The Old Kannada Version

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The Old Kannada Version (KANOKV)

Overview

The Old Kannada Version is a complete Bible in the Kannada language, originally published in 1831 by the London Missionary Society. It was translated by John Hands and William Reeve, both LMS missionaries stationed in southern India. [1] [2] The first attempt to translate the Bible into Kannada was made by the Serampore missionaries around 1809, but that manuscript was lost in the 1812 fire at the Serampore press. [1] Hands, who founded the LMS station at Bellary in 1810, published a translation of the synoptic Gospels in 1812, with the Gospels and Acts published at Madras in 1820 and the complete New Testament in 1823. [1] William Reeve (1794—1850) arrived in India in 1816 and worked alongside Hands at Bellary and later at Bangalore, where he also compiled an important Kannada-English dictionary between 1827 and 1834. [1] [3] Together they completed the Old Testament translation, resulting in the full Bible published in 1831. This public domain text is one of the earliest complete Bible translations in any Dravidian language.

Translation History

The translation progressed through several stages over two decades. John Hands began the work at Bellary in 1810, producing the synoptic Gospels by 1812. [1] After William Reeve joined the LMS mission in 1816, the pace of translation accelerated: the Gospels and Acts appeared in 1820, and the full New Testament was published in 1823. [1] The complete Bible, including the Old Testament, was published in 1831. [1] Subsequent revisions of the New Testament appeared in 1850 and 1854, with a complete revised Bible published by 1865 by continuing LMS missionaries. [1] A committee revision was released in 1934, which remained in use for decades. [1]

Translators and Contributors

  • John Hands — London Missionary Society missionary who founded the LMS station at Bellary in 1810. He compiled an early Kannada grammar and dictionary and led the initial Bible translation work. [1] [2]
  • William Reeve (1794—1850) — LMS missionary who arrived in India in 1816, working at Bellary and then Bangalore. He collaborated with Hands on the Bible translation and compiled a Kannada-English dictionary (1827—1834), published posthumously in 1858. [1] [3]

Language and People

Kannada (ISO 639-3: kan) is spoken by approximately 43,600,000 people in India: Index Map. [Glottolog: nucl1305]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Bridge Connectivity Solutions.

References