Thursday 12 October 2023

New search for MSS of Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana

 We are mounting a new search for MSS of the Khristapurana in Mangalore and Goa. 

In Mangalore, we need to find out what happened to the 5 MSS used by Joseph L. Saldanha in his 1907 edition, The Christian Puranna (see list below). Any information will be most welcome. Part of the information we need is about the families of the people mentioned below. It is possible that the MSS are still in their possession, or at least that they might know what happened to these. For example, if Mr Marian Saldanha is Prof. Mariano Saldanha of Ucassaim, Goa, we know that his holdings were donated to the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendra, Porvorim. In that case, perhaps one of the two MSS there is the one used by Joseph L. Saldanha. 

  1. Messrs. Dunbar Brothers of Parel, Bombay. (See Joseph L. Saldanha, The ChristianPuranna, Mangalore 1907). Roman script. 
  2. Mr Marian Saldanha (probably Dr Mariano Saldanha of Ucassaim, Goa). (See Joseph
  3. L. Saldanha, The Christian Puranna, Mangalore 1907). Roman script. 
  4. Mr Julian Coelho. (See Joseph L. Saldanha, The Christian Puranna, Mangalore 1907) Roman script. 
  5. Rev. S.B.C. Luis. (See Joseph L. Saldanha, The Christian Puranna, Mangalore 1907) Roman script. 
  6. Mr Jerome A. Saldanha, Sub-Judge of Alibagh, Bombay Presidency. Devanagari script. (See Joseph L. Saldanha, The Christian Puranna, Mangalore 1907). 
In Goa, we have identified the following MSS. It is possible that there might be some more, lying with some families. 

  1. The Goa Central Library MS, bearing the date 1731 / 1761 (GCL). The KrishnadasShama Goa Central Library, Post Box 22, Patto, Panjim, Goa 403 001, India. E-mail:lib-cent.goa@nic.in. Tel: +91-832-2425730 / 2436327. Website:http://www.goacentrallibrary.gov.in/
  2. The Pilar MS (P). Monastery of Pilar, Pilar Hill, NH-17, Velha Goa, Goa 403 108, India.(Contact: Fr Cosme José Costa, SFX)
  3. The M.C. Saldanha MS at the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendra (TSKK-1). ThomasStephens Konknni Kendr, B.B. Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim, Bardez, Goa - 403 521,India. E-mail: tskkgoa@gmail.com. Tel: +91-832-2415857 / 2415864. Website:www.tskk.org
  4. Another MS at the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendra (TSKK-2).
  5. The Bhaugun Kamat Vagh MS in the Pissurlencar Collection at the Goa UniversityLibrary (BKV). Goa University Library, Goa University, Taleigao Plateau, Goa 403 206,India. Tel: +91-832-6519048. Website: http://library.unigoa.ac.in/
Besides these, there is of course the Devanagari script MSS found in London. 
  1. The Marsden MS. School of Oriental Studies, London. 
Please feel free to contact me at ivo.coelho@gmail.com (Ivo Coelho).

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana

 

A photo of the first page of the Marsden MS of Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana (from a photocopy, Pilar Museum, Pilar Goa) (photo credit: Hendry Selvaraj, SDB) Whether the KP was first composed in Roman script and then rendered into Devanagari is still disputed.


One of the pages of the "Pilar MS" of the Khristapurana in Roman script. 

Another page of the "Pilar MS".  The date, however, is wrong in my estimation - we know that the first print edition was in 1616, and that the above is a handwritten copy of one of the print editions... However, this is the only place where I've seen the affirmation that Stephens dictated to 12 Brahmin scribes...
We hope the Pilar Museum will find the funds to restore this MS! It is precious but falling to pieces...





Wednesday 17 August 2022

Joseph Velinkar, Fr Thomas Stephens: The First Englishman in India

It's good to finally have a little biography of the great Fr Thomas Stephens, SJ, author of the Khristapurana. Our gratitude to Fr Joseph Velinkar, SJ for this gift. Our congratulations also to Leonard and Queenie Fernandes of CinnamonTeal Publications (Margao, 2021) for a beautifully brought out volume. 

Fr Velinkar has done primary research in the UK, France and Italy, besides of course in the archives in Goa and in Mumbai, and has unearthed precious details about the life of Stephens. (But a great deal of matter seems to have been taken from Clifford J. Pereira, "Thomas Stephens - An English Jesuit in Goa", a paper he cites as found at goa-research-net, and which I found at  https://groups.google.com/g/soc.culture.portuguese/c/NT2hVqbmS4E .)

My suspicion that Stephens had done his novitiate at Sant'Andrea al Quirinale seems to be confirmed - though Velinkar just says "St Andrew" in Rome. There are even the names of some of Stephens fellow novices: "eight fellow Englishmen (of whom seven were former Oxford students), one Irish man, and the future martyr Pietro Berno" (Velinkar 53; the source is G. Schurhammer, New Documents, Thomas Stephens, p. 1)

I had no idea Stephens and Thomas Pound had been so closely associated. Velinkar dedicates a whole chapter to Thomas Pound (chapter 2). Instead, I am delighted to have confirmation that Bushton and Clyffe Pypard are near Swindon of the Anglo-Indian Mangalorean Keralite Goan Christian diaspora (23, 193).

An official painting of Thomas Stephens has been placed in the Mumbai University Convocation Hall on the occasion of the 4th Centenary of Stephens' death. (191) (Stephens died in 1619, so the 4th centenary must have been in 2019)

And this gem: "One of the best preserved manuscripts of the Krista Purana is to be found in the possession of the Falnir Coelho family in Mangalore." (178. The reference: Kranti K. Farias, The Christian Impact in South Kanara, p. 198) (Church History Association of India, 1999)

In his final chapter Velinkar takes pains to mention the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, Porvorim and the Father Stephens Academy School, Vasai, but for whatever reason, he fails to mention the two massive volumes of Nelson Falcao which render the Khristapurana in current Marathi and in English, the Konkani translation by Amonkar, the studies by Tadkodkar, the republication of the Arte da Lingoa Canarim by CinnamonTeal Publications, and other such initiatives, which are, to my mind, milestones in the diffusion of the work of Stephens. 

A good editor might have made this precious text even more readable, avoiding, for example, unnecessary repetitions and a certain lack of linearity in the narrative. But perhaps it is a new, circular way of narrating. 

Wednesday 18 May 2022

Jacob Palaparambil, "Richard De Smet's Discovery of the Notion of 'Person' in Adi Sankaracarya's Advaita Vedanta," defence, 16 May 2022

Jacob Palaparambil's defence at the UPS, Rome. Scaria Thuruthiyil, 1st reader; Bryan Lobo, SJ, 2nd reader, Mauro Mantovani, 3rd reader. President: Andrea Bozzolo.

Most of the questions were about De Smet's interpretation of Sankara and its correctness, rather than about Jacob's interpretation of De Smet. 

Suggestions by Mauro Mantovani: (1) develop analogy, just as you have developed relation; (2) expand also on attributes; (3) read Gilles Emery, on q. 28 of the S.Th. 

He also said Thomas spoke of two notions of person, one suitable for the human person, the other for the divine persons. 

Bryan Lobo asked about person and reincarnation and moksa: without the body in moksa, is there a person or not? [But in Christian theology we have the same problem: is the separated soul a person, if person refers to the integrity of a being?]

He also asked about intuition: did De Smet speak about intuition? is there not an intuition at least in the mystical experience? that surely is not reasoning. [The Marechal tradition does not like the notion of intuition. and not Lonergan either. But one would have to examine De Smet's writings on the matter. He certainly wrote about the supreme experience.]

Saturday 9 April 2022

Thomas Stephens and the Khristapurana: new items

The following items on Thomas Stephens and the Khristapurana were kindly signalled to me by Prof. Dr. S.M. Tadkodkar on 27 March 2022:


1). Amonkar, Suresh Gundu., Christ-Puraanna, (based on the version of Christian Puraanna (originally written by Father Thomas Stephens, 1616), which was edited by Joseph L. Saldhana, 1907) into Konkani language and Edited. Published by Directorate of Art and Culture,  Government of Goa, Panaji, Tiswadi, Goa, 2017, pages 1070, price Rs. 1600.00

 

2). Tadkodkar, S. M. "सुरेशबाब आमोणकारान केल्लें ‘ख्रिस्तपुराणा’चें कोंकणीकरण :संशोधनपर अणकाराचो आदर्श" ('Introduction') (पानांक V to XXVI), ख्रिस्तपुराण (पाद्री तोमास इश्तेव्ह,१६१६) : अणकार आनी सम्पादन, सुरेश गुण्डू आमोणकार, कला आनी संस्कृती संचालनालय, गोंय राज्य-शासन, पणजी-गोंय, २०१७, मोल रुपये एक सहस्र सशे, पानां १०७० ; 

 

3). Tadkodkar, S. M., पाद्री तोमास इश्तेव्हंचे मराठी भाषेतील ‘क्रिस्तपुराण’, (पृष्ठांक २९१-३१४), बीजग्रंथ आणि बीजग्रंथकार, (डॉ० मधुकर रामदास जोशी गौरवग्रंथ), सम्पादक : राम आर्वीकर, श्रीमंगेश प्रकाशन, नागपूर, २०१०, पृष्ठे २४०


I have added them at the end of the "Thomas Stephens: updated bibliography" on this blog.


see also:





• Barnes, Michael. "The first English Jesuit in India: The remarkable story of Thomas Stephens SJ." See https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/first-english-jesuit-india-remarkable-story-thomas-stephens-sj 
• Chakravarti, Ananya. ‘Christ in the Brahmapuri: Thomas Stephens in Salcete’, in The Empire of Apostles: Religion, Accommodatio, and the Imagination of Empire in Early Modern Brazil and India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp 178-227. 
• Velinkar, J. Thomas Stephens: The First Englishman in India. CinnamonTeal Publishing, 2021. [Biography of Thomas Stephens.] 
• Naik, Pratap. "Fr Thomas Stephens SJ: A Visionary who mastered Konknni and Marathi in Goa. Mangalorean (26 October 2020, at https://www.mangalorean.com/fr-thomas-stephens-sj-a-visionary-who-mastered-konknni-marathi-in-goa/) 
• Fogg, Nicholas. Forgotten Englishman: Thomas Stephens and the Mission to the East. Gracewing Publication, 2021. 
• Falcao, Nelson. Contemporization of Fr. Thomas Stephens Kristapurana. Pratima Prakashan, 2019. 
• Melo, João Vicente. "Stephens: English exile, Jesuit priest, Marathi poet." See https://www.tideproject.uk/2018/11/15/thomas-stephens-english-exile-jesuit-priest-marathi-poet/ 
• Royson, Rachel Annie. Kristapurana: An Introduction. [Perhaps an online piece.] 
• Royson, Rachel Annie. In Search of the Kristapurana: A Journey Through Goa. [Perhaps an online piece.] 
• Schouten, Jan Peter. Chapter 3: A Foreign Culture Baptised: The Jesuits Roberto de Nobili and Thomas Stephens. In: Jan Peter Schouten, The European Encounter with Hinduism in India. Brill, 2020. pp. 40-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004420076_005

Sunday 20 February 2022

Richard De Smet archival material

De Smet material sent Daniel De Smet (Brugge - Belgium), February 2022 (inserted into Annotated Bibliography):
  1. “Christianity and Sankaracarya.” St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India. Copy of typescript, 68 pp. (more or less - there are more, actually, because of uneven numbering, and unnumbered pages containing footnotes).
  2. “The Dynamics of Contemplation according to Shankaracarya.” Comunicazione per lo [sic] Congresso di Semiotica del Testo Mistico. Prof. Giuseppe de Gennaro, Università dell’Aquila, Telefax 0862/432113. On letterhead of Casa Scrittori, Via dei Penitenzieri, 20 – 00193 Roma. 11 pp typescript. 
  3. “A Mirror for Provincials.” For Ignis. Dt. 28.10.90. Letterhead of Istititum Historicum Societatis Iesu / Istituto Storico della Compagnia di Gesù, Via dei Penitenzieri 20, 00193 Roma. Typescript of 3 pp. 
  4. [Biodata.] typescript of 1 p. 
  5. “Publications of Dr. Richard V. De Smet, Ph.D. S.J.” typescript of 3 pp.