Church apologises for distortions in translation - The Hindu

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An allegedly distorted translation of the most sacred book of
Vaishnavite hymns into church prayer in Sibsagar in Upper Assam
has snowballed into a major controversy even as the district
administration was playing a mediatory role.

The Sibsagar Catholic Church had published two booklets
containing hymns and prayers, which were literal but allegedly
distorted translation of "Namghosa", the most sacred book of the
Vaishnavites in Assam.

This had angered the Satra Mahasabha, the apex body of the 700
Satras of the State, forcing the church to tender an apology to
the people of the State through a press conference last night at
Sibsagar.

Realising the gravity of the situation, the Sibsagar district
administration intervened and the Additional Deputy
Commissioner. Mr. A. K. Sarma Roy, convened a meeting
yesterday, calling both parties to settle the matter amicably,
and presented them before the Press.

The Satra Mahasabha general secretary, Mr. Lakhi Kanta Mahanta,
said the act was "tantamount to sacrilege."

The Mahasabha was enraged at the alleged use of the name
"Borgeet" and for replacement of the names of Rama and Krishna
with that of Jesus in the original hymns.

Father joy Palliakunnel of the Sibsagar Catholic Church, under
whom the translation was done and the booklets were published.
regretted the entire incident and deposited the published
booklets with the district administration.

"We regret the matter. We have simply copied some devotional
songs for private use in churches because the local people
understand Assamese and we want to make prayers as easy for the
Assamese as "geets," but of course we have changed the names of
Rama and Krishna to Jesus.

We reiterate that we have no ulterior motive in copying the
hymns", Father Palliakunnel said. According to the Father, some
local people, while translating, misled him with the content and
did not inform that the hymns were plagiarised. "We have no
intention to discredit Shankardeva," the Father said.

The Father also revealed the names of the persons who had misled
him while translating and plagiarising the "borgeets" admitting
it could have led to communal tension in the area.

Notably Sibsagar was the place where the American Baptist
missionary first established a printing press in 1846 and
started printing books in Assamese.

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