Tracing the history of the translation of the Bible into the Telugu language-2

Please see Part 1 here (please note the disclaimer at the top).

The first ever recorded translation of the Bible into Telugu was the work of Benjamin Schultze. He started work on the translation around 1728 and finished the translation of the entire Bible by 1732. 

Texts used in translation: Records indicate that Schultze had access to Luther's German Bible along with Greek and Hebrew texts. This makes his translation to be based on the Textus Receptus (Received Text). 

Eventualities of the translation: He returned to Halle (in Germany) with his manuscripts in a few languages. The Telugu translation of the Bible never seemed to have been printed. One speculative reason could be that Constanzo Beschi's (a Jesuit priest with Tamil language expertise) criticism of Schultze's Tamil translation could have blunted Schultz's confidence in the accuracy of the translation. Another more likely reason could be that the (documented) difficulties with special characters in the Telugu script proved tragically impeding to the printing process. Its possible the manuscript is still somewhere hidden/stored in a university in Germany (or in a museum in London, as one record speculates). Interestingly, what was been found is the manuscript for Schultze's Telugu grammar book (first ever printed Telugu grammar) - this is available for purchase online for 25,000 USD. Although it is tragic that the first ever Telugu translation of the Bible did not see the daylight of printing and distribution, the Lord was merciful in providing through separate means.

The beginning of a new chapter: On 6th March 1805 George Cran and Augustus Des Granges from the London Missionary Society landed in India and spent a few months in Tranquebar. On 18th July 1805, burdened by a desire to reach Telugu speaking people, they made Visakhapatnam their home in India. It has been reported that they purchased a Telugu grammar for study- some have attributed it as the work of Catholic translators but it seems more likely to be Schultze's Telugu grammar. Apart from (possibly) using Schultze's work on Telugu grammar, the work of Cran and Des Granges seems independent and disconnected from Schultze's telugu translation of the Bible. Whether it was intentional or on account of an ignorance of this previous work is open to speculation. On 6th January 1809, George Cran was called away from the earth into the presence of the Lord Jesus. God provided for assistance in the form of Ananda Rayar (sometimes referred to as Rayer)- a well educated, pious Indian man born in Maratha land but of Telugu lineage. He became a follower of the Lord Jesus and contributed to the Telugu translation of the Bible.

Translation work and texts used by Des Granges and Rayar: Des Granges and Rayar completed the translation of Matthew, Mark and Luke by 1810.  There is a printed edition of this manuscript at the British Library and the translation of Mark can be found at the University of Cambridge. There is mention of Des Granges working from the original Greek text and Rayar working from the Tamil text (presumably the revision of Schultze's text by Fabricus). Because this was before the first ever breaking away from the Textus Receptus, it can be assumed that their work of the New Testament was based on the Textus Receptus.

On 12th July 1810, at the age of 30, Augustus Des Granges died a painful death because of an illness. But the work of the translation was to continue and thrive.

(to be continued, Lord willing...)