Epic journey – the Hmar Bible

An amazing epic journey from the remote villages of the Hmar tribe in Manipur, India.
A ten year old Hmar boy, Rochunga Pudaite, was sent by his father, Chawnga, on foot across dangerous dense jungle to learn from a faraway mission school about 150km away, with the goal of translating the Bible into their native Hmar language.

Chawnga said to his son, “Someone must write God’s word in Hmar ….
Your mother and I have prayed and dedicated you to God for this work but we will not send you away against your will. You must want to do this, to get an education for the making of a Hmar Bible.”

Rochunga went on to graduate from Allahabad University (India), Glassgow Bible Training Institute (Scotland) and Wheaton College (United States). In following the leading of the Lord, he turned down a scholarship to Oxford University.

He created a romanised script for the Hmar, and translated the New Testament into the Hmar language from the original Greek. The translation was published in 1960 and shipped to the Hmar. He also helped several tribes translate the Bible into their native languages and founded Bibles of the World (click here).

The Hmar tribe was a fierce headhunting tribe, when the first missionary Watkin Roberts went to the tribe in 1908 with the gospel.

Around 1970, the whole tribe of about one hundred and twenty thousand were Christians.

Here’s the epic true story of courage, perseverance against the odds, overcoming prejudice and temptation of riches, faithful prayers and the amazing grace of God. How precious is the Word of God !