Khristapurana seminar at University of Pune

The University of Pune will be holding a seminar on Fr Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana on 15 and 16 November 2010.

The initiative has been inspired by Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune, who is himself a Tukaram scholar of note, and therefore well-known to and appreciated by the academics in Pune.

Among the speakers are Fr Nelson Falcao, Fr Francis D'Britto, and Prof. Dr. Kalyan Kale, who was one of Fr Nelson's examiners on the board of his doctoral defence.

The seminar will be in Marathi. All are invited. The invitation has been put up on the parish notice board.

Kavivarya Tilak Puraskar for Fr Nelson Falcao

Fr Nelson received the Kavivarya Tilak Puraskar for his work on the Khristapurana on Christmas Day, 25 December 2009, at a function at Holy Cross Church.

The function - Vishwashanti Prarthana and Krutajnata Sohala - is held every year on Christmas Evening. It is organized by the Nashik Ekatmata Samiti, the organization that works for unity and harmony between religions and communities.

This year the Adhyaksa / President of the function was an interesting individual called Narayan Guruji, who is the former Chairman of Excel Industries, Baroda, and who is well-known as a management guru who has incorporated the wisdom of the West with the wisdom of centuries found in India in the Vedas, the Upanisads, and the Bhagavad Gita. Narayan Guruji shared also how he had had a vision of someone he took to be Ved Vyasa, but then later he was enabled to realize that this was actually Jesus. A very open, warm, loving human being, Narayan Guru. Good to have people like that still around in our country.

The Puraskar was awarded to Fr Nelson by the Jesuits of Holy Cross Church, the main mover being Fr Tony George, the Parish Priest, and himself a Marathi scholar, who has just completed a doctoral dissertation on the Autobiographies of Marathi converts in the Pre-Independence era.

The Collector of Nashik, and Vanadhipati Vinayakdada Patil, who were both scheduled to come, were not able to be present, and sent their wishes.

There was a good crowd at the function which was held inside the Church - mostly parishioners from Holy Cross and Satpur, with a few also from the Don Bosco sector, and a fairly large number of non-Christian friends and well-wishers. I was struck by the number of non-Christians paying a visit to the Church, and especially to the crib and to the statue of Our Lady - which, interestingly, seems to be a statue of Mary Help of Christians.

Release of Fr Nelson's Khristapurana

Fr Nelson Falcao’s new edition and Marathi translation of Thomas Stephens’ Khristapurana was released at a well-attended function at Parshuram Natyagruha, Nashik, 14 November 2009 in the presence of eminent persons from the field of Marathi literature and learning. Mr Vinayakdada Patil, President of the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan and the Marathi Sahitya Parishad, Nashik, presided at the function. Bishop Thomas Bhalerao, SJ, former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nashik; Fr Francis D’Britto of Vasai; Dr A.H. Salunkhe, well-known ‘rationalist’ thinker and lecturer, and Dr Dilip Dhondge, Principal of Satana College and specialist in the ‘Sant literature’ of Maharashtra, were the speakers.

The sutradhar (compere) was Ms Ketkar, who works at Akashvani, and who has been doing this the last 17 years; she is, besides, a parent of our school (the mother of Yash, she told me).

The function, scheduled to begin at 1700 hours, began actually towards 1800; it seems they were waiting for an important guest, the editor of Sakala, who has been of great help to Nelson, especially with the Marathi text.

The program: satkar of the guests; words of welcome by me; sharing about Nelson’s life by his sister, Ms Mabel Pimenta; Nelson’s own speech about how he got round to doing the edition and translation; and then the speakers: Bishop Bhalerao, D’Britto, Dhondge, Salunkhe, and Patil. The Bishop read out the text he has contributed to the book; D’Britto was brilliant; Dhondge was quietly and warmly appreciative; Salunkhe spoke from the social angle, seeing the Khristapurana as a model of the type of understanding and bridge building that we need so badly today; Patil said that Falcao’s work was the ongoing and necessary process of the reinterpretation of texts: just as Stephens had communicated the Bible to his converts, so Falcao had made Stephens’ text intelligible to us today. The function came to an end by 2015 hours.

There was a good number of parishioners from Satpur, and several of the parish councillors from the Don Bosco sector; some brothers from Divyadaan, which was actually the host of the gathering; a few clergy from in and around Nashik; and a sizeable number of people from Nashik. Fr Nelson and Mr Francis Waghmare had gone around for a couple of weeks from house to house inviting people to the function. Wonderful occasion to meet people and enter into their lives. The Khristapurana continues to do its work.

A good write up has appeared on today's Gavkari, p. 10, highlighting especially the talk of Dr Salunkhe, who said that today we need not a conflict of cultures (sanskritik sangharsh) but a dialogue of cultures (sanskritik samvada).

Release of the Khristapurana translation

Fr Nelson Falcao's edition and translation of Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana will be released at a function at Parshuram Natyagriha, near Nehru Garden, at 1700 hours, 14 November 2009.

You are all cordially welcome. Do come and show your support to our parish priest.

Birthday of Fr Nelson tomorrow

Tomorrow, 30 September, is the birthday of Fr Nelson Falcao, our Parish Priest. Those who wish to do so may join in the Eucharist that he will celebrate at 7.00 p.m., Don Bosco Church. We will cut a cake and sing for them after mass.

Born in 1956 at Vasai, Fr Nelson turns 53 tomorrow. After his early schooling in the Marathi medium, he joined Don Bosco Lonavla, where he soon excelled in studies in the English medium. Having decided to join the Salesians, he made his novitiate at Yercaud in 1975-76 under Fr Anthony Mampra, SDB. After a year of philosophical studies at Yercaud, he was asked by the then provincial, Fr Tony D'Souza, to come over to Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, to continue studies there. In Pune he decided to begin philosophy studies all over again. After two years of the Bachelor's degree course, he went on to do the Master's degree in philosophy, under eminent professors such as Fr Richard De Smet, SJ, Fr Jean de Marneffe, SJ, Fr Gaspar Koelman, SJ, Fr Salvino Azzopardi SJ, Fr A. Sabino, SJ, Fr Subhash Anand, and Fr Cyril Desbruslais, SJ. He did his master's thesis on Bernard Lonergan's philosophy of knowing, and went on to publish this thesis as a book ('Knowing' according to Bernard Lonergan). While in his second year of MPh, he was appointed 'assistant' to the newly initiated BPh course (Divyadaan) at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Pune. He did another year of regency at Divyadaan Pune before going on for a third year at Dominic Savio, Andheri, where Fr Orville Coutinho was Rector.

For his theology, Fr Nelson was sent to the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. He had the privilege of being ordained by Pope John Paul II in Rome on 21 June 1987. He went on to do a master's degree in theology. Upon his return to India, he was assigned to teach theology at Kristu Jyoti College, Bangalore. After a couple of years engaged in such teaching, he was appointed Parish Priest in Ahmednagar, where he was instrumental in dividing the St John's Parish, Bhingar, into three entities, giving rise to the two new parishes of St Ann's and Don Bosco Savedi.

Eventually Fr Nelson was given time to pursue a PhD in theology, which he initiated at JDV, Pune. He chose to study the Khristapurana of Fr Thomas Stephens, SJ, a Marathi life of Christ written in verse by the first English Jesuit, and one of the first Englishmen, to set foot in India. Fr Nelson, working under the guidance of the renowned scholar Fr Francis de Sa, SJ, completed his work and had it published by Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand. Fr de Sa had high praise for the work: in the future, he said, whenever we speak of inculturation, we will have to speak not only of De Nobili, but also of Thomas Stephens; and with the name of Thomas Stephens, the name of Nelson Falcao will forever be bound.

Fr Nelson spent the years after his doctorate preparing two translations of the Khristapurana, one in contemporary Marathi, and the other in English. The present birthday is a very significant one, seeing that he has the joy of having his Marathi translation of finally in print, after at least 5 years of hard work.

The book is due to be released on 1 October 2009 at Provincial House, Matunga, during the first session of the Provincial Chapter. Another release is being planned at the Nashik level at the Sarvajanik Vachanalaya some time in November.

Fr Nelson's translation of the Khristapurana - out finally!

Not a very good photo, unfortunately, but here it is: the first copy of Fr Nelson Falcao's Marathi translation of Fr Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana. A respectable volume of almost 2000 pages. Translated and edited by Nelson: Anuvadak va Sampadak Doctor Father Nelson Falcao, SDB.

Our warmest congratulations to Fr Nelson for this achievement, fruit of at least five years of hard work, not counting all research that went into the doctorate. We look forward now to the English translation.

The price is a very modest Rs 1,200, which is nothing for a book of this size and quality. All you good people out there, if you can afford this, please do buy it: it is a worthwhile investment.

Those of you who wish to congratulate Fr Nelson, please feel free to add your comments to this post.

Fr Nelson's translation of the Khristapurana

Fr Nelson Falcao, besides being our Parish Priest, is also a theologian and scholar who is without doubt the world expert on Thomas Stephens' Khristapurana. His Marathi translation of this wonderful poetic work is in the press and is expected to be ready by next month. Work is on also on the English translation, which will certainly be an event of capital importance in the world of theology and of literature. For the very first time the Khristapurana will be available to an international public.

Thomas Stephens, SJ was one of the first Englishmen to set foot in India. He laboured mostly in Goa, apart from a short stint in Vasai. He mastered Marathi and Konkani and, at the request of the new converts from Hinduism, he composed a Purana on the life of Christ, along the lines of the Visnupurana and other puranas. His Khristapurana is acknowledged by experts as one of the masterpieces of Marathi literature. Till recently, it was being used and recited, in churches as well as in homes, all along the Konkan coast, from Vasai down to Mangalore, especially during Holy Week.

We as a parish are proud to be now part of this long and wonderful history. Perhaps it would not be too much to hope that Fr Nelson will set in motion the use of the Khristapurana in our parish liturgies and devotions, at least certainly in Satpur? There is already a suggestion that he should work towards a sung version on CD....