This study examines the development of Christological discourses in Konkani, Marathi, and Hindust... more This study examines the development of Christological discourses in Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani in the 16th, 17th, and early 18th century. It explores a great deal of both Hindu and Christian sources, of which many are unedited and largely overlooked manuscripts. Applying a hermeneutic method complemented with insights from conceptual history and other fields, the study presents literature written by European authors in the abovementioned languages as results of a process of understanding and translation. The missionaries tried to understand Indian languages and religion and translate and express Christian thought in the words and discourses of those languages.
The source material discussed in the first part of the study includes transliterations, translations, and descriptions of Hindu literature made and studied by early modern missionary workers in and outside of the colonial territories. These texts help us to understand some of the earliest informed European conceptions of Hindu thought and practice and follow the strategical choices missionaries made in translating Christian thought into languages dominated by other religions and philosophies. The second part of the study analyses a selection of early modern works produced by Christian authors: dictionaries, catechisms, and other prose texts in variants of Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani; and poetic literature in Marathi. The authors of these works include Jesuits of various European nationalities, a French Capuchin priest, and an officer of the Dutch East India Company. More specifically, the focus is on terminology and language use pertaining to Christology, a theological discourse comprising a conceptual field meticulously carved out through centuries of Greco-Roman philosophy and Christian theology. It is therefore particularly well suited for highlighting semantic changes – translation loss or translation gain – occurring when a system of ideas is translated into a new language for the first time.
En kommenterad svensk översättning av 14 av Tukārāms sånger.
An annotated translation into Swe... more En kommenterad svensk översättning av 14 av Tukārāms sånger.
An annotated translation into Swedish of 14 songs of Tukārām.
Nidan : International Journal for Indian Studies, 2019
Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa, written in Marathi by the Portuguese Jesuit Simão Gomes in the early ... more Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa, written in Marathi by the Portuguese Jesuit Simão Gomes in the early 18th century, is a philosophical text, presenting and arguing for Christianity and arguing against various Hindu ideas. The text is unusual in the rich early modern Christian Marathi/Konkani literature as it was written after its 17th century peak, in Devanagari (as opposed to Roman) script, and outside the Portuguese territory of Goa in Marathi speaking Deccan. It shares some features with one particular manuscript of Thomas Stephens’ Kristapurāṇa, suggesting that Gomes’ intervention is part of the reason for some peculiarities of that better-known work. The aim of this paper is to analyse the use of Christological terminology in Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa. I will identify probable sources of inspiration for using particular words, similes and imagery, for example Hindu sources that are recorded to have been known by Jesuits in Goa in the 17th century. I will also try to identify principles for choosing certain terms instead of others, principles that could explain for example the reference to the Holy Spirit as spīrītu sāṁtu although almost all other words for God, the Trinity and the intricacies of the doctrines of Christology are of Sanskrit origin.
In this article, I analyse the theological language of a bilingual Catholic catechism from 1778, ... more In this article, I analyse the theological language of a bilingual Catholic catechism from 1778, written in Portuguese and a Marathi dialect from northern Konkan, India. The Portuguese title of the catechism is Cathechismo da Doutrina Cristam and the Marathi title Cristanchi Sastrazza Cathexismo. The author is unknown. More specifically, I concentrate on terms and phrases used for expressing ideas about Christology in the Marathi text, and try to find potential points of encounter with forms of religious language in influential Hindu traditions in the Marathi speaking region in western India, especially with Jñāneśvarī and the non-dualistic Vaiṣṇavite Vārkarī movement on the one hand, and Gurucaritra and the three-headed god Dattātreya on the other. The catechism apparently follows an already established practice of rendering Christian theology in the sister languages Marathi and Konkani. One criterion for choices between (1) Indic words, (2) Portuguese loan words and (3) Marathi paraphrase for various theological concepts seems to be desired efficiency to communicate the intended meaning without provoking misunderstandings due to association with ideas belonging to worldviews incompatible with the intended one.
Journal of South Asian languages and linguistics, 2018
We provide a functional analysis of the grammatical gender system of Marathi (Indo-Aryan) in West... more We provide a functional analysis of the grammatical gender system of Marathi (Indo-Aryan) in Western India. The majority of the new Indo-Aryan languages typically classifies each noun of the lexicon according to biological gender as masculine and feminine. Only a few Indo-Aryan languages such as Marathi diverge in terms of agreement pattern by categorizing nouns as masculine, feminine, and neuter. Yet gender in Marathi has not been extensively described in terms of functions. We thus use functional typology to analyze grammatical gender in Marathi and provide detailed examples of its lexical and discourse functions.
The article is a contribution to thinking about how translation or transition of thought systems ... more The article is a contribution to thinking about how translation or transition of thought systems (religious, philosophical, ideological etc.) between languages can be achieved and how it affects the target language as well as the message. I approach the matter through the question of how salvation and heaven are depicted in Thomas Stephens’ Kristapurāṇa, maybe the finest literary work produced by the early modern Jesuits in Goa.
This thesis examines how the English Jesuit Father Thomas Stephens used a language full of Hindu ... more This thesis examines how the English Jesuit Father Thomas Stephens used a language full of Hindu connotations for conveying a Christian message in his Marathi epic Kristapurāṇa, written in Goa in the early years of the 17th century. Specifically it seeks to analyse (1) which words Stephens used for speaking about salvation, (2) which ideas about salvation he thereby conveyed, and (3) how he dealt with connotations of such words that are difficult to accommodate in a Christian worldview. Stephens’ strategies for handling such words is analysed by means of Saussure’s understanding of a language as a system of differences and a word as a sign, composed of a signal (sound pattern) and a signification (concept), where the relation between signal and signification is arbitrary. Stephens’ work is described as fearlessly adopting signals borrowed from Hinduism but sometimes altering the signification, thereby forming a sign which looks identical to that used in Hindu context, but with a signification that fits in a Christian worldview. The altering of important signs, such as mukti/mokṣa, leads to a reshaping of the language into a system where e.g. mukti/mokṣa significates salvation as liberation, but not from rebirth, and where punarjanma stands not for rebirth as a hindrance for liberation, but a new birth which liberates. In this way Stephens is found to present a message about salvation that in all essentials mirrors Catholic theology of his time, but giving it a distinctly Indian flavour.
This study examines the development of Christological discourses in Konkani, Marathi, and Hindust... more This study examines the development of Christological discourses in Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani in the 16th, 17th, and early 18th century. It explores a great deal of both Hindu and Christian sources, of which many are unedited and largely overlooked manuscripts. Applying a hermeneutic method complemented with insights from conceptual history and other fields, the study presents literature written by European authors in the abovementioned languages as results of a process of understanding and translation. The missionaries tried to understand Indian languages and religion and translate and express Christian thought in the words and discourses of those languages.
The source material discussed in the first part of the study includes transliterations, translations, and descriptions of Hindu literature made and studied by early modern missionary workers in and outside of the colonial territories. These texts help us to understand some of the earliest informed European conceptions of Hindu thought and practice and follow the strategical choices missionaries made in translating Christian thought into languages dominated by other religions and philosophies. The second part of the study analyses a selection of early modern works produced by Christian authors: dictionaries, catechisms, and other prose texts in variants of Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani; and poetic literature in Marathi. The authors of these works include Jesuits of various European nationalities, a French Capuchin priest, and an officer of the Dutch East India Company. More specifically, the focus is on terminology and language use pertaining to Christology, a theological discourse comprising a conceptual field meticulously carved out through centuries of Greco-Roman philosophy and Christian theology. It is therefore particularly well suited for highlighting semantic changes – translation loss or translation gain – occurring when a system of ideas is translated into a new language for the first time.
En kommenterad svensk översättning av 14 av Tukārāms sånger.
An annotated translation into Swe... more En kommenterad svensk översättning av 14 av Tukārāms sånger.
An annotated translation into Swedish of 14 songs of Tukārām.
Nidan : International Journal for Indian Studies, 2019
Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa, written in Marathi by the Portuguese Jesuit Simão Gomes in the early ... more Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa, written in Marathi by the Portuguese Jesuit Simão Gomes in the early 18th century, is a philosophical text, presenting and arguing for Christianity and arguing against various Hindu ideas. The text is unusual in the rich early modern Christian Marathi/Konkani literature as it was written after its 17th century peak, in Devanagari (as opposed to Roman) script, and outside the Portuguese territory of Goa in Marathi speaking Deccan. It shares some features with one particular manuscript of Thomas Stephens’ Kristapurāṇa, suggesting that Gomes’ intervention is part of the reason for some peculiarities of that better-known work. The aim of this paper is to analyse the use of Christological terminology in Sarveśvarācā Gnāna Upadeśa. I will identify probable sources of inspiration for using particular words, similes and imagery, for example Hindu sources that are recorded to have been known by Jesuits in Goa in the 17th century. I will also try to identify principles for choosing certain terms instead of others, principles that could explain for example the reference to the Holy Spirit as spīrītu sāṁtu although almost all other words for God, the Trinity and the intricacies of the doctrines of Christology are of Sanskrit origin.
In this article, I analyse the theological language of a bilingual Catholic catechism from 1778, ... more In this article, I analyse the theological language of a bilingual Catholic catechism from 1778, written in Portuguese and a Marathi dialect from northern Konkan, India. The Portuguese title of the catechism is Cathechismo da Doutrina Cristam and the Marathi title Cristanchi Sastrazza Cathexismo. The author is unknown. More specifically, I concentrate on terms and phrases used for expressing ideas about Christology in the Marathi text, and try to find potential points of encounter with forms of religious language in influential Hindu traditions in the Marathi speaking region in western India, especially with Jñāneśvarī and the non-dualistic Vaiṣṇavite Vārkarī movement on the one hand, and Gurucaritra and the three-headed god Dattātreya on the other. The catechism apparently follows an already established practice of rendering Christian theology in the sister languages Marathi and Konkani. One criterion for choices between (1) Indic words, (2) Portuguese loan words and (3) Marathi paraphrase for various theological concepts seems to be desired efficiency to communicate the intended meaning without provoking misunderstandings due to association with ideas belonging to worldviews incompatible with the intended one.
Journal of South Asian languages and linguistics, 2018
We provide a functional analysis of the grammatical gender system of Marathi (Indo-Aryan) in West... more We provide a functional analysis of the grammatical gender system of Marathi (Indo-Aryan) in Western India. The majority of the new Indo-Aryan languages typically classifies each noun of the lexicon according to biological gender as masculine and feminine. Only a few Indo-Aryan languages such as Marathi diverge in terms of agreement pattern by categorizing nouns as masculine, feminine, and neuter. Yet gender in Marathi has not been extensively described in terms of functions. We thus use functional typology to analyze grammatical gender in Marathi and provide detailed examples of its lexical and discourse functions.
The article is a contribution to thinking about how translation or transition of thought systems ... more The article is a contribution to thinking about how translation or transition of thought systems (religious, philosophical, ideological etc.) between languages can be achieved and how it affects the target language as well as the message. I approach the matter through the question of how salvation and heaven are depicted in Thomas Stephens’ Kristapurāṇa, maybe the finest literary work produced by the early modern Jesuits in Goa.
This thesis examines how the English Jesuit Father Thomas Stephens used a language full of Hindu ... more This thesis examines how the English Jesuit Father Thomas Stephens used a language full of Hindu connotations for conveying a Christian message in his Marathi epic Kristapurāṇa, written in Goa in the early years of the 17th century. Specifically it seeks to analyse (1) which words Stephens used for speaking about salvation, (2) which ideas about salvation he thereby conveyed, and (3) how he dealt with connotations of such words that are difficult to accommodate in a Christian worldview. Stephens’ strategies for handling such words is analysed by means of Saussure’s understanding of a language as a system of differences and a word as a sign, composed of a signal (sound pattern) and a signification (concept), where the relation between signal and signification is arbitrary. Stephens’ work is described as fearlessly adopting signals borrowed from Hinduism but sometimes altering the signification, thereby forming a sign which looks identical to that used in Hindu context, but with a signification that fits in a Christian worldview. The altering of important signs, such as mukti/mokṣa, leads to a reshaping of the language into a system where e.g. mukti/mokṣa significates salvation as liberation, but not from rebirth, and where punarjanma stands not for rebirth as a hindrance for liberation, but a new birth which liberates. In this way Stephens is found to present a message about salvation that in all essentials mirrors Catholic theology of his time, but giving it a distinctly Indian flavour.
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Monographs by Pär Eliasson
The source material discussed in the first part of the study includes transliterations, translations, and descriptions of Hindu literature made and studied by early modern missionary workers in and outside of the colonial territories. These texts help us to understand some of the earliest informed European conceptions of Hindu thought and practice and follow the strategical choices missionaries made in translating Christian thought into languages dominated by other religions and philosophies. The second part of the study analyses a selection of early modern works produced by Christian authors: dictionaries, catechisms, and other prose texts in variants of Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani; and poetic literature in Marathi. The authors of these works include Jesuits of various European nationalities, a French Capuchin priest, and an officer of the Dutch East India Company. More specifically, the focus is on terminology and language use pertaining to Christology, a theological discourse comprising a conceptual field meticulously carved out through centuries of Greco-Roman philosophy and Christian theology. It is therefore particularly well suited for highlighting semantic changes – translation loss or translation gain – occurring when a system of ideas is translated into a new language for the first time.
Articles by Pär Eliasson
An annotated translation into Swedish of 14 songs of Tukārām.
Eliasson, P., Tang, M. (2018).
Papers by Pär Eliasson
The source material discussed in the first part of the study includes transliterations, translations, and descriptions of Hindu literature made and studied by early modern missionary workers in and outside of the colonial territories. These texts help us to understand some of the earliest informed European conceptions of Hindu thought and practice and follow the strategical choices missionaries made in translating Christian thought into languages dominated by other religions and philosophies. The second part of the study analyses a selection of early modern works produced by Christian authors: dictionaries, catechisms, and other prose texts in variants of Konkani, Marathi, and Hindustani; and poetic literature in Marathi. The authors of these works include Jesuits of various European nationalities, a French Capuchin priest, and an officer of the Dutch East India Company. More specifically, the focus is on terminology and language use pertaining to Christology, a theological discourse comprising a conceptual field meticulously carved out through centuries of Greco-Roman philosophy and Christian theology. It is therefore particularly well suited for highlighting semantic changes – translation loss or translation gain – occurring when a system of ideas is translated into a new language for the first time.
An annotated translation into Swedish of 14 songs of Tukārām.
Eliasson, P., Tang, M. (2018).