Kristapurana. Part I

In the year 1579, a Jesuit missionary, Fr. Thomas Stephens, S.J.(1549-1619), the first Englishman set foot on Indian soil. Enamoured by the rich Indian tradition and zest for spreading God¿s Word, and seeing an urgent need of Christian literature in Marathi language for the new-converts, Fr. Stephens went on to narrate the life of Jesus Christ, the Kristapur¿¿a, interpreting it in the Hindu-Vai¿¿avaite tradition, just as St. Paul interpreted the faith in Greco-Hebrew categories and St. Thomas Aquinas in Scholastic terminology. The Kristapur¿¿a, a Christian Biblical Epic, is a classical example of Hermeneutics for the world to see. It could be called an ¿Indian Bible.¿ The original text is in Sanskritized ancient Marathi, consisting of about 11,000 verses. The Sanskritized Marathi Poetry has been translated into English Prose and published in three volumes: 1)Volume I ¿ consists of Front Pages and Puran I; 2)Volume II ¿ consists of Puran II; 3)Volume III ¿ consists of Part of Puran II, 15 Appendices and Bibliography. In the translation the original text has been given side by side in Roman Script.