The complexities of scriptural translation intensify in colonial, multilingual societies. In this study, we examine Thomas Stephens’s Kristapurana (1616) as a significant moment of cross-cultural encounters in the history of Bible translation in India. Stephens (1549–1619) was an English Jesuit, who worked in Goa, India. The Kristapurana is written in the Marathi language, in Roman script. Stephens’s Purana can be considered the first attempt to bring the biblical story into an Indian language, although in poetic form. This study aims to bring out the significance of this early Christian work in the Marathi language by analyzing Stephens’s translation of the biblical story into Marathi. The Kristapurana is studied as a site where Christianity and indigenous Hindu practices come together to form a “creative” expression of Christianity strongly reminiscent of the region that it was produced in.

中文翻译：

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“香水中的麝香”

在殖民地，多语言的社会中，圣经翻译的复杂性加剧了。在这项研究中，我们考察了托马斯·斯蒂芬斯（Thomas Stephens）的《克里斯塔普拉纳（Kristapurana）》（1616年），这是印度圣经翻译史上跨文化相遇的重要时刻。斯蒂芬斯（1549–1619）是英国耶稣会士，曾在印度果阿工作。克里斯塔普拉纳（Kristapurana）的语言是马拉地语，是罗马文字。斯蒂芬斯的《 Purana》虽然被认为是诗意的形式，但却可以被认为是将圣经故事带入印度语言的首次尝试。这项研究旨在通过分析史蒂芬斯将圣经故事翻译成马拉地语，来揭示早期基督教在马拉地语中的意义。