Ramabai (1858–1920) was born into a Hindu family in India and became a well-known Sanskrit scholar, acquiring the title of Pandita (a scholar). Her work for the liberation of women and female children was renowned that the Indian government published a stamp with her picture and the description: “Pandita Ramabai, the youngest daughter of Anant Shastri, was a social reformer, a champion for the emancipation of women, and a pioneer in education. Left totally alone by the time she was 23, Ramabai acquired a great reputation as a Sanskrit scholar. Deeply impressed by her prowess, the Sanskrit scholars of Calcutta University conferred on her the titles of ‘Saraswati’ and ‘Pandita.’ . . . A learned woman knowing seven languages, she translated the Bible into her mother tongue—Marathi—from the original Hebrew and Greek.”
In this presentation, I would like to highlight her shrewdness in using culturally sensitive language in her translation. In a time when Indian scholars used Aryan and Vedic names for the God of the Bible, such as Ishvar and Parameshvar – names from Mahadeva (“Great God”) in Hinduism, Ramabai chose non-Vedic names. For Elohim, she chose Deva, a generic term for “God”; for YHWH, she retained the Hebrew transliteration: Yehovah. In a footnote, she explained that the Triune God of the Bible is unlike the Hindu trinity – Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer).
Whereas Hindi and Marathi translations used swarg for “heavens,” Ramabai chose Akash and explained, “The word swarg denotes the abode of the gods where Indra, the king of the Hindu gods, is supposed to reign. The place is described to be full of sensual pleasure, where a man goes to enjoy the pleasure brought by apavarga (“merit”). He is fortunate and lives a life of unmixed pleasure, enjoying the company of hundreds and thousands of celestial harlots called apsaras. After all this karma is spent, he is cast down to the earth and is reincarnated in some good high-caste family, where he has all the chances of re-attaining swarga by his apavarga.” Knowing that women were left out of swarg, Ramabai used Akash, a neutral word for “sky.”
Hindi Bibles translated the word “son” in Matthew 1:1 as putra. Ramabai found it objectionable because the Hindu scripture Manushastra (“Manual on Man”) read, “Through a son (putra) one conquers the worlds, through a son’s son, he obtains immortality . . . because a son (putra) delivers his father from hell, and therefore is the putra, a deliverer from hell” (IX:137–38). Realizing such an exalted view of a male child would feed further oppression of the female children, including their killing, Ramabai used mul or mulga, a generic word for a “son,” without any sexist connotations.
Ramabai’s cultural sensitivity allowed the women to read the Marathi Bible without feeling neglected. I plan to show several examples and encourage the hearers to incorporate such cultural sensitivity into our translations and writings.