Assamese Version
Assamese Version [1]
Assam is a British province, now forming part of the eastern frontier of India. The original language of the Assamese ination was the Ahom, a branch of the Siamese family of languages. When the people adopted the religion of Bengal in the middle of the 17th century, they also gradually habitated themselves to the use of its language, till at length the ancient Ahom tongue became extinct. During the lapse of years the language now spoken in Assam has contracted several peculiarities of its own, distinguishing it from the Bengalee, so that in printing the Scriptures it was found impracticable to use the Bengalee characters, and a new font of type had to be cast for that purpose. In 1815 the first two gospels were printed at Serampore, while the whole New Test. was finished at press in 1819, with the title The New Testament Translated from the Original into the Assans Language by the Serampore Alissionaries. In 1822 the Pentateuch left the press, and the printing of the entire Old Test. was subsequently completed. The annual report of the British and Foreign Bible Society for 1863 stated that "preparations are being made for revision;" but how far the work has progressed we are unable to state. For the study of the language, see Brown, Grammatical Notices on the Assamese Language (Sibsagor, 1848). (B.P.)
