First Bengali Bible after 200 years
"It was a profoundly satisfying and rewarding experience, based on mutual respect
Calcutta, India., Nov. 19 - The first complete translation of Bible in colloquial Bengali - "Mangalvarta Bible" - has seen the light of day, setting free Roman Catholic Church's Bengali liturgy from its high-flown literary language since William Carey first translated the holy book into Bengali 200 years back.
Published last friday, Mangalvarta Bible is a 40-year endeavour by two writers, Belgian Father Christian Mignon and Bengali poet Sajol Banerjea.
The Bible, published by Xavier Publications at Chitrabani Society, is made up of 3,500 pages and will also be available in Bangladesh.
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Mignon, a Jesuit priest, Biblical scholar and translator, and Banerjea, a poet and teacher, set about translating the holy book in 1967. As the number of pages kept on increasing, the Bible had to be published in three volumes to make it handy.
