By Joe Palathunkal
Jesuit Father Isudas Cueli who translated the whole Bible into Gujarati, died in Baroda today, August 16, 2018.
Born on December 24, 1930, in Spain, for Cueli it was translation all the way once he mastered the Gujarati language of this north-western Indian state where Gandhiji was born, and the fact that he was destined to die the next day of Indian Independence, appears to be a coincidence. After all, translating the Bible, learning an Indian language so well, was indeed a translation of his whole life into 'Indian-ness'.
The great and tough mission of translating the entire Bible into Gujarati was entrusted to him by the Jesuit society in 1964—a formidable task—hard and tedious for a man from Spain, but he did it with such care and acumen that there is a commonplace viewpoint that Cueli’s translation of the Bible is the only translation in the whole of India that has the real hue of typical Indian linguistic nuances which appears as if it is not a translation.
To make a translation appear as if it is originally written in that language, is the magical calibre of a translator, which Isudas Cueli had acquired through his own ingenuity and genius.
Assisted by literary and linguistic giants, Joseph Macwan, Nagindas Parekh, Niranjan Bhagat and Prof. Raymond Parmar, when the Sampurna Bible was brought out by Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand, in 1981, people were wonderstruck at the quality and beauty of the language, this Spaniard brought into the translation of this most translated book of the world.
The success of the Sampurna Bible prompted Father Isudas Culei to dedicate his whole life only for translation. His next big project was the huge four volumes of liturgical commentaries which he did almost alone. He also translated the entire missal into Gujarati, an unforgettable service to all those who flock to every church in Gujarat for the Holy Mass.
Another major venture was the translation of the Documents of the Vatican II, though only the major ones, this indeed was a catechetical process to inculcate the radical views of the Catholic Church in the land of his mission, the 'karmabhoomi'.
“Indeed, he spent the whole life on translation,” says fellow Jesuit Varghese Paul who himself is a prolific writer in Gujarati, with 47 books to his credit. Though very tedious and exacting, Isudas Cueli did it, following the Jesuit motto: For the Greater Glory of God.
When this 21st century John Wycliffe’s funeral Mass will be held at Rosary Cathedral, Baroda, tomorrow, August 17, one can never forget another coincidence: it was the day Hindi Bible translator, Padmabhushan Fr. Camille Bulcke SJ from Belgium, died in New Delhi. And Fr. Isudas Cueli from Spain leaves us leaving an everlasting imprint on our cultural history with his Sampurna Bible in sampurana Guajrati.
Jesuit Father Isudas Cueli who translated the whole Bible into Gujarati, died in Baroda today, August 16, 2018.
Born on December 24, 1930, in Spain, for Cueli it was translation all the way once he mastered the Gujarati language of this north-western Indian state where Gandhiji was born, and the fact that he was destined to die the next day of Indian Independence, appears to be a coincidence. After all, translating the Bible, learning an Indian language so well, was indeed a translation of his whole life into 'Indian-ness'.
The great and tough mission of translating the entire Bible into Gujarati was entrusted to him by the Jesuit society in 1964—a formidable task—hard and tedious for a man from Spain, but he did it with such care and acumen that there is a commonplace viewpoint that Cueli’s translation of the Bible is the only translation in the whole of India that has the real hue of typical Indian linguistic nuances which appears as if it is not a translation.
To make a translation appear as if it is originally written in that language, is the magical calibre of a translator, which Isudas Cueli had acquired through his own ingenuity and genius.
Assisted by literary and linguistic giants, Joseph Macwan, Nagindas Parekh, Niranjan Bhagat and Prof. Raymond Parmar, when the Sampurna Bible was brought out by Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand, in 1981, people were wonderstruck at the quality and beauty of the language, this Spaniard brought into the translation of this most translated book of the world.
The success of the Sampurna Bible prompted Father Isudas Culei to dedicate his whole life only for translation. His next big project was the huge four volumes of liturgical commentaries which he did almost alone. He also translated the entire missal into Gujarati, an unforgettable service to all those who flock to every church in Gujarat for the Holy Mass.
Another major venture was the translation of the Documents of the Vatican II, though only the major ones, this indeed was a catechetical process to inculcate the radical views of the Catholic Church in the land of his mission, the 'karmabhoomi'.
“Indeed, he spent the whole life on translation,” says fellow Jesuit Varghese Paul who himself is a prolific writer in Gujarati, with 47 books to his credit. Though very tedious and exacting, Isudas Cueli did it, following the Jesuit motto: For the Greater Glory of God.
When this 21st century John Wycliffe’s funeral Mass will be held at Rosary Cathedral, Baroda, tomorrow, August 17, one can never forget another coincidence: it was the day Hindi Bible translator, Padmabhushan Fr. Camille Bulcke SJ from Belgium, died in New Delhi. And Fr. Isudas Cueli from Spain leaves us leaving an everlasting imprint on our cultural history with his Sampurna Bible in sampurana Guajrati.
No comments:
Post a Comment