Camille Bulcke
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A backgrounder
Sep 1, 2024: The Times of India
Lexicographer, scholar of Ramkatha and Christian texts, fervent admirer of Tulsidas — Camille Bulcke was a remarkable Jesuit priest. Gothenburg-based academics Ravi Dutt Bajpai and Swati Parashar’s new book, ‘Camille Bulcke: The Jesuit Exponent of Ramkatha’, deconstructs the life and work of the Padma Bhushan recipient priest. Avijit Ghosh interviews the authors:Camille Bulcke was born in north-west Belgium. What attracted him to India?
In 1934, having completed the first stage of his religious training, Bulcke returned to the Louvain seminary; he was offered two options: either to undertake missionary work at home or to serve in a foreign country. He resolved to go to India for missionary work because he found great inspiration in the exceptional missionary service of Father Constant Lievens, who was from the West Flanders region like him.
Bulcke post-graduated in Sanskrit, earned a PhD in Hindi from Allahabad University, headed the Hindi and Sanskrit departments of St Xavier’s College, Ranchi. What was his driving force as a scholar?
Bulcke was born in a Flemish-speaking family. At the beginning of the 20th century, Belgium witnessed French hegemony over the Flemish language and culture. During his university days, Bulcke emerged as a leading student activist in the Flemish language movement, opposing the French colonisation of his native language and culture. In 1935, after arriving in India, he witnessed the imposition of English over other Indian languages. He resolved to learn Hindi and work to restore its rightful place among ordinary people. As a scholar, he pursued popularising Hindi as a language of choice for academic, scientific, administrative and literary works. His PhD in Hindi titled, ‘Ramkatha: Utpatti Aur Vikas’ (The Ram Story: Its Origin and Development, 1950), is remarkable in terms of scope, ambition and erudition. He was also inspired by the mission to make Christian texts available to the common people in India, and therefore translating these texts was part of his scholarly pursuits.
How and why did he compile the English-Hindi dictionary that was published in 1968?
Bulcke realised the challenges a new learner would face without a comprehensive and functional dictionary. He also recognised that most Christian priests had a rudimentary vocabulary of Hindi. He prepared a technical English-Hindi glossary in 1955 to help them. It was very well-received as an essential reference book. However, it was taxing to compile this glossary and he had pledged never to take up the work of a lexicographer. Bulcke stuck to this resolution for many years. However, during his other writing tasks, he started to make notes of translating specific words. Gradually, he accumulated such an impressive list that he was forced to renege on his pledge, and he began work on building a complete English-Hindi dictionary, which was an extremely arduous and mentally exhausting task for him. But Bulcke’s unwavering commitment led to the compilation of one of the most popular reference dictionaries across India.
How did he view Hinduism and Christianity at a time when Chhota Nagpur also saw large-scale religious conversions?
Bulcke argued that although Hindu and Christian religions have different historical, cultural and ideological foundations, they share many similarities. Given that he idolised Goswami Tulsidas, he found great similarities in Tulsi’s path of devotion, selfless service to fellow human beings, compassion towards all, and moral conduct very close to his own religious practices as a devout Christian. He did not see any contradictions between being a devout and practising Christian himself, devoted to Christ and his admiration for Tulsi’s devotion to his deity, Ram. Bulcke solely focussed on translating Christian sacred text, prayers, hymns and the conduct of the rituals into Hindi, and also working as a lexicographer. He was not engaged with proselytisation nor referred to this subject in his writings.
What prompted both of you to work on a biography of Bulcke, who passed away in 1982?
Bulcke’s iconic English-Hindi dictionary was our constant companion since our childhood in Ranchi. However, the real inspiration for this biography came in March 2018 when Bulcke’s remains were brought from Delhi’s Nicholson Cemetery and reburied in Ranchi's St Xavier’s College premises. Many people, including his former students, spoke at this event. We thought that his story needed to be told to a wider audience.
What is the relevance of Bulcke in today’s polarised times?
Today we really lack cultural leaders who traverse different worlds and make different conversations and encounters possible. Bulcke was one such leader, a visionary whose spiritual mission and scholarship enabled him to reimagine postcolonial India as a space where multiple identities could co-exist in a spirit of compassion and understanding.
