Bengali Bible History (3)

**List: Bengali Ministry Bible ( বাইবেল ) Bengali... BENGALEE. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. [...] II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. [...] III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT.    The commencement of the first Bengalee version of Scripture may be dated from the year 1793, when Dr. Carey and his coadjutors quitted England to enter upon their labours in India.   During the voyage, Mr. Thomas, a surgeon of Bengal, who was returning thither in company with the mies., employed himself in translating part of the book of Genesis into Bengalee.   The other portions of Scripture translated by Mr. Thomas were the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, part of St. Luke, and the Epistle of St. James; but these versions were executed very incorrectly; and when Dr. Carey, a twelvemonth after his arrival in India, had mastered the language, and addressed himself to the work of translation, he found the MSS. prepared by Mr. Thomas of little or no assistance.   Dr. Carey executed his version of the New Testament immediately from the Greek text; he made great use of Doddridge’s Family Expositor in the translation.   After seven years’ severe labour and study, he completed and published the New Testament at Serampore in 1801.   The edition consisted of 2000 copies of the Testament, besides 500 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which had been struck off the preceding year for immediate distribution.   A testimony as to the estimation in which this version was held was speedily afforded by the appointment of Dr. Carey to the Professorship of the Bengalee, Sanscrit, and Mahratta languages in the College of Fort William, then recently established.   This truly providential circumstance greatly augmented his means of usefulness as a translator of the Scrip- tures; for learned natives crowded from all parts of India to the College for literary employment, and through their instrumentality, Dr. Carey saw all the learning and almost all the languages of India placed within his reach.    An edition of the Bengalee Old Testament, consisting of 1000 copies, was carried through the press in successive portions, between the years 1802 and 1809.   Mr. Fountain, one of the Serampore mies., assisted in the preparation of the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd of Kings, and the 2nd of Chronicles; the remaining books were translated by Dr. Carey, but whether he had recourse to the English version, or executed the work direct from the original, we are not informed. In 1806 a second edition of the New Testament, consisting of 1500 copies, was printed.   The sheets were previously subjected to the most careful revision; every proof was critically examined and compared with the Greek by Dr. Carey and Dr. Marshman; and their increased familiarity with the language enabled them to make several important alterations in the idioms and phraseology.   This edition was followed by large issues of various portions of the Scriptures, printed for separate distribution; and in 1811 a third edition of the New Testament was published in folio, which being designed for the purposes of public worship in native congregations, consisted only of 100 copies.   The progress of the next edition was interrupted by the fire which occurred in the printing office at Serampore in 1812; but by the zeal of friends and the energy of the mies., new types and printing materials were quickly procured, and in the following year the second edition of the Pentateuch, to the extent of 1000 copies, was published.   A fourth and revised edition of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, appeared in 1816: the increased desire manifested by the natives for copies of the Scriptures in Bengalee, led to the publication of several large editions of the New Testament and of various portions of Scripture which appeared in successive years; and in 1832, the eighth edition of the New Testament, carefully revised and corrected, was committed to the press.   It is rather remarkable that the labours of Dr. Carey as a translator commenced with the Bengalee New Testament, and closed, after the long interval of forty years, with its revision.   He completed his last edition of this Testament but a very short period before his death; and in allusion to its completion, he remarked at the time to his friends, that "his work was done, and that he had nothing more to do than to wait the will of his Lord."    Another version of the Bengalee New Testament was undertaken by Mr. Ellerton of the Church My. Society, who had long been stationed at Malda, near the ruins of the ancient Gaur.   His first production was a version of the Gospel of St. John, which was printed at the expense of the Countess of Loudon, principally for the use of a school which she had established at Barrackpore. This version obtained so many strong testimonials in its favour, that the Calcutta Bible Society caused an edition of 2000 copies of the Gospels to be printed in 1817; and in the following year, an edition of the entire Testament, translated by Mr. Ellerton, and consisting of 2000 copies, was issued by the same society, together with a large impression of the Gospels, which were distributed singly to the amount of seven or eight thousand copies.   In 1818 the Baptist mies. settled at Calcutta pub- lished for the same society an edition of 5000 copies of Mr. Ellerton’s version of the Gospel of St. John, with the English on the opposite pages.   In 1823 the Calcutta Committee printed another large edition of Mr. Ellerton’s version of the Gospels and Acts, chiefly for the use of the schools established by the my. societies throughout Bengal; and as this edition was speedily exhausted, another edition of the same extent of 4000 copies was put to press in 1829.   While this edition was in the course of publication, the attention of the Calcutta Committee was drawn to the great improvements which had been made in the Serampore version of the Bengalee New Testament by the critical revisions to which each successive edition had been subjected; and on a careful examination of Mr. Ellerton’s version, it was determined by the committee either to subject it to a very minute and accurate revision, or to substitute some other version in its place.   This led to the important measure of endeavouring to obtain what might be accounted a standard version of the Scriptures in Bengalee. With this view, a sub-committee was formed in 1830, composed of the best scholars of the different denominations of Christians friendly to the Bible Society in Bengal.   They were appointed to execute a version of the entire Scriptures, and agreed to submit their labours to the suggestions of other dis- tinguished scholars.   They began with the book of Genesis, and published it in 1833; the account which they gave as to their mode of procedure was as follows:--"We have," they said, "paid par- ticular regard to the connective links of the history, and we have throughout consulted the Hebrew original, and the best authorities on Scripture criticism: as to the language employed, we have been careful in selecting pure Bengalee words only, such as derive their origin from the Sanscrit, avoiding all Hindustani vocables, and all low expressions."   As farther supplies of the New Testament were imperatively requisite to meet the immediate wants of the people, another edition of 4000 copies of the Gospels and Acts of Mr. Ellerton’s version was printed in 1831; and in 1835, as the revision of the New Testament by the sub-committee had not been accomplished, the Calcutta Society was autho- rised by the Parent Society to print an edition of 5000 copies of Mr. Ellerton’s version as a temporary supply.   Some amendments had been made in the version by the Rev. Mr. Reichardt, which were in part adopted by a sub-committee appointed to conduct this edition through the press.    A third version of the Bengalee Scriptures has been executed by Dr. Yates, a Baptist my., whom we have before mentioned as a translator of the Scriptures into Sanscrit.   The first portion of Dr. Yates’s Bengalee version that was committed to the press appears to have been the Psalter, pub- lished by the Calcutta Society in 1827.   The part of the Bengalee Bible containing the Psalms had been out of print for more than eight years, although repeated applications had been made for it.   On publishing this new translation of the Psalms, the Calcutta Committee presented every native Christian, in full communion with a church of any denomination, with a copy, not only because most of them were too poor to purchase, but principally as a token of brotherly affection, and of concern for their spiritual prosperity.   It was hoped by the committee that this proceeding would "contribute in some measure to the promotion of that love and union between Christians of different nations and com- munions, which our common Lord and Saviour so earnestly implored in his mediatorial prayer (John xvii.); and which will, doubtless, be one of the principal means of convincing the world that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of men."    The first edition of Dr. Yates’s New Testament appears to have been published in 1833.   In the preparation of this version he derived much assistance from his friend and colleague, Mr. Pearce, who had a very accurate acquaintance with the Bengalee language, and also with the Greek original, from which the translation was made.   Dr. Yates remarks concerning him, that "he had the eye of a Christian, a critic, and a printer."   This version was pronounced by competent judges "an able and excellent translation;" and as the Baptist mies. liberally permitted the Bible Society to use their versions with alterations for the word baptism (they being considered in no way parties to such alterations), the Calcutta Committee undertook in 1836 to publish an edition of 5000 copies of the entire Testament.   This edition of Dr. Yates’s version was completed at the expense of the Parent Society in 1837.   Other editions of the same version appear to have been printed, from time to time, by the Baptist mies.   In 1840 a fourth, and very beautiful, edition was issued by them, and in 1844 it underwent an entire and very severe revision; and references and marginal readings were added.   An edition of the Bengalee New Testament in Roman letters was published in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1839: the text adopted was that of Dr. Yates.   In the translation of the Old Testament, Dr. Yates was aided by the British and Foreign Bible Society: the sum of £400 was voted in 1836 in aid of the version, and farther assistance was promised.   The version was completed in 1844: the translation of the entire Bible had occupied Dr. Yates during the space of five years, and five more were employed in printing it.    With the exception of a version of the book of Proverbs by the Rev. W. Morton, of which an edition of 5000 copies was printed by the Calcutta Society in 1842, no other translation of any portion of the Scriptures into Bengalee seems to have been made in addition to the above mentioned versions until 1845, when a new version of the entire Bengalee New Testament, prepared by Dr. Hæberlin, was offered to the Calcutta Society: 250 copies of the Gospel according to St. Mark, and the same number of the Epistle to the Ephesians, have since been printed as specimens of Dr. Hæberlin’s version, in order that its value may be tested.    In 1845 an inquiry was instituted by the Calcutta Society respecting the state of the Bengalee versions, and the practicability of obtaining a version which they might consider their own.   A circular letter was addressed to the various mies. in Bengal for their advice and help.   From the answers received, it appeared that "none of the existing versions, in their present state, fully answered the actual wants of the country; and that either an entirely new version, or a revised and improved edition of some one or other of the existing versions, was absolutely required."   As it had, however, been long acknowledged that the version by Dr. Yates possessed the principal characteristics deemed requisite in a standard version, the Calcutta Society determined to reprint his New Testament, and an edition of 2500 copies was published in 1847, under the care of the Rev. J. Paterson, of the London My. Society.   During the same year the Society likewise printed 5000 copies of Genesis, with the first twenty chapters of Exodus, from Dr. Yates’s version.   About the same time 1000 copies of the Prophecies of Isaiah were printed by Mr. L. Mendes at his own expense, the Society supplying the paper: this work was carried through the press by the Rev. Dr. Duff, and the Rev. A. F. Laeroix.    Another edition of 4000 copies of Dr. Yates’s version of the New Testament was published by the Baptist mies. in 1846: there were also printed for separate distribution, 15,000 copies of each of the Four Gospels, besides other separate portions of Scripture.   A revision of Dr. Yates’s version of the New Testament has since been accomplished, for the Baptist My. Society, by the Rev. J. Wenger, assisted by Mr. Lewis; and editions of this revised version, in 8vo. and other forms, have been published.   Several editions of the same revised version have also been printed, with the permission of the Baptist mies., at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society.   A new edition of Dr. Yates’s translation of the Old Testament, similarly revised by Mr. Wenger, has made considerable progress towards completion.   Meanwhile, a further edition of 2500 New Testaments was completed in 1859, together with 10,000 copies of Genesis, and twenty chapters of Exodus."--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only] THE BENGALEE VERSION, printed at the Baptist Mission Press Calcutta--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: Bengali Character   "18aa" John 1:1- 9 unknown.]

[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]