A Bible, published in a modern, easy-to-read form of Marathi language, is proving an instant hit after its publisher sold 2,000 copies in less than three weeks. “It’s a Marathi language bestseller,” said Anand Hardikar, editor of the Pune-based publisher Rajhans Prakashan, on July 31.
Father Francis D’Britto from Vasai diocese translated all 73 books in the Catholic Bible into the main language of Maharashtra state, which has some 300,000 Marathi-speaking Catholics and Protestants.
The Subodh (easy-to-read) Bible is scheduled for a second print run by the end of September. The 1,200-page book was priced at 1,200 rupees (US$26) but sold at a discount of 750 rupees.
Father D’Britto, a popular Marathi-language writer, said he is “thrilled” that the work, “written in popular style primarily for the Hindus, has been sold out.”
There have been several translations in the 200-year-history of the Marathi Bible, but this is the first work adapted for the “modern-day man,” the 67-year-old priest said.
British Protestant missioner William Carey first published the Gospel According to Saint Mathew in Marathi in West Bengal in 1807.
The latest translation is based on the Revised Standard Version, the New Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible, Father D’Britto said.
It contains 36 color and 300 black-and-white pictures from painters like Michelangelo and Piccaso, as well as contemporary Indian painter Angelo Fonseca, for people to understand the Bible’s message better, the priest said.
V.S. Chaughule, a Hindu writer and critic, said some 1,900 footnotes and pictures help non-Christian readers like him understand the significance of each book for modern life.
Each book has an introduction so readers can understand the main themes and literary flavor of the books, he said.
SIC: CTHIND