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"III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.
The first attempt to produce a Karnata
translation of the Scriptures was commenced at Serampore
in 1808: the work, however, from various causes, appears to have been laid
aside from time to time;
and it was not till 1822 that an edition of 1000 copies of the New Testament
was completed at press.
A version of the Old Testament was also undertaken, and partly executed, by
the Serampore mies.;
but they afterwards relinquished the work on finding that similar efforts
were being made by
other labourers, who, from being stationed in the country where the language
is vernacular, enjoyed
greater facilities for the successful prosecution of the translation.
The Karnata or Canarese version,
was, in fact, one of the first contemplated by the Calcutta Bible Society.
In 1813 they made an
application to the Archbishop of Goa concerning the necessity of supplying the
native Christians of
Goa and its neighbourhood with the Canarese Scriptures. These
[Traditionalist]s were Roman Catholics,
and numbered about 200,000. The archbishop, in the true spirit of his
church, discouraged the under-
taking. One of the objections which he urged was, however, afterwards
found to be correct; for he
alleged, and with truth, that the Canarese Christians of Goa spoke a mixture
of different languages,
and that their dialect varied greatly in many districts.
No farther steps were taken by the committee till, in 1817, a letter was addressed to them by
Mr. Hands, of Bellary, an agent of the London My. Society,
stating that he had translated
the whole of the New Testament into Canarese. As this
translation was found on examination by
competent judges to be adapted for general usefulness, an edition of 2000
copies of the Gospels and
Acts was printed at Madras, with the sanction and at the expense of the
society, under the immediate
eye of the translator. In order that Mr. Hands might not be longer
detained from his station, the
types and material for printing were afterwards forwarded to Bellary, and the
entire New Testament
was completed in 1821. At this period, Mr. Hands had likewise
completed the translation of the Old
Testament; and his friend and coadjutor, the Rev. Wm. Reeve, had engaged in a
separate translation
of the Pentateuch, with the view of comparing it with that of Mr. Hands, and
of securing by this
means a more correct and idiomatic version. In 1822, while these two
translators were labouring
conjointly in their important undertaking, they were invited by the Madras
Bible Committee, upon
whom the superintendence of this translation had devolved, to
associate themselves with Mr. A. D.
Campbell and Mr. R. C. Gosling, so as to form a sub-committee of translation,
calling in the farther
aid of such learned men as they should find expedient. Under the care
of this sub-committee, there-
fore, the revision of the Old Testament was continued; and every separate
portion was again subjected
to the careful inspection of the committee at Madras previously to its
publication. The printing of
the Old Testament was commenced in 1827, and in the following year, Mr. Hands made the following
statement concerning his own share in the translation:--"The work was commenced sixteen years ago,
and scarcely a day has passed in which I have not laboured therein: it has
engaged the best part of
my time and strength: many of the books have been revised and re-copied seven
or eight times." The
printing of the New Testament, which had been commenced at Madras in 1820,
was completed at
Bellary in 1831, by the publication of the Epistles and the Book of
Revelation, under the care of
the sub-committee. In 1832, the Old Testament likewise left the press,
and a sub-committee was
formed for the express purpose of revising the New Testament, prior to a
second edition. This edition
was intended to consist of 5000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, 1000 extra
copies of St. Luke and
Acts, and 3000 copies of the Epistles: it does not appear, however, that the
edition was eventually
issued.
It has, however, been subsequently found desirable to submit the
entire Canarese Scriptures to a
farther and more elaborate revision, under the immediate care of the Rev. G.
H. Weigle, who was
engaged by the British and Foreign Bible Society, at the instance of the
Madras Committee of
Revision, to devote his entire time to the task. Under this
arrangement, a thoroughly revised trans-
lation of the Canarese New Testament was completed in 1853, and two large
editions have been
published (the one at Bellary, and the other at Bangalore) since that date.
A like revision of the Old
Testament has subsequently been accomplished. The whole has been
printed, and is now (1860) in the
hands of the Canarese mies. and their people."--1860 S.
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