The Gujarati Old Version

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Gujarati Bible OV052
Gujarati Bible OV052

The Gujarati Old Version (GUJGOV)

Overview

The Gujarati Old Version is the earliest Bible translation in the Gujarati language, with the New Testament first published in 1820 by the Serampore Mission Press in Bengal. [1] The translation was produced under the direction of William Carey (1761-1834) and his associates at the Serampore mission, as part of their ambitious program to translate the Scriptures into the major languages of the Indian subcontinent. [2] Between 1800 and 1832, the Serampore Mission Press published some 212,000 books in 45 languages, and the Gujarati Bible was among these early efforts. [3] After Carey’s initial work, the translation was continued by James Skinner and William Fyvie of the London Missionary Society. [4] These early versions were eventually superseded by J. V. S. Taylor’s 1862 revision, known as the “Old Version,” which became the standard Gujarati Bible text for many decades. [4]

Translation History

William Carey arrived in India in 1793 and was appointed in 1801 to teach Bengali, Sanskrit, and Marathi at Fort William College in Calcutta. [2] From Serampore, Carey and his colleagues Joshua Marshman and William Ward undertook translations of the Bible into numerous Indian languages. The Gujarati New Testament was completed by 1820, and subsequent portions of the Old Testament followed. [1] The London Missionary Society later took over the Gujarati translation project, with J. V. S. Taylor producing a thorough revision in 1862 that became the standard text. [4] The current digital edition preserves the public domain text of this historic translation.

Language and People

Gujarati (ISO 639-3: guj) is spoken by approximately 56,400,000 people, primarily in the state of Gujarat in western India. [Glottolog: guja1252]

Publishing and Organizations

Originally published by the Serampore Mission Press, Serampore, Bengal. Translation type: First.

References