Kol NT — Kol (Bangladesh) New Testament
Overview
Kol NT is the complete New Testament (27 books) in the Kol language of Bangladesh, published by The Seed Company in partnership with the Bangladesh Scripture Foundation for Bangladesh (BSFB) in 2025 and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4282). Known by speakers as Hor ("people/human beings" — the same self-name used by related Munda communities in India), the Kol of Bangladesh are a small Austroasiatic Munda community, part of the larger Kol/Munda diaspora that extends from the Chota Nagpur Plateau of India into Bangladesh. This NT represents the first New Testament in Kol (Bangladesh) and provides scripture access in the heart language of a small tribal minority.
Language and People
Kol Bangladesh (ISO 639-3: ekl; autonym: Hor) is an Austroasiatic language: Austroasiatic → Munda → North Munda → Kherwarian. The Kherwarian Munda languages include Santali (the largest, with ~7 million speakers), Mundari (unr), Ho (hoc), Birhor (biy), and several others. Kol (Bangladesh) is closely related to or a variety of Ho or Mundari; the Hor autonym is shared across the Kherwarian tradition as the self-designation meaning "human being/person." The Bangladesh Kol community likely retains a Kherwarian variety distinct enough from Indian Mundari and Ho to have received its own ISO code.
The Kol community inhabits:
- Northwestern Bangladesh, particularly Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division (where most of Bangladesh's tribal minority communities are concentrated in the western hill and plains borderlands adjacent to India)
- Smaller communities in other Bangladeshi districts
Estimated speakers: a small community in Bangladesh; precise population figures are limited but likely in the low thousands (the broader Kol population in India is ~700,000 across multiple states, but the Bangladesh community is a small sub-set).
Cultural Context
The Kol of Bangladesh, like their Munda relatives in India's Jharkhand and West Bengal, have historically practiced traditional animist religion (sarna) and subsistence agriculture, and have faced pressure from the majority Bengali population and land alienation. Bangladesh's tribal minorities have increasingly embraced Christianity through missionary activity, and the Kol community has a small but growing Christian population. The 2025 NT from The Seed Company and BSFB represents a significant resource for Kol Christian communities in Bangladesh who were previously dependent on Bengali or Hindi scripture.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by The Seed Company in partnership with BSFB (Bangladesh Scripture Foundation for Bangladesh, or a related local Bible society/translation organization in Bangladesh).