Church to celebrate bicentenary of Malayalam Bible

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The bicentenary of the first translation of the Bible into Malayalam, mother-tongue of Kerala, where Christians account for nearly 20 per cent of the population, is to be celebrated by the Malankara Orthodox Church this week.

According to church historians, Philipose Ramban, a local scholar from Kayamkulam in south Kerala, translated the Bible from Syriac into Malayalam in 1811 for a better understanding of the scripture for the local devotees.

The Rev Claudius Buchannan, a missionary who toured South India in the early 19th century, persuaded Ramban to translate the holy text into the regional language.

During his visit to Kerala, the Orthodox Church authorities in Travancore gave Buchannan a copy of the Bible in Syriac - known in local parlance as 'Suriyani'.

For centuries, Syriac was the litrugical language of Christians in Kerala, who believe that the gospel was preached in Kerala by St Thomas the Apostle.

While appreciating the gesture, Buchannan told the church leaders to translate the Syriac text into Malayalam and gave guidance to some local Suriyani and Tamil scholars to undertake the task.