Bible Society of India

The Bible Society of India is a Christian body that is authorized to translate, produce, distribute and market the Bible and is a member of the United Bible Societies.

Bible Society of India

Bible Society of India - earlier office situated on Cubbon Park end - The Karnataka Auxiliary is now situated in this premises.
Abbreviation	BSI
Predecessor	The British and Foreign Bible Society in India and Ceylon
Formation	21 February 1811[1]
Founder	The British and Foreign Bible Society
Founded at	Nagpur[1]
Type	Bible Society
Legal status	Society
Purpose	Literary
Headquarters	Bangalore
Location	India
Region	Indian subcontinent
Services	Contribution, Translation, Printing, Distribution
Official language	English
Secretary General	Rev. Dr. Kavito G. Zhimo
President	Rev. Dr. Leelavathi Vemuri
Vice-President	Rev. Dr. Bijaya Kumar Pattnaik
Treasurer	Mr. Deepank George Pothan
Directors	Translations: The Rev. Dr. W. Along Jamir,[2] D.Th. (Serampore) Church Relations and Resource Mobilisation: The Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi,[3] D. Th. (Serampore) (Associate Director), Marketing and Publishing: Mr. Paul Stephen (Director),[2] Media and Special Audience: Mr. Caleb Hilton Martin (Associate Director),[2] Production: Mr. Ashith Ezekiel (Director),[2] Finance: Mr. Tinku George (Director)
Main organ	India Bible Society Trust Association (IBSTA)[4]
Parent organization	United Bible Societies
Subsidiaries	17
Affiliations	National Council of Churches in India
Website	https://www.bsind.org/
Remarks	Sowing Circle (A publication of the BSI)
Formerly called	The Bible Society of India and Ceylon

The motto of the Society is to translate the word of God into languages, which people can understand, in a format they have access to, and produce the scriptures at a price people could afford to buy. The Bible Society works together with many organizations in India to translate the Bible into various languages of India. The Bible is now available in 74 Indian languages, the New Testament in 92 additional languages,^[5] Braille Bibles in 15 Indian languages for visually impaired people, and Scripture portions in 48 languages.^[6]

History

On 21 February 1811, a meeting was held "at the college of Fort William for the propriety of instituting a Bible Society, as Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society established in London", entitled "The Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society" with the same objectives as those in London." This Auxiliary Bible Society in Serampore, West Bengal first began an attempt to coordinate the supply of Scriptures to existing Christians in Portuguese, Tamil, Cingalese, Malayalam, and Canarese languages. They sent 5,000 Cingalese (Sinhalese) New Testaments to a new Auxiliary Bible Society in Ceylon formed in August 1812.^[7]

The headquarters of the Bible Society of India moved from Nagpur to Bangalore in 1950, under the leadership of General Secretary Premanand Mahanty. The Central Office of the Bible Society of India is located in Bangalore city in the state of Karnataka in South India.^[8]

The Translations

Succession of Translation Directors
1960-1981 The Rev. C. Arangaden, Th.M. (Princeton), 1981-1984 The Rev. M. P. John, Ph.D. (Chicago), 1984-1991 The Rev. John Philipose, Ph.D. (St.Andrews), 1991-2011 The Rev. G. D. V. Prasad, M. Th. (Serampore), 2011-2021 The Rev. Jonadob Nathaniel, D.Th. (SEAGST) 2021- The Rev. Dr. W. Along Jamir, D.Th. (Serampore)

Sources for translating and revising

The Society depends on original sources material of the scriptures available in Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Greek languages for which the sources include the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Novum Testamentum Graece.

Pool of Scholars trained in Biblical languages

Since the beginning, the Society worked together with the National Council of Churches in India and the Senate of Serampore College (University) and the first Translations Director, C. Arangaden helped found the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SBSI) which had been fully-ecumenical consisting of Biblical Scholars from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Charismatic Church Societies.

Father Rene Van de Walle a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India was associated with the revision of the Marathi Bible. Similarly, Father Lucien Legrand was associated with the inter-confessional translation in Tamil language. With this background, the Society systematically built up a pool of Biblical Scholars who specialised in Old Testament with Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew and also New Testament with Biblical Greek. The Scholars include Yisu Das Tiwari, B. E. Devaraj, C. Arangaden, Victor Premasagar, E. C. John, K. V. Mathew, M. P. John, John Philipose, Gnana Robinson, G. Babu Rao, Timotheas Hembrom, Nitoy Achümi, Basil Rebera, S. John Theodore and others.

Inter-confessional translations

The Society translates and revises the scriptures from the original Biblical languages without prejudice to Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic or Charismatic. As such, the translations of the Society are held in regard by the Christians. Though the Catholics did not have scriptures in a language of their own, it was the outcome of the Second Vatican Council which paved way for the vernacular translations.

Old Testament and New Testament Scholars of the Catholic Churches worked together with the Society to either translate or revise vernacular translations and were also instrumental in inter-confessional translations.^[9] The Rev. Father D. S. Amalorpavadass was a strong proponent^[9] for the inter-confessional translations making the Bible Society to come out with one such version in Tamil language. In other languages of India too, the Catholic Fathers were very much in favour^[10] of an inter-confessional translation.

In the recent times, the Society works together with the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India led by Fr. Govindu Rayanna,^[11] a New Testament Scholar^[12] and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India.

The Translation Directors

The Directors who led the translation at the Society were notable in the Senate of Serampore College (University) having taught at either the constituent College of the University or its affiliated institutions. It was during the period of C. Arangaden that the translations department was built up together with the General Secretary, the rural Pastor, A. E. Inbanathan had much understanding of the Church and Christianity in India and worked together with the Senate of Serampore College (University). It was during their tenure that thoroughbred Scholars were appointed throughout India leading to quality translations.

Auxiliaries of the Bible Society of India^[13][14]

No.	Founding year	Name of the Auxiliary	Location	State	Secretary[15]
I.	1983	Aizawl Auxiliary	Aizawl	Mizoram	Rev Remlal Faka
II.	1845	Allahabad Auxiliary	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh	The Rev. Chittaranjan Polson
III.	1951	Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary	Guntur	Andhra Pradesh	The Rev. Rev John Vikram (CSI) BD., M.Th.,
IV.	2020	BSI Andaman Nicobar Auxiliary	Port Blair	Andaman Nicobar Island	The Dn. Ranjit Paswan
V.	1813	Bombay Auxiliary	Mumbai	Maharashtra	Mr. Shantwan Raiborde,[16] B. D. (Serampore)[16]
VI.	1811	Calcutta Auxiliary	Kolkata	West Bengal	Rev. Philip Bari
VII.	1986	Dimapur Auxiliary	Dimapur	Nagaland	The Rev. Yiepetso Wezah, D. Th. (Serampore)
VIII.	1969	Gujarat Auxiliary	Ahmedabad	Gujarat	The Rev. David H. Desai,[17] CNI, B. D. (Serampore)
IX.	1986	Jabalpur Auxiliary	Jabalpur	Madhya Pradesh	The Rev. Daniel Nath
X.	1945	Karnataka Auxiliary	Bangalore	Karnataka	Ms. B. S. Shashikala Alva, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore)
XI.	1956	Kerala Auxiliary	Kottayam	Kerala	The Rev. Jacob Antony Koodathinkal
XII.	1953	North West India Auxiliary	New Delhi	New Delhi	The Rev. Gershombhai Khirsti, CNI, B. D. (Serampore)[18]
XIII.	1983	Odisha Auxiliary	Cuttack	Odisha	The Rev. B. K. Kouri
XIV.	1966	Ranchi Auxiliary	Ranchi	Jharkhand	The Rev. Soma Bhatkar, CNI
XV.	1956	Shillong Auxiliary	Shillong	Meghalaya	The Rev. V.T.S. Langstieh
XVI.	1820	Tamil Nadu Auxiliary	Chennai	Tamil Nadu	The Rev. P. Moses Devadason, CSI, B. D. (Serampore)[19]
XVII.	2016	Telangana Auxiliary	Secunderabad	Telangana	The Rev. John Basy Paul, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore)

Management of the Society

The Society has been led by able administrators hailing from the Clergy. During 1980 when a gap arose, the Society had to appoint Laymen for a temporary period but with the appointment of The Rev. M. Mani Chacko, an Old Testament Scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SBSI), the Society is again led by the Clergy.

Trust Association

The India Bible Society Trust Association (IBSTA) is the main management body which runs the administration of the Bible Society of India and has been led by Theologians including Victor Premasagar, Navamani Elia Peter and other Clergy.

General Secretaries

Though General Secretaries were in short tenures, it was the rural Pastor, The Rev. A. E. Inbanathan who held the longest tenure and built up the society in all spheres in Translation, Promotion, Distribution and Resource Mobilisation.

Years	Succession of General Secretaries[20]	Earned Academic Credentials/Other notes
1944-1947	The Rev. J. S. M. Hooper, WMMS,[21]	B. A. (Oxford), M. A. (Oxford)/ Kaisar-i-Hind Medal 1938
1947-1949	The Rev. George Sinker, C of E
1949-1958	Mr. Premananda MohantyLaity	M. A. (Calcutta)[22]/ M. L. A. - Odisha Legislative Assembly 1937-1946[23]
1958-1959	Ms. Marjorie HarrisonLaity[24]
1959-1960	The Rev. W. Park Rankin, MCI
1960-1981	The Rev. A. E. Inbanathan, CSI	B. D. (Serampore), M. A. (Union), Ph.D. (Hartford)
1981	Major General O. M. Mani,[25] Corps[26]Laity	Retired Military Officer of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers
1981-1982	Mr. T. Albert Manoraj, IPSLaity[27]	Retired Police Official
1982-1985	Mr. T. John Ramakrishnan, IASLaity[28]	Retired Civil Servant
1985-2011	Mr. B. K. Pramanik, OSCSLaity[29]	Odisha State Service Official who voluntarily resigned from the service
2011-	The Rev. M. Mani Chacko, CSI	B. D. (Serampore), M. Th. (Serampore), Ph.D. (London)

Sowing Circle

Sowing Circle is a triannual magazine published in English in Bangalore by the Bible Society of India, for private circulation, containing reviews of its work throughout the Indian subcontinent.^[30]

The magazine has often been referred to by Scholars^[31] and other Writers.^[32] David Vumlallian Zou of the University of Delhi in The Pasts of a Fringe Community: Ethno-history and Fluid Identity of the Zou in Manipur^[33] has substantially cited the magazine in matters relating to translations in Zou language.

References

1. Neville Barker Cryer, Bibles Across the World, Mowbrays, 1979, p.109.
2. Bible Society of India, Leadership
3. Phualva Times, Dr. Machhungi in BSI CRRM ah Associate Director len ding, February 17, 2019.
4. Tax Management, India
5. "Translation". Bible Society of india. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 12 Oct 2015.
6. Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 70. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
7. Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 12,13. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
8. Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 23. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
9. Basil Rebera, The Bible Society of India and Inter-Confessional Translations, in D. S. Amalorpavadass (Edited), Report of the II All-India Biblical Meeting, NBCLC, Bangalore, 1975, p.348.
10. C. Arangaden, Fiddler in the Zoo, iUniverse, Bloomington, 2011, p.89.
11. The Sowing Circle, Volume 28, Number 1, January-April 2012, p.20
12. Rayanna Govindu, The Table Fellowship of Jesus (Luke 5.27-32), Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 2003.
13. The Bible Society of India, list of Auxiliaries, October 2015
14. The Sowing Circle, Volume 34, Number 2, July–December 2018.
15. The Sowing Circle, Volume 32, Number 1, January-April 2016, p.9
16. Linked In^{[permanent dead link‍]}
17. Church of North India. Archived 2016-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
18. Serampore Examination Registration.
19. "The Sowing Circle, Volume 29, Number 2, May-August 2013, pp.32-33" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
20. G. D. V. Prasad, Chiranjivi J. Nirmal, Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective, The Bible Society of India 1811-2011, Bible Society of India, Bangalore, 2000, (revised edition 2011), p.115. ^{[dead link‍]}
21. Kenneth Cracknell, Susan J. White, An Introduction to World Methodism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005, p.150.
22. University of Calcutta Calendar 1929, p.511.
23. Odisha Legislative Assembly - List of Members in First Pre-Independence Assembly (03/02/1937-14/09/1945).
24. Annual Report of the American Bible Society, Volume 149, American Bible Society, 1964, p.144.
25. J. S. Ishar, History of Project Vartak, Border Roads Organisation.
26. J. S. Bawa, History of the Corps of Engineers, Palit & Palit Publishers, New Delhi, 1980, p.193.
27. The Civil List of Indian Police Service, 1968, p.232
28. Interact 2012 of the Indiranagar Methodist Church, Bangalore
29. Mr. B. K. Pramanik has been conferred a honorary doctorate by an unrecognised institution which has no standing before the University Grants Commission. Hence, the prefix has been retained as Mr. See Some Distinguished Alumni and Honorary Degree Recipients of IICM.
30. Magazine Training International, Sowing Circle
31. Bangalore Theological Forum, Volume 33, 2001
32. Daniel Sathiaraj, Everyday with Our Awesome God: Inspiring True Stories.
33. David Vumlallian Zou, The Pasts of a Fringe Community: Ethno-history and Fluid Identity of the Zou in Manipur in Indian Historical Review, Volume 36, Issue 2, 2009, pp.209–235.

External links

• Bible Society of India