This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news
Professor finishes 35-year translation project
Anil and Shaila Solanki celebrate the completion of the Gujarati Bible, a project more than three decades in the making.
Photo by Jim Bishop
In 1969, the Bible Society of India appointed Anil D. Solanki to begin a new translation of the Bible into his native language, Gujarati. Now, 35 years later, that project is completed and the Bible is published.
Dr. Solanki, a part-time professor of Old Testament at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, was doing graduate studies in Old Testament in Bangalore, India at a seminary, when he was asked to create a team to work on a new translation. At the time, Solanki was the leading Hebrew scholar among those who speak his native language of Gujarati. He invited three colleagues of various denominations to work with him.
"We had two primary goals in our translation work," Solanki recalled. "The first was to be faithful to the original Greek and Hebrew texts, and the second was to make the translation communicate readily to readers. The earlier translation was so outdated that it couldn’t be used as a source," he said.
Sixty million people around the world speak Gujarati. Most live in the state of Gujarat in India. The last Bible translation in the language was done 181 years ago. Over the years the language has changed significantly. Solanki and his colleagues wanted a translation that could be comprehended by people with a high school education.
"We wanted a language of the people," said Solanki, "rather than highly literary language. It is somewhat similar to the Good News Bible."
At the outset, all four translators lived in India. Today, only one still remains in Gujarat state. Neither Solanki nor any of his colleagues were full time-translators; each had other professions. Jayant Christian was working in the state secretariate, Rev. Navin Oliver taught in a regional seminary and Rev. Ashish Chriopal was a seminary student at the time. In India, Solanki was a seminary professor and academic dean.
Solanki moved to Harrisonburg, Va., in 1988, intending to stay for a year. An American Bible Society consultant came to check their translation and encouraged former Eastern Mennonite Seminary dean George R. Brunk III to let him stay longer and continue work on his project. "The dean, the faculty and the whole seminary community were supportive of the project," Solanki noted.
Since moving to the U.S., Solanki has worked on the translation without remuneration.
While living in Virginia, two of Solanki’s colleagues came for extended visits to work on the translation. "I am told that when I used to translate the whole seminary knew because I would tell anyone I met what I was discovering in the Word of God," Solanki said.
This project became a family affair. Solanki’s wife, Shaila, noted that their children grew with the project. When it began, their son Madhur was a toddler. He and Shaila have two other children, Elizabeth and Susmita "(Missy)". Shaila provided hospitality and proofreading skills for the group of translators as well as handwriting some final manuscripts that were sent to the printer.
In 1976, the New Testament portion was completed and distributed. Work on the Old Testament began before that.
"There are people who speak our language who have migrated to Australia, New Zealand, England and other places," said Shaila, "Some of them have come from other religions and when they saw our New Testament they were very excited because they could understand everything they read, so they were waiting for the whole Bible." Less than one percent of those who speak Gujarati are Christian.
To make the translation more understandable the translators added footnotes, a new feature to this project. "We wanted the reader to be in conversation with us about different manuscripts and different translations of certain words," said Solanki.
Solanki has found translation work rewarding. "There is so much depth in the word of God," he said. "When you struggle with it and try to understand and try to put it in your mother-tongue, it is a process. We believe that in our translation work we were inspired like the original authors of the books of the Bible."
The translation manuscript was completely done by hand, then put into type by professionals after being sent to the printers in 1995. It was proofread and corrected seven times. Solanki is currently working through the first printing to correct any more mistakes that might surface.
"I am reading from the beginning, and if I find a mistake here and there or a printing error, then I want to correct that," Solanki said. The first printing of 3,000 copies was an experimental run for feedback and correction. The next printing will likely be around 20,000 copies.
"It is a great privilege to work on the Word of God," said Solanki, “It was a lot of hard work, but it was a joyful experience."
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Laura Lehman Amstutz is a student in the master of divinity program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
