11-March-2004
{Mathrubhumi dt. 8-Mar-2004}
{Mathrubhumi dt. 11-Mar-2004}
200th Anniversary of the Bible Society celebrated by the Indian Church
On 7 March 2004, the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bible Society was celebrated by its Kerala Auxiliary (South Indian State) by organizing a rally in which thousands participated. The rally started from the statue of Benjamin Bailey, the European who was the main inspiration behind the publishing of the Bible for the first time in ‘Printed format’ in the local language, MALAYALAM, two centuries back. Bishops Thomas Mor Thimotheos and Bishop Sam Mathew led the rally.
A public meeting was also held later in the evening at the Jerusalem Marthoma Church, Kottayam, which was inaugurated by Episcopa Rt.Rev.Dr. Issac Mar Philoxenos of Marthoma Church. Bible Society of India, Kerala Auxiliary President His Grace Dr. Thomas Mor Thimotheos who is also the Metropolitan of Kottayam diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, presided the meeting.
His Grace Kuriakose Mor Sevarios (Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Knanaya community), Bishop Rt.Rev. Sam Mathew (Former Bishop of Church of South India), Rev. P C Yohannan Ramban (Malankara Orthodox Church), Bible Society Kerala Auxiliary secretary Rev. Samuel T Varghese and many others spoke on the occasion. At the end of the meeting, Bishop Issac Mar Philoxenos inaugurated the reedited version of the Holy Bible by presenting the first copy to H.G. Thomas Mor Thimotheos Metropolitan.
HISTORY OF THE HOLY BIBLE IN KERALA, INDIA
It was on March 7, 1804, that the Society, which functions in over 220 nations worldwide today, started in a humble way in London.
Kottayam occupies a special place in the history of Bible, as it was here that the first complete Malayalam Bible was printed by Benjamin Bailey, the Anglican missionary, in 1841. However, the history of bible in Kerala goes further back.
One of the rarest copies of Bible, a manuscript in Syriac, is of Kerala origin. It was given to Dr. Claudius Bucanan, the then vice principal of Serambur college, on his visit to Travancore in 1806. The handwritten book belongs to the period between AD sixth and 12th Centuries, it is believed. It is kept at the Cambridge University Library.
According to Bishop Thomas Mar Thimotheos, president, Kerala Auxiliary of the Society, the history of Malayalam bible is closely linked to the evolution of Malayalam printing and print language and even the evolution of the script. The first four books of the New Testament were translated into Malayalam in the early 19th century. In the absence of Malayalam fonts, one of the translators, Thimmappilla, had to go all the way to Bombay to cast Malayalam fonts. He completed the printing in 1811. Again, Dr. Bailey had to create his own wooden press to print his version of the Gospel according to Mathew in 1825.
According Rev. Samuel T .Varghese, the Bible Society is engaged in an effort to publish a re-edited version of the Malayalam Bible now in use to make the language more in tune with the times.