Birhor Bible — Birhor New Testament (India)
Overview
The Birhor Bible (formally titled Birhor Published Project ©NLCI-2023) is the complete New Testament (27 books) in the Birhor language, published by New Life Computer Institute (NLCI) in 2023 and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4613; abbreviation: BIY). The Birhor are one of India's most vulnerable indigenous communities — a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and among the last semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers in South Asia. This New Testament represents the first complete NT available in Birhor, providing scripture for a community whose traditional way of life is under severe pressure from sedentarization programs. NLCI, based in Hyderabad, has produced NT translations for multiple endangered tribal languages of Central and Eastern India.
Language and People
Birhor (ISO 639-3: biy; autonym: Bihor, meaning "forest people" or "men of the jungle") is an Austroasiatic language: Austroasiatic → Munda → North Munda (Kherwarian branch). It is most closely related to Mundari and Ho, and more distantly to Santali — all members of the Munda family spoken across Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. The Munda languages are one of the three primary language families indigenous to the Indian subcontinent (alongside Dravidian and Tibeto-Burman), predating both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian expansions in the region.
The Birhor inhabit scattered forest communities across:
- Jharkhand (primary population: Ranchi, Hazaribag, Giridih, Latehar, Gumla districts)
- Odisha (Sundargarh district)
- West Bengal (small communities)
- Chhattisgarh (Raigarh district)
Estimated speakers: approximately 7,000–10,000 (Ethnologue; 2011 India Census counted ~10,726 ethnic Birhor). The language is classified as Endangered (EGIDS 7 or higher), with significant language shift toward Hindi and Nagpuri (Sadri) occurring.
Cultural Context
The Birhor are traditionally semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers and rope-makers — one of the few communities in modern India who maintained a hunter-gatherer lifestyle into the 20th and early 21st centuries. Their semi-nomadic settlement pattern (Tanda camps) allowed seasonal movement through the forests of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The Indian government's Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) and PVTG development programs have pushed for permanent settlement, with mixed results: while sedentarization has brought some access to schools and health services, it has disrupted traditional livelihoods and accelerated language shift to Hindi and Sadri.
Traditional Birhor religion centers on ancestor worship, spirit propitiation, and the forest deity Sing Bonga (the sun god, shared across Munda religions). Christianity has made inroads through mission activity, providing the context for this NT translation.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by New Life Computer Institute (NLCI) (Hyderabad, India), a Christian publishing ministry focused on producing Bible translations for tribal and scheduled-tribe communities of India. NLCI has produced NT translations in numerous Munda, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman minority languages across Central and Eastern India.