Christian priest honoured with Dnyanoba-Tukaram Puraskar

Fr Francis D'Britto, resident of Vasai, and belonging to the Vasai Diocese, was on Monday awarded the Dnyanoba-Tukaram Puraskar for his literary work. The Catholic priest is the first to get the award that was constituted in 2007. Born to Marathi-speaking parents, D'Britto's work named 'Subodh Bible' has recently been re-printed for the third time, and has sold out.

"I feel very happy about it because I feel this is recognition of Indian secularism, which respects all religions, and gives them equal respect. I feel happy to see that our government stands by the secular ideals of the Indian constitution. I am happy that I could make some contribution to Marathi literature by getting the Holy Bible to the Marathi reader," D'Britto told dna.

The priest is the second person- the first was British-born 17th-century missionary priest Fr Thomas Stevens- to have translated the Bible into Marathi. "His work was in poetry form, while mine is in prose. It has 1,800 footnotes to explain various concepts of the Bible for people to understand," said D'Britto. The author priest had in 2013 won the state's literary award for best translation. In April 2014, he was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award. D'Britto started his work in translation in 1997 and completed it in 2010. The translation work was his effort alone.