On this page, we will share our ministry of Bible translation in India. We minister to an unreached tribe, named "BHIL" in
Dahod, Gujarat State, India. Their mother tongue is BHILODI.
Among the tribal people in India, BHIL community has the 3rd largest people group in India. Of these, many live
in the hilly and forest areas which are situated in the borders of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. They have
the practice of building houses in groups and in each house, three to four families live together. Their staple food
is corn, and their main occupation is agriculture. They plant crops like corn, wheat, paddy. etc.
The BHIL people who dwell in the state of Rajasthan speak Wagadi and those in Madhya Pradesh speak BHILI language.
Most of those who speak BHILODI language live in Dahod and Panchmahal Districts of Gujarat. BHILODI speakers also live
in Banswada (Rajasthan) and Jabua (Madhya Pradesh) which are in the outskirts of Gujarat. More than 13 lakh (1.3 million)
BHIL people speak BHILODI language.
Many BHIL people have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior because of the work of the Holy Spirit and the tireless
efforts of the missionaries. It is necessary to give the Bible in BHILODI language which does not have a script of its
own. For this reason, the Bible translation work began in BHILODI language.
TASK ACCOMPLISHED
According to God's will, Subir and his wife Sudha, committed their lives and went as cross-cultural missionaries with
the burden to translate the Bible in the BHILODI language. After they learnt Gujarati, the state language, they started
learning the BHILODI language since August 2001. Residing in Kalikuvi, a small village located in the central part of
Dahod District, Gujarat, India, they analysed BHILODI language and also understood their culture. After finishing the phonemic
analysis of BHILODI language in the month of October 2003, they have given a script to that language. After completing the
grammatical analysis of the language, they started translating the Bible since November 2004. Moreover, they have given
a written form to the oral Christian songs in BHILODI. One person, named Vinesh, who is from the BHIL people group is
working with them.
It is their dream to translate the Bible in many other unwritten languages in India.
