Translation of the Bible into Malayalam began in 1806, and has influenced development of the modern language.prabhsakan 11 22
History
The first attempt to translate the Bible into Malayalam was made in 1806 by Pulikkottil Joseph Ittoop and Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban, with the support of Claudius Buchanan. Buchanan, a missionary who visited Kerala in the early 19th century, persuaded church leaders to translate biblical manuscripts into Malayalam and guided local scholars. At that time, Syriac was the liturgical language of Christians in Kerala. By 1807, Ittoop and Ramban—both Malankara Syrian Christian monks—had translated the four gospels from Syriac into Malayalam, assisted by Timapah Pillay. They then translated the Tamil version by Johann Philipp Fabricius into Malayalam. The Bible Society of India paid for 500 copies to be printed in Bombay in 1811. Timapah completed translation of the New Testament in 1813, but this edition was found to include vocabulary known only to the Syriac Christian community and not to the general Malayalee population. This translation is now known as the Ramban Bible. In 1817, the Church Missionary Society of India provided Benjamin Bailey to translate the Bible into Malayalam. He completed his translation of the New Testament in 1829 and the Old Testament in 1841. Hermann Gundert updated Bailey's version and produced the first Malayalam-English dictionary in 1872. Phillipose Rampan also translated parts of the Bible into Malayalam.
Modern versions
Protestant and Marthoma
Sathyavedhapusthakam
The Bible Society of India Kerala Auxiliary made minor revisions to the Malayalam Old Version in 1910 called Sathyavedhapushthakam, which became the standard version for Marthoma Church and Protestant denominations. This version translates the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah throughout the Old Testament. The complete Sathyavedhapusthakam in Unicode was published online in 2004 by Nishad H. Kaippally. Sathyavedhapusthakam was published online in 2014 in various digital formats. As per , there are 2 versions of Sathayavedhapusthakam popularly used today. Old/Original version and Common/Contemporary language version. OV is the Malayalam Sathya Veda Pusthakam that was published in 1910. It is the most widely used version among non-catholic denominations. There was a need to bring out a Bible in the contemporary Malayalam language, thus the CL version which was published in 2013.
New India Bible Version
translated and published the New India Bible Version in Malayalam in 1997.
In 1967, the Pastoral Orientation Center of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council began a new translation of the Bible; it was completed by 1981, and is known as the POC Bible. This version translates the Tetragrammaton as Lord in the main text and Yahweh in various footnotes. It is available online in various digital formats.
Syriac Orthodox
The Syriac Orthodox Church uses the Peshitta version as its official Bible and hence all the translations that were done within the church where that of the Peshitta.
Syriac Orthodox Bible Society and Vishudha Grandham
The Syriac Orthodox Bible Society of India published the "Vishuddha Grandham", a translation of the Syriac Peshitta Bible into Malayalam. It was translated by famous Syriac scholar Curien Kaniyamparambil Arch Cor-Episcopa. It is available online in various digital formats. Vishudha Grandham is also available in and platform. Vishudha Grandham Audio bible is available in
Other Works
Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakom
The Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakom by Bro.Dr.Mathews Vergis in Malayalam was released in 2000. It includes various appendices providing commentary about biblical characters and events. It renders the Greek term kyrios as Jehovah in the New Testament when quoting Old Testament verses containing the Tetragrammaton. The translator assumes that Tetragrammaton originally appeared in New Testament but was later replaced by Christian copyists with Lord following the Jewish tradition evident in later copies of Septuagint.
Free Bibles India
In collaboration with Church centric bible translation, Free Bibles India has published a Malayalam translation online.
