Maria (India) Bible (New Testament) (MRRWBT)

Overview

The Maria (India) Bible New Testament is a translation of the New Testament into the Madia Gondi language (ISO 639-3: mrr), a Dravidian language spoken by the Madia Gond people of central India [1]. Published in 2020 by Wycliffe Bible Translators, the text is rendered in the Devanagari script, as the Madia Gondi language lacks a standardized native script [2]. The Madia Gond, also called Maria or Madia, are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in India and inhabit the dense Dandakaranya forests of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra and the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh [3]. The language may be considered a variety of Gondi but is suspected to be mutually unintelligible with most other Gondi varieties, and approximately 450,000 people are reported as speakers [4]. This translation represents a significant effort to bring Scripture to a community that has traditionally relied on oral traditions for cultural transmission and whose language is experiencing declining intergenerational transmission [3].

Language and People

Maria (India) (ISO 639-3: mrr) is spoken by approximately 165,000 people in India, Map 7. [Glottolog: mari1414]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA.

References