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**List: Marathi Ministry Bible ( बायबल )
MAHRATTA, OR MARATHI.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: {Devanagari?} Character n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.] |
मराठी / Marathi Bible History (3)
**List: Marathi Ministry
Bible ( बायबल )
Marathi...
MAHRATTA, OR MARATHI. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. THE extensive country in which the Mahratta language is vernacular is situated between the 16th and
22nd degrees of north latitude, and the 73rd and 79th degrees of east longitude, and is calculated to
enclose a space of 102,000 square miles. It comprehends the whole of Candeish and Aurungabad,
and part of the provinces of Berar, Beeder, and Bejapoor: the Concan, in which the Mahratta language
is continually becoming more and more prevalent, is also included in this territory. In consequence
of the Mahratta conquests, the language is rather widely diffused in other parts of India; it is the court
language of Tanjore, and of several places in the Carnatic. The Mahratta population is supposed to
amount to about eight, or even ten, millions: a correct census appears to have been taken only of the
portions of this country subject to the Bombay presidency; and the total population of the Mahratta
districts under British government amounts to upwards of three and a half millions.II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Mahratta may be regarded as a kind of link between the Sanscrit dialects of Northern India
and the languages of the Deccan. Some of its words and idioms are obviously of cognate origin with
the Bengalee, while in others a notable approximation may be detected to the Tamil, Telinga, and
other languages of the south. About 50,000 words in a Mahratta dictionary have been examined as
to their origin and etymology by Dr. Stevenson, and the result of his analysis is as follows:--Of the
50,000 words he found that 10,000 only were primitives, the rest being merely derivative terms. One
half of these primitives he proved to be pure Sanscrit words; and of the remaining 5000 primitives
he showed that 2000 were likewise of Sanscrit origin, but considerably modified or corrupted in form;
1000 were ascertained to have been introduced from the Persian and Arabic; and the remaining 2000,
equal to one fifth of the whole, were found to exhibit more or less resemblance to correlative words
in the Tamil, Telinga, and Canarese languages, and in the un-Sanscrit portion of the Hinduwee and
Gujerattee dialects. In point of grammatical construction the Mahratta in general corresponds prettynearly with Bengalee and Hinduwee; and, like the former, it is softer in its articulation than many other
Indian dialects. The nouns are possessed of two numbers, three genders, and seven cases. There is
but one form of conjugation for all regular verbs, and auxiliaries are employed in the formation of
some of the tenses. Most of the past tenses have separate forms for the different genders. The gender
of these tenses in intransitive verbs is regulated by that of the nominative case, but in transitive verbs
the past tenses agree in gender with the objective case, and the agent is thrown into the instrumental
case. In the arrangement of words in a sentence, the construction generally observed is to commence
with the agent, and to end with the verb. Two different characters are used in writing Mahratta, the
Modi or Modhe, a kind of running hand, which is derived from, and still retains a strong resemblance
to, the Devanagari; and the Balboodh or Balborah, which appears to be almost, if not quite, the same as
the Devanagari itself. The former, vulgarly termed Morhee, is most generally understood, being employed
in all transactions of business; but the latter is preferred for printing, because it possesses several letters
in which the Modi is deficient: it is besides, uniform and regular in appearance, while the Modi varies
as much in style as the handwriting of different individuals in Europe.III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. A version of the Scriptures in Mahratta was commenced at Serampore in 1804, and in 1807
considerable progress had been made in the translation, both of the Old and of the New Testament,
and part of the Gospel of St. Matthew had been committed to the press. The first few copies of
this Gospel were printed In the Devanagari character, but on its being ascertained that the Modi was
more generally intelligible to the natives, this latter character was employed in all the subsequent
Serampore editions. In 1811 an edition consisting of 1000 copies of the New Testament was com-
pleted, and in 1820 a similar edition of the Old Testament left the press. A second and revised
edition, consisting of 3000 copies of the New Testament, appeared about the year 1825. This version
gave rise, for a time, to considerable controversy, numerous objections being raised against it; which
were, however, successfully repelled by the late lamented Mr. William Greenfield. Yet no farther
editions of this version were issued at Serampore, probably because the two chief dialects of the
Bombay presidency, Mahratta and Gujerattee, appeared to be more particularly within the reach of
the Bombay Bible Society, instituted at Bombay In 1813. Application was made, as before stated, to
this society by Dr. John Taylor, for their sanction in preparing a new version of any portion of the
Scriptures in Mahratta and Gujerattee. Dr. Taylor only lived to complete the Gospel of St. Matthew,
which was printed in 1819.
Another version of the Mahratta Scriptures was commenced in the year 1817 by the American
mies., and various parts of the New Testament were successively issued from the press; till, in
the year 1826, an edition of the entire New Testament was printed by them, with the aid of
the Bombay Auxiliary, and of the Parent Society in London. This edition consisted of a larger
number of some books than of others, the whole edition being about equal to 5000 copies. An
improved and carefully revised edition of this Testament, also consisting of 5000 copies, was printed
in 1830 by the American mies. In 1834 the Bombay Bible Society undertook another revisal
of the Mahratta New Testament, and determined upon issuing an edition of 8000 copies, to be printed
in the Balboodh character. The printing of this edition was commenced in 1835; and during the
same year, the society found it necessary to resolve on a separate edition of the Gospels in the Modi,
or current character, for the use of the lower class of natives.
While these editions of the New Testament were in course of preparation, the translation of the
Old Testament into Mahratta was zealously prosecuted by the American mies., and by the
Rev. J. Dixon, of the Church Mission at Nassuck. An edition of Mr. Dixon's version of the Psalms,
consisting of 1000 copies, was printed for the use of the Bombay Bible Society in 1835: other portions
of the Old Testament were issued at successive intervals, and in 1839, the printing of the Prophetical
Books, translated by Mr. Dixon, was completed. During the same year another edition of 2000copies of the Psalms, revised by Messrs. Dixon and Graves, passed through the press. In 1841 a
thousand copies of the First and Second Books of Kings, translated by the Rev. A. Graves, had been
printed; and an edition of 1000 copies of Mr. Dixon's version of the Pentateuch was in the press,
besides extra copies of some detached portions. About the same period another version of the Psalms,
executed by the Kev. C. P. Farrer, was published, and appears to have been received with peculiar
avidity by the Jews of Bombay.
The whole Bible is now accessible to the Mahratta population, an edition of the Old Testament
having been completed at the American Mission press, on account of the Bible Society, in 1855.
Mr. Dixon, by whom the greater part of this important version was executed, did not live to witness
the completion of this edition at press: he was one of the first Mahratta scholars in India; and it is
stated in a recent report of the Bible Society, that "wide testimony has been afforded of the value
of his translation, which has been characterised by able judges as containing the groundwork and
foundation of a standard version." Still more recently we learn that a revision of the entire Bible has
been completed at Bombay, under the care of a committee appointed for the purpose, and an edition
(yet unfinished) of 5000 copies has since been committed to the press. The polyglot edition of the
Gospel of St. Matthew, referred to in a previous page, has been issued, and copies of it forwarded to
the various societies in India, to the Parent Society, and to learned societies in various countries of
Europe. The edition consists of 250 copies in English and Mahratta in separate columns on the left
hand, and in Gujerattee and Sanscrit on the right hand page; and of 250 copies in English, Mahratta,
Gujerattee and Hindustani, printed as above mentioned, with the Sanscrit at the close of the volume."--1860 S. Bagster [Info only]MAHRATTA, OR MARATHI.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: {Devanagari?} Character n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]
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