Telinga

Telinga

(or TELOOGOO) Version. The Telinga language is spoken within twenty- three miles of Madras, and prevails for about five hundred miles along the coast, from the vicinity of Pulicat to the borders of Orissa. The superficial extent of the entire region in which this language is predominant has been estimated at 118,610 square miles. The natives are Hindus and number about 10,000,000. The Telinga language is also diffused to a greater, or less extent through various countries of Southern India, in which the Tamul and Canarese are the proper vernacular languages. This diffusion in part arises from the early conquests, dating from the 14th century, achieved by the people of Telinga in the South. Like the Romans, they endeavored to secure their conquests and to keep the natives in subjection by the establishment of military colonies; and the Telinga language is still spoken by the descendants of the Telinga families who were deputed by the kings of Vidianagara to found these colonies. The roaming tendencies of the Telinga people also serve to account, in part,' for the diffusion of the language. On this subject the missionaries have remarked that "in intelligence, migratory habits, secular prosperity, and infrequency of return to their native land this people are in relation to other parts of India what the Scotch are in relation to England and the world." Benjamin Schultze, the laborious Danish missionary, was the first who engaged in a Telinga version of the Bible. He commenced his translation in 1726, immediately after his completion of the Tamul version (q.v.). He translated from the Greek and Hebrew texts, and finished the Telinga version of the New Test. in 1727, and of the Old Test. in 1732, the whole bearing the title Biblia Telagica ex Hebraico et Grceco Textu, adhibitis multis allis Versionibusi in Linguam Telugicam Translata a Benjamino Schultzio Missionario ad Indos Orientales A o. 1732. From some cause hitherto unexplained, this work was never printed; and Marsch. in the Bibliotheca Sacra, 2, 202,.says: "Quo vero tempore in publicum prodituri sint Biblia Telugice impressa, divinue providentise reservatum manebit." Schultze died in 1760 at Halle, and it has been thought that his Telinga MSS. may still be preserved in that city. In 1805 the Serampore missionaries commenced another version of the Scriptures in this language, and in 1809 they had translated the whole of the New Test. and part of the Old. Owing to various causes of delay, the New Test. was not printed till 1818, and in 1820 the Pentateuch was published.

While the Serampore version was in progress, the Rev. Augustus Desgranges, of the London Missionary Society, had commenced another version and carried it on to the close of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Mr. Desgranges, who had been stationed at Vizagapatam since 1805, had the assistance of the Rev. George Cran, also stationed there, and of Anunderayer, a Telinga Brahmin of high caste who had been converted to Christianity. In 1808 Mr. Cran died, and, two years later, Mr. Desgranges. On examination it was found that the first three gospels were the only portions of the translation that were in a state of readiness for the press. Of these one thousand copies were printed at Serampore in 1812, under the care of Anunderayer.

In the meantime another version of the Telinga New Test. had been commenced. Rev. Messrs. Pritchett and Lee, agents of the London Missionary Society, arrived at Vizagapatam a short time prior to the decease of Mr. Desgranges. Mr. Lee undertook a translation of the book of Genesis, but the preparation of the version afterwards devolved almost exclusively on Mr. Pritchett, who betook himself, in the first place, to the translation of the New Test. In 1819 Mr. Pritchett's New Test. was issued by the Madras Bible Society. He now commenced the translation of the Old Test., but in 1820 he was stopped, in the midst of his work, by death.

In 1823 another version of the Scriptures was offered to the Calcutta Bible Society by the Rev. J. Gordon, also of the London Missionary Society. It was very difficult to decide upon the relative merits of Mr. Pritchett's and Mr. Gordon's translation; but finally Mr. Gordon's prevailed, and the committee of the Madras Society resolved upon adopting his version, requesting him, before he sent it to the press, to compare it carefully with Mr. Pritchett's translation. Mr. Gordon's important labors were closed by death in 1827. After his decease, it was found that Mr. Pritchett's version was, after all, more correct than had been expected, and, after introducing certain emendations, an edition of two thousand copies of the New Test. was printed in 1828, accompanied by two thousand copies of Mr. Gordon's version of Luke. An edition of three thousand copies of the Old Test., based upon the versions of Pritchett and Gordon, was issued from the Madras press in 1855, together with large editions of particular portions of the Teloogoo Scriptures both of the Old and of the New Testament. From the different reports we learn the following facts. The report for 1856 states that "an entirely new translation of the whole Bible, executed by C. P. Brown, Esq., has been deposited by that gentleman with this auxiliary with a view to future publication; and extracts from Genesis, Proverbs, Psalms, Malachi, Mark, and Ephesians are in press, and will be circulated for the opinions and criticism of the Teloogoo scholars." That for the year 1858 states that the Teloogoo revision committee appointed in 1857 had completed a new translation of Paul's epistles to the Romans, Colossians, and Philemon, and of the general epistles of James, John, and Jude, together with the four gospels and Acts, all of which were ready for the press. In 1863 we read: "The Old Test. has been published for the first time, the New Test. newly translated and a revised edition recently published." In 1866 the report states that the "Madras auxiliary has taken up the question of a revision of the Teloogoo Old Test., and has appointed a committee for that purpose, on the same plan as that of the Tamil revision committee. The version of the Teloogoo New Test. now in use was adopted in 1858, and, after revision by a committee appointed for the purpose of bringing the Rev. Messrs. Hay and Wardlaw's translation into accordance with the textus receptus and the rules of the society, was published in 1860." As to the revision of the Old Test., we learn from the report for 1867 that "a committee has been formed by the Rev. John Hay, who has already revised the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. The remainder of the work is in progress." At present, according to the last report for 1879, the following parts are printed and circulated: the entire Bible according to the Vizagapatam version, the book of Genesis according to the revised version, and the Pentateuch and New Test. published in 1858. See The Bible in Every Land, and the Annual Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society. (B. P.)