After the Mass celebrated in the Salesian parish of Umswai, Bishop John Moolachira DD, of the diocese of Diphu, gave formal approval to the releasing of a new translation in the language of the Tiwa tribe inhabiting the hills of Karbi Anglong District and the plains of Morigaon and Kampur districts of Assam in North East India.

The function was attended by a large number of people from the Tiwa, Karbi and Khasi tribes and distinguished guests including Fr. Luis SDB, the delegate of Rev. Fr. Joseph Almeida SDB, Provincial of Guwahati Province, Fr. Quirinus Syiemlieh SDB, Parish Priest and Rector; All Tiwa Student’s Union, village church elders  and other honoured guests and Salesians from nearby schools and parishes.

During the Mass the New Testament was brought in a traditional Tiwa style casket and presented as an offering to the Lord.

The Bishop in his message congratulated the Tiwa tribal community for having the New Testament in their own language. He thanked Dr. U. V. Jose SDB for having spent his energy to take up the work of translating the Word of God, besides performing his regular duties as parish priest and also principal of a big school. He also thanked the team of three villagers from Umswai late Cyril Maslai, Horsing Kolhar and Fabian Malang for the help they rendered in the work of translation.

“Reading the New Testament will not make you a Catholic or a Christian” he said, “but it will definitely make you a good and peaceful person and a better citizen of our great nation, as you continue to live and profess your own faith.”

The Tiva community represented by a village elder, in traditional Tiwa custom, honored Dr. U. V. Jose SDB, and conferred on him the highest honor of the Tiwa tribe.

The first version of the New Testament was translated by Rev. Fr. Michael Balawan SDB in 1982.  After spending the whole day teaching in the remote villages in the Umswai area, he had set a target for himself, of translating a page each day before retiring for the night.
 
The new translation with explanatory footnotes has been done by a linguist, conversant with ten (10) tribal languages, besides Malayalam, English, German and Italian: Dr. U.V. Jose SDB, who has been parish priest of Umswai from 1997 to 2009. It took him three years to complete Earlier he has translated the New Testament in the Rabha tribe’s language as well as published a Rabha dictionary. Now he is thinking of producing a Tiwa dictionary 

Published 02/12/2010