About R H Kelkar
The first Marathi translation of the Holy Bible was published in the early years of the 19th century by William Carey and his associates at Serampore in West Bengal, India. Later translations and revisions were mostly carried out by committees appointed by the Bible Society in India from time to time. There were two individual attempts to translate the Bible into Marathi – the New Testament by B N Athavale (1931) and the complete Bible by Pandita Ramabai (1922).
The latest translation of the Marathi New Testament from Greek to Marathi was done by Ratnakar Hari Kelkar between 1968 and 1985. This work, Nava Karar, was published on the internet in 2005.
Translation work done by committees usually entails the use of complex phraseology to find common ground among differing doctrinal viewpoints, and a possible lack of consistency of expression in different parts of the text. R H Kelkar adopted a different approach. He did not use the same Marathi word everywhere for a particular Greek word in order to achieve fidelity of translation. Instead, he studied in great detail the meaning and background of New Testament Greek words, and prepared a wordbook that gave a few carefully chosen Marathi equivalents expressing different nuances of these Greek words. He then built up his Marathi translation by framing sentences using the most appropriate words and phrases. This approach has made his translation extremely readable in contemporary Marathi without loss of authenticity.
R H Kelkar was born on 22 June 1901 in a Christian family in Alibag,Maharashtra. His father Hari Govind Kelkar had accepted Christianity in 1881. After his father’s death in 1904, R H Kelkar had a difficult childhood. He studied in John Elphinstone School in Alibag but could not complete his education. He later moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) and after doing small jobs he got employment in a branch of the Bombay Post Office as a clerk. While working at the Post Office he continued his studies and received the BA degree of the University of Bombay in 1926. He worked in the Indian Postal Department for 34 years and retired in 1956 as the Deputy Presidency Post Master of Bombay GPO. While working in the Postal Service, he also studied accountancy and law, and cultivated a keen interest in religion, culture, history, language, and literature. After his retirement he served as the editor of the Marathi magazine Dnyanodaya from 1956 to 1963, and as a Professor of Marathi at the United Theological College at Pune until 1973. He died on 14 November 1985 at New Delhi, India.
Lem Patole said
Dear R R [Conceal Not Thy First Name] Kelkar,
My good friend Father Sudhir Tiwari and Sister Stephania Tiwari have forwarded copies of translation of the New Testament done by your father Shri Ratnakar Kelkar. He was the right man to sit into the editor’s chair of the age-old “Dnyanodaya” magazine and I knew him since then. He has left behind his memorable contribution for the Marathi readers of the Bible. Wish he was around for me to give hearty congratulations to him in person.
Years ago, in the middle of the ’60s, late Shyamsundar Adhav had praised Pandita Ramabai’s translation of the bible in his article in Dnyanodaya with a sour note for the existing one. My reaction to that was in favor of both, keeping things in balance. After all, a translation is a translation. Ultimately it boils down to “To Each His Own!
Pranam.
Lem Patole
New York
sushant said
Dear R.H. KELKER I do recpect you. and my recvest from you please send me your marathi bible verses on my mail my id si sushantrajguru@rocketmail.com
Prof R R Kelkar said
I have put in a new link under Blogroll “Acquire New Posts by E-Mail (SUBSCRIBE)”. By clicking on this link, you can subscribe to the Marathi Bible blog and receive new posts by e-mail.
R R Kelkar
Vishal Bhadlekar said
Dear Uncle,
Can you please send me Marathi Bible Software for my PC.
otervise pls send me website address, so that I can download.
Pls do the needful
send me on my emai vishal4unu@yahoo.co.in
Thanks
Regards
Vishal B
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Vishal,
From your email id I believe you are in India. If you let me know your full name, address and contact phone number, I will send you a CD containing the Marathi Bible files by courier.
Thanks for your interest,
Sincerely,
R R Kelkar
Pune
rakesh said
dear sir………
PRAISE THE LORD!
this is rakesh from pune………
will you manage CD of marathi bible for me….
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Rakesh,
If you can mail me your full name and address, I will send you the Marathi Bible CD. This contains the complete PDF files of all the books of the New Testament. My email id is
kelkar_rr@yahoo.com
R R Kelkar
Vijay pednekar said
i want the copy of the book Nava karar, which was translated by u in Marathi from the Holy Bible
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Mr Pednekar,
Thank you for visiting the Marathi Bible site.
To clarify matters, the Nava Karar translation was done not by me but by my late father, R H Kelkar. It has not yet been published in book form, but I have made it available on the internet and on a CD which has pdf files that can be easily read on a PC.
I will be glad to send you the CD but for that purpose I will need to know your postal address and contact phone number. You may send me this information by email to kelkar_rr@yahoo.com.
Sincerely,
R R Kelkar
Pune
tearsforindia said
I discovered this site today! What a wonderful resource.
I chronicle my journey with Jesus Christ on a blog here: http://noconversion.wordpress.com
I would like to encourage you and other believers to read it and post comments.
-ranjeet
Keep tilling. Jesus Christ is sowing.
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Ranjeet,
I am glad that you have liked my Marathi New Testament site. Even those who do not know Marathi can click on ‘Search Text by Topic’ and use the references to read them in the Bible that they have, whatever the language.
P. S. I visited your blog and from your narrative it appears that you know Marathi. So you can really make good use of the material.
R R Kelkar
MEGHA said
Dear Uncle,
Praise the Lord! Great site! Keep up the good work. God bless you.
Can you please send some old hymns from upasana sangeet to my email.
Would like to know more about you and your ministry.
In Love of Christ,
Megha
Prof R R Kelkar said
Dear Megha,
Nice to read your words of encouragement. I am 65 years old and it is people like you who keep me going! I do not have any ministry or organization as such. Whatever I am doing is just a labour of love and I am doing it alone with God’s help.
If you click ‘Marathi Hymns’ on this site you will find some hymns composed by my grandfather H G Kelkar. I do not have any other hymns in soft copy form that I can forward to you. But if you live in India you can buy a copy of Upasana Sangeet for yourself. If you are not here, and you tell me one or two of your most favourite hymns, I will try to make a jpeg file and send you.
Remember me in your prayers,
R R Kelkar
Pune