Fr Thomas Stephens – The First Englishman in India

This book is a biography of Thomas Stephens, a Jesuit priest, who was born in England, persecuted for his Catholic faith, left his hometown in England, and ultimately spent 40 years in the Missions of Salcete, Goa (India). He is famously known for his magnum opus the Krista Purana, a work on the Old and New Testaments of the Bible written in Marathi/Konkani, a poem of 10,962 stanzas written in the ‘ovi’ metre, that was printed in 1616. With a catechism written in the Konkani (Canarim) language also to his name, besides being the original author of what was the first grammar of any Indian language, Stephens cemented his place in the annals of missionary authors who championed the cause of Indian languages.