Mariano Saldanha, "A literatura puranica christam"

 Yesterday, visiting the Xavier Historical Centre, Porvorim, I browsed through Mariano Saldanha's very interesting account of Christian puranic literature. Some points I found useful:

1. His list of Christian puranas - at least 8.

2. His mention of a Devanagari script MS of the Khristapurana in the Bibliothek National, Vienna. (M. Saldanha p. 8)

3. That this literature is largely unknown and forgotten in Goa - the reasons he gives are that, with education, people were unable to access the Marathi language Puranas. The exceptions in Portuguese Goa are the fishing communities of Tiracol, Chapora, Morgim and Assanora:

"constituindo o único deleite literário de alguns rendeiros e pescadores de nossas remotas aldeias, como Tiracol, Chaporá, Morgim e Assonorá," (M. Saldanha p. 5)

4. He takes issue with Abbott, who considered the Marsden Devanagari MSS the originals. [However, the issue is still debatable, according to me.] Abbott does, however, reveal an insufficient knowledge of the Stephens' KP, as when he says that no one even suspected the existence of a Devanagari MS. J.L. Saldanha clearly mentions that he had one such MS at his disposal.

"The discovery I made that these two parts (do Purana de Londres) were the Devanagary Original of the Christian Purana of T. Stevens, edited by J.L. Saldanha and published in Mangalore in 1907, was a complete surprise, for I believe it has not even been suspected that such a Devanagary original existed. » (Abbott, at M. Saldanha p. 8)

5. M. Saldanha considers the Mangalore edition of J.L. Saldanha as standard. 

6. Cunha Rivara did not know any Indian languages. He considered the KP as a work in Konkani, which is clearly contradicted by what Stephens himself writes.

Martin Ganeri

• Thought and Western Theism: The Vedānta of Rāmānuja. Routledge Hindu Studies Series. Routledge, 2015.
• ‘Selfhood, Agency and Freewill in Rāmānuja’ in E. F. Bryant (ed.), Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy (2014).
• ‘Natural Law and Hinduism.' Journal of Comparative Law (2014).
• Hinduism: From a Catholic Perspective. CTS, 2017.
• “Thinking the Creator and Creature Together: How Rāmānuja’s Account of Scriptural Meaning Encourages Unitive Language in Christian Discourse about God and the World.” Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies 31 (2018): Article 18. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol31/iss1/18/.
• “Catholic Encounter with Hindus in the Twentieth Century: In Search of an Indian Christianity.” New Blackfriars (2024). https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12863.
• “The Comparative Theology of Francis X. Clooney SJ and the Question of Theological Dual Belonging.” In Theology without Borders: Essays in Honour of Gavin D’Costa, edited by Peter C. Phan and Jonathan Y. Tan, 119–134. London: Routledge, 2022. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003142591-7.
• “Compassionate Love.” Torch (Dominican Friars in Britain), April 20, 2025. https://www.english.op.org/torch/compassionate-love/.
• Review of Vatican II: Catholic Doctrines on Jews and Muslims, by Gavin D’Costa. New Blackfriars 96, no. 1065 (2015): 341–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12144.

One more MS in St Aloysius College Mangalore - Konkani Department Library

Jason Pinto has found one more MS of the KP, in the Konkani Dept. Library of St Aloysius College Mangalore.

[Manuscript.] First page:] Bhavarthiyam Cristavam samantansi Padri Thomas Estevam vdannd ayvxe bhovxe va Paramesvuarachy Krupa bhaqhitaye.

[Cover page, obviously a later addition:] Krista Puran by Fr. Thomas Steevans. Manuscript – 1614 AD. [The same repeated in Kannada script.] 

 

[Later] In laudem avtoris pelo Frei Gaspar de S. Myquel Religiozo do Patriarca sao Francisco

[Next] Pailempuranna pramesvara svamiya va santa mahantachy stuti anni samagra grahantachy sassari ttica. / Avasuaru 1. [In pencil, this addition:] (Copy) up to ??

Whatsapp correspondence with Jason [12 photos sent]:

[23/01/25, 04:53:50] Jason Pinto: This is from the St Aloysius University, Konkani department library. Not able to exactly locate which year this MSS belongs.

[23/01/25, 08:35:48] ivo coelho: wow, what a find!

[23/01/25, 08:36:16] ivo coelho: the cover page says 1614

[23/01/25, 08:38:11] Jason Pinto: Yes.... But what does that mean?

Original 1614 or copy of KP 1614?

[23/01/25, 08:38:52] ivo coelho: does the library have any indications about provenance: who gave it to them, when, etc.?

[23/01/25, 08:39:02] ivo coelho: how many handwriten pp in total?

[23/01/25, 08:39:12] ivo coelho: could you send me a photo of the last pages?

[23/01/25, 08:39:44] ivo coelho: in itself, 1614 is an odd date, becasue the first print ed was 1616.

[23/01/25, 08:41:06] ivo coelho: but the date 1614 appears in the last Avasvaru , which is 59 in some MSS and 58 in others. anyway, it is always v. 119 - 120. most likely the date is taken from there, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary

[23/01/25, 08:41:29] ivo coelho: you can see that different people have copied it - so many different handwritings

[23/01/25, 08:49:45] Jason Pinto: Ok...will get you the last page

[23/01/25, 08:49:52] Jason Pinto: Yup

[23/01/25, 08:52:13] ivo coelho: If possible, could you tell me what the handwritten note says on the “Pailem Puranna” page?

[23/01/25, 08:52:19] ivo coelho: [Next] Pailempuranna pramesvara svamiya va santa mahantachy stuti anni samagra grahantachy sassari ttica. / Avasuaru 1. [In pencil, this addition:] (Copy) up to ??

[23/01/25, 08:52:26] ivo coelho: (Copy) up to ??

[23/01/25, 08:53:19] ivo coelho: But thanks, and congratulations! you have the researcher’s drive and instinct!

[23/01/25, 08:53:30] ivo coelho: keep looking. don’t forget the Basel Mission!

[23/01/25, 08:53:37] ivo coelho: and the Carmelites.

[23/01/25, 08:53:42] ivo coelho: every bit of evidence helpts

Nelson Falcao and recent writings on Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana

 Strangely, Nelson Falcao's Marathi and English translations of the Khristapurana, find no mention in the recent and growing literature on the topic. Perhaps because Falcao chose to publish his two translations "privately" through Kristu Jyoti Publications, and they have not received sufficient critical notice. The Marathi translation did receive book reviews (e.g. in Vidyajyoti and in Divyadaan), but being Marathi, was probably not accessible to most people. The English translation has not, to my knowledge, received enough attention. There are the following mentions of it, but I've not yet found a single real review.

Here is one notice, in Michael Barnes, SJ, Ignatian Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue: Reading Love's Mystery, Messenger Publications, 2021, p. 274:

Another one: Augustine Kanjamala, The Future of Christian Mission in India: Toward a New Paradigm for the Third Millennium, Pickwick Publications, 2014, p. 12: 

And another: Schouten, Jan Peter. The European Encounter with Hinduism in India. Netherlands: Brill, 2020, p. 56-57:

And this: Francis X. Clooney, "God's Suffering in the Hindu-Christian Gaze," in Catherine Cornille, ed. Atonement and Comparative Theology: The Cross in Dialogue with Other Religions. United States: Fordham University Press, 2021, p. 129.

A MS of Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana in Mangalore

 In the last few weeks, thanks also to the persistence of Jason Pinto, SDB, we have come to the knowledge of a MS of Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana: The Dussarem Puranna, in the possession of the St Aloysius College Library, Mangalore. Very likely this was one of the MSS used by J.L. Saldanha.

Instead, a great disappointment. We thought we had found the "Falnir Coelho" MS, probably one of those used by J.L. Saldanha (the one borrowed from Julian Coelho?), said to be in the possession of Friar Sidney Mascarenhas, OFM, The Friary, Bengalruru. (Sidney's mother was a Coelho). Joseph Velinkar had reported Ms Kranti K. Farias remark in one of her books about "a very well preserved MS" of the KP in the possession of the "Falnir Coelhos" in Mangalore. Instead, it turned out to be a copy of J.L. Saldanha's 1907 edition, The Christian Puranna. 

Yves de Steenhault on the Calcutta School

 

Cfr. Yves de Steenhault, History of the Jesuits in West Bengal, Part I: 1921–1947 (n.p., n.d).

the above text is from S.S. Abreu:

This is also from Abreu:

The following is from Will Sweetman:

Ananya Chakravarti, The Empire of Apostles

See the list of KP MSS consulted: the Pilar MS (which she dates at 1609 and calls the earliest extant MS); two copies of the MS at the TSKK; and the "printed edition" (the 3rd, of 1654) held at the Central Library, Panjim. (201n87) Strange that she calls the last "the printed edition", when it is an MS copy of the third edition. The others that she calls MSS are also copies of the printed editions. 

She does not mention Nelson Falcao's Marathi and English translations of the KP at all, though she does mention his book (the one coming from his PhD thesis) in the bibliography. Her decision is to make use of the Saldanha edition - perhaps because it is completely in Roman script? 

Neither does she mention Tadkodkar. 

Her remarks on yema loca and agnicondd are interesting. 

She discusses some "confusion" in the economic affairs handled by Stephens in Salcette.

The material she has accessed for the chapter is interesting. It bears comparison with that accessed by Velinkar.