Sansi Bible — Sansi (Sansiboli) Scripture Portions (India)
Overview
The Sansi Bible is a single-book scripture portion in the Sansi language of Rajasthan and Punjab, India, published by New Life Computer Institute and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 3819). The community's autonym Sansiboli means literally "Sansi language/speech" (sansī + bolī "speech/language"). Sansi (ISO 639-3: ssi) is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to Rajasthani, spoken by the Sansi people — a community with a distinctive history shaped by colonial-era criminalization policies. New Life Computer Institute (NLCI, Lahore) produced this initial scripture portion as part of its broader scripture access program for marginalized communities of South Asia.
Language and People
Sansi (ISO 639-3: ssi; autonym: Sansiboli) is an Indo-European language: Indo-European → Indo-Iranian → Indo-Aryan → Central Zone → Rajasthani group (closely related to Bagri/Braj). Sansi shares vocabulary and grammatical features with the broader Rajasthani dialect continuum while retaining community-specific lexical items. The language exhibits contact influence from Punjabi in northern communities. Some classifications treat Sansi as a variety of Bagri (ISO bgq) or a related Rajasthani language rather than as a fully distinct language.
The Sansi community inhabits:
- Rajasthan — especially eastern and northern districts
- Punjab, Haryana, and adjacent states, India — reflecting the community's historically mobile lifestyle
- Small communities also present in Pakistani Punjab
Estimated speakers: approximately 10,000–50,000, though precise current figures are difficult to establish given the community's dispersal and language shift toward dominant regional languages.
Cultural Context
The Sansi are historically a semi-nomadic community whose traditional occupations included small-scale trade, animal husbandry, and skills such as tattooing. Under British colonial rule, the Sansi were listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 — a sweeping colonial policy that designated dozens of nomadic and semi-nomadic communities as "hereditary criminals," subjecting them to collective punishment, surveillance, and restricted movement. This policy, repealed in 1952 by independent India (which replaced it with the Habitual Offenders Act, itself criticized), left lasting social stigma. Many Sansi communities today are classified under India's Scheduled Castes or Denotified Tribes categories, qualifying for affirmative action provisions. New Life Computer Institute has worked to provide scripture access for several such historically marginalized North Indian communities.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by New Life Computer Institute (NLCI, Lahore, Pakistan), a Christian publishing organization focused on scripture translation and distribution for South Asia's minority language communities.