The world celebrated September 30 as the International Translation Day to commemorate the feast of St. Jerome, who was the first to translate the Bible from Hebrew to Latin.
Coming to translation, Vizagapatam (Visakhapatnam as then called by the British) has a page in the history of this crafty art.
It is in this once sleepy fishing town that the Greek version of the New Testament of Bible was first translated into ‘Teloogoo’ (Telugu, as then spelt by the Englishmen) in the early part of the 19th century.
History records that Rev. Benjamin Schulz was the first to translate parts of the Bible into the native Telugu language in the early part of the 18th century, and the manuscripts were sent to Halle in Germany for printing. It is unclear as to what had happened to the manuscripts, but they were not printed.
Later, in 1805, two missionaries from the London Missionary Society, George Cran and Augustus de Granges, landed in Vizagapatam, with the task of providing English education to native children and to reproduce the Bible in the native tongue.
They first started a school within a fortnight of their arrival. Their subsequent efforts resulted in starting of an Anglo Vernacular School in 1836, which is still in existence by the name CBM High School.
For accomplishing the second goal, the missionaries took up learning Telugu and in two years mastered the language.
But it was in 1808 that a Maratha Brahmin by name Subba Rayer, who worked as accountant in Tippu Sultan’s army, joined them.
Subba Rayer, a native of Tranquebar (now called Tarangambadi in Tamil Nadu), converted to Christianity and changed his name to Anand Rayer.
An exponent in Telugu and Tamil, Anand Rayer moved to Vizagapatam to assist the missionaries.
In 1808, George Cran passed away and in 1810 Augustus de Granges too died.
But Anand Rayer did not lose hope. By that time, three gospels, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had been completed and were ready for printing.
He took the manuscripts to William Carey at Seerampore in Bengal, who had by then translated the Bible into Bengali.
Though it was only part of the New Testament, the first-ever printed version of the Bible in Telugu was printed in 1812.
Later, Anand Rayer was joined by Rev. Edward Pritchett in Vizagapatam in 1812, and both took up translating the full version of the New Testament. And the first full print of the New Testament in Telugu came out in 1818.
The full version was printed in Madras.
According to Mr. Edward Paul of INTACH, who researched on this subject, only three original copies of the first printed Telugu Bible are available now. While one is in the British Library in London, the other two are in United Theological College, Bengaluru, and with a seller of old books in the U.S.
Basing on the contribution made by Anand Rayer, the Bell at London Mission Memorial Church in Visakhapatnam is named after him as ‘Ananda Sunadam’
History records that Rev. Benjamin Schulz was the first to translate parts of the Bible into the native Telugu language in the early part of the 18th century
History records that Rev. Benjamin Schulz was the first to translate parts of the Bible into the native Telugu language in the early part of the 18th century
