Texts, Traditions, and Sacredness : Cultural Translation in Kristapurāṇa

This book presents a critical reading of Kristapurāṇa , the first South Asian retelling of the Bible. In 1579, Thomas Stephens (1549–1619), a young Jesuit priest, arrived in Goa with the aim of preaching Christianity to the local subjects of the Portuguese colony. Kristapurāṇa (1616), a sweeping narrative with 10,962 verses, is his epic poetic retelling of the Christian Bible in the Marathi language. This fascinating text, which first appeared in Roman script, is also one of the earliest printed works in the subcontinent. Kristapurāṇa translated the entire biblical narrative into Marathi a century before Bible translation into South Asian languages began in earnest in Protestant missions. This book contributes to an understanding of translation as it was practiced in South Asia through its study of genre, landscapes, and cultural translation in Kristapurāṇa , while also retelling a history of sacred texts and biblical narratives in the region. It examines this understudied masterpiece of Christian writing from Goa in the early era of Catholic missions and examines themes such as the complexities of the colonial machinery, religious encounters, textual traditions, and multilingualism, providing insight into Portuguese Goa of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first of its kind, the book makes significant interventions into the current discourse on cultural translation and brings to the fore a hitherto understudied text. It will be an indispensable resource for students and researchers of translation studies, comparative literature, religious studies, biblical studies, English literature, cultural studies, literary history, postcolonial studies, and South Asian studies. "This book presents a critical reading of Kristapurāṇa, the first South Asian retelling of the Bible. In 1579, Thomas Stephens (1549-1619), a young Jesuit priest, arrived in Goa with the aim of preaching Christianity to the local subjects of the Portuguese colony. Kristapurāṇa (1616), a sweeping narrative with 10,962 verses, is his epic poetic retelling of the Christian Bible in the Marathi language. This fascinating text, which first appeared in Roman script, is also one of the earliest printed works in the subcontinent. Kristapurāṇa translated the entire biblical narrative into Marathi a century before Bible translation into South Asian languages began in earnest in Protestant missions. This book contributes to an understanding of translation as it was practiced in South Asia through its study of genre, landscapes, and cultural translation in Kristapurāṇa, while also retelling a history of sacred texts and biblical narratives in the region. It examines this understudied masterpiece of Christian writing from Goa in the early era of Catholic missions and examines themes such as the complexities of the colonial machinery, religious encounters, textual traditions, and multilingualism, providing insight into Portuguese Goa of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first of its kind, the book makes significant interventions into the current discourse on cultural translation and brings to the fore a hitherto understudied text. It will be an indispensable resource for students and researchers of translation studies, comparative literature, religious studies, biblical studies, English literature, cultural studies, literary history, postcolonial studies, and South Asian studies"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration Translator’s Note Introduction: Cultures, Scriptures, and Translation I.1 On Translation I.2 Poetry, Accuracy, and the Role of the Translator I.3 Colonization, Cultures, and Postcolonial Translations I.4 Aspects of Cultural Translation I.5 Outline of the Book Notes Chapter 1: Texts, Travels, and Christianities in South Asia 1.1 Times, Places, and People 1.2 Inculturation and Cultural Translation 1.3 South Asia and Its “Christianities” 1.4 The Catholic Wave 1.5 Bible Translation in Protestant Missions 1.5.1 The Tranquebar Mission 1.5.2 The Serampore Mission 1.6 Cultural Palimpsest and the Estado da India Notes Chapter 2: Into the Languages of This Land 2.1 Travelogue 2.2 Epistolary Networks 2.3 Kristapurāṇa 2.4 Many Christian Purāṇas Notes Chapter 3: Genre, Novelization, and Translatability in Kristapurāṇa 3.1 Genre in Translation 3.2 Novelization and the Purāṇa 3.3 Dialogic Nature of Kristapurāṇa 3.4 Culture, Translation, and Vaicunttha 3.5 A Sacred Vocabulary Notes Chapter 4: (Re)Painting Landscapes, (Re)Inventing Tradition 4.1 Geography, Memory, and Cultural Translation 4.2 Travel, Landscapes, and Cultural Translation 4.3 Symbols, Images, and Landscapes in Kristapurāṇa 4.4 Everyday Landscapes 4.5 Landscape, Identity, and Cultural Translation 4.6 The City and the Wilderness Notes Chapter 5: Speaking After 5.1 Translated Worlds 5.2 (Un)charted Landscapes 5.3 Distant Horizons Note Bibliography Primary Sources Kristapurāṇa Manuscripts Secondary Sources Appendix 1: The Rise of Joseph in Egypt Appendix 2: The Fall of Angels Index