Stephens influence, and which is still current in Tamil Christian usage today. The work of Fr Falcao also has the distinction of being the very first translation of the Khristapurana. He reports that he had begun actually by working on an English translation, but then found that he had to first fix the Devanagari text, and so concentrated on translating it into contemporary Marathi. Dr Dhondge as well as Mr Patil said that Fr Falcao had, in effect, continued Fr Stephens work of communicating the story of Jesus to a contemporary audience. Fr Falcao, who hails from Vasai, comes well prepared for the job of editing and translating the Khristapurana, with his native meticulousness as well as an enviable mastery of Marathi, as well as English, Italian and some other European languages. His doctoral thesis at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, on the hermeneutical strategy of Thomas Stephens makes him eminently suited to the task of editing and translation. There is no doubt that Falcaos text and translation is a monumental achievement and a labour of love. It will be an important addition to any scholarly library, despite the fact that it caters primarily to a Marathi readership. It might also be of interest to know that Fr Falcao is already at work on the English translation of the Khristapurana which, perhaps, even more than the Marathi translation, will be a historical event, since it will lay open this great and marvellous text to the world and bring Thomas Stephens into his rightful place as one of the great pioneers of inculturation in India and an extraordinary example of interreligious and intercultural fusion. One of the speakers even called for a German translation. A curious thing is that no one in the recent past has been able to find any copy of the first three editions. Saldanha himself reports that he based himself on five manuscripts. Four of these were in Roman script: those of Messrs. Dunbar Brothers of Parel, Bombay; Mr Marian Saldanha (with all probability Dr Mariano Saldanha of Ucassaim, Goa); Mr Julian Coelho; and the Rev. S.B.C. Luis. The fifth was in Devanagari, which Saldanha says was lent to him by a Mr Jerome A. Saldanha, Sub-Judge of Alibagh, Bombay Presidency, who seems to have gone up and down the Konkan coast, from the Royal Asiatic Society in Bombay to Mangalore, lecturing on the Khristapurana and requesting people to lend him copies in their possession. Fr Falcao himself is in possession of some 15 versions of the Khristapurana, between editions and manuscripts. Though he does not anywhere in his book give us a complete list of these, I would imagine that it includes a couple in Kannada script (perhaps copies of the ones in possession of the Carmelite Fathers in Mangalore), and the manuscript from the Central Library in Panjim, which purports to be a copy of the third edition of 1654. May we hope that the publication of the Falcao edition and translation might be an occasion to mount a new search for information about the lost editions, as well as for any manuscripts in the possession of libraries and individuals? Ivo Coelho, SDB (the author may be contacted at ivo.coe...@gmail.com). * * * Goanet A&E www.goanet.org
