Punjabi Bible History (3)

**List: Punjabi Ministry the Bible ( al-Kitáb, کتب ) Punjabi... PUNJABEE, OR SIKH. "THE Punjab is an extensive country of North-west Hindoostan, situated chiefly between the 29th and 34th degrees of north latitude, and the 70th and 77th degrees of east longitude.   Before 1849, it constituted an independent state, but was in that year brought under British rule.   The Punjab derives its name from two Persian words signifying five waters, in allusion to the five great streams, arms of the Indus, by which it is intersected.   It was the scene of the last campaign of Alexander the Great.   According to Thornton, the total area of the Punjab is 78,447 square English miles, and its population scarcely falls short of 7,000,000.   Jats, Rajpoots, Hindoos of low caste, various hill tribes, and Muss_lm_ns, constitute part of this population; but the Sikhs, or disciples (as the name signifies in Sanscrit), are the dominant race.   Burnes conjectured the Sikhs to number but 500,000 individuals: this, however, is a subject involved in much uncertainty.   The Sikhs were originally Hindoos, and their incorporation as a sect, with the assumption of a distinctive appellation, dates from the close of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth, century.   Their founder, Nanac, a native of the Punjab, was born in 1469: he professed a desire to reform, not to destroy, the Hindoo religion, and sought to reconcile the jarring faiths of Brahma and Moh_mm_d, so as to unite the followers of each system into one body.   The creed which he inculcated was one of pure deism, founded on the most sublime general truths, and breathing a spirit of peace and toleration; yet his followers speedily lost sight of the purity of his doctrines, retaining only the remembrance of the Hindoo and Moh_mm_dan fables which had found a place in his system.   Guru Govind, the tenth guru or teacher in succession from Nanac, impressed a new character on the religion of his followers, by recognising the equality of all men. thus finally abolishing the distinction of caste, and enforcing the bearing of arms as a religious duty incumbent on all.   He was the founder of the temporal power of the Sikhs: he was killed A.D. 1708. I.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DIALECT.    The Sareswati, one of the dialects altered from the Sanscrit for colloquial purposes, and hence called Pracrit, or derived, appears to have been anciently the vernacular of the Punjab; but it under- went many alterations, owing to the invasions of the Moh_mm_dans, and numerous foreign words were by degrees engrafted on it.   The Punjabee or modern dialect of the Sikhs possesses many Persian and Arabic terms, yet it still retains clear traces of its Sanscrit origin, and exhibits a close resemblance to the Hinduwee.   In the specimen of the Lord’s Prayer in Punjabee, given by the Serampore mies., no less than thirty words were found nearly identical with the corresponding terms in the Hinduwee and Bengalee specimens.   The Punjabee characters, though peculiar to that dialect, present comparatively few points of difference from the Devanagari, being the same in number, order, and power, though slightly varying in form. II.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT.    A version of the New Testament in Punjabee was commenced at Serampore in 1807, but the fount of types which had been prepared for printing it was one of those which were so unfortunately destroyed by fire.   The loss, however, was speedily replaced, and in 1813 the Gospels and Acts were announced as finished.   The entire New Testament, in an edition of 1000 copies, was completed in 1815.   In 1832 a second edition was undertaken.   The translation of the Old Testament into Pun- jabee has only been partially accomplished.   In 1820 an edition of the Pentateuch and Historical Books was issued, followed during the ensuing year by an edition of the Hagiographa; and a small portion of the Prophetical Books was afterwards printed.   But the pundit who assisted Dr. Carey in the preparation of this version was seized with a complaint which terminated in death; and as no pundit could be met with capable of supplying his place, the work was entirely suspended.   The translation had been conducted as far as the close of Ezekiel’s Prophecy, at which point it still remains. Efforts are now being made to furnish the Sikhs with a new version of the Scriptures.   The mies. in the neighbourhood of the Punjab are at present employed in translating the New Testament, and it is the intention of the Agra Bible Society to appoint a regular sub- committee to superintend this important undertaking.   Arrangements have lately been made by that society with the mies. at Loodiana for the printing of 5000 copies of the Gospel of St. John in Punjabee.   An edition of 5000 copies of Genesis, and 20 chapters of Exodus, has also been completed, and is ready for circulation; and an edition of the Psalms in this language was (according to recent intelligence) about to be immediately put to press.   But the progress of the Punjabee versions has been slow, owing to the difficulty of obtaining men qualified to conduct the work, and at the same time able to devote sufficient time to its accomplishment.   An edition of 5000 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke has sub- sequently been completed (1857); and it is stated that the Gospel of St. Matthew was then about to be commenced.   We are unaware to what extent the farther progress of this work may have suffered from the disasters which attended the mutiny of 1857."--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only]

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