Paul Olaf Bodding


Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguist and folklorist.

Biography

Paul Olaf Bodding was born at Gjøvik in Oppland, Norway. He was the son of Edward Olsen Bodding and Betzy Emilie Wennevold. Bodding was the son of a bookseller, and he first met the founder of The Indian Home Mission to the Santals, Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, in his father's bookshop in Gjøvik. Skrefsrud was born just outside the neighbouring town Lillehammer, in Oppland. Bodding studied theology at the University of Kristiania and graduated in 1889.
In 1890, he arrived Santalistan as missionary priest. When Skrefsrud died in 1909, Bodding took over as the leader of the Norwegian missionary organization Santaline Mission. He served in India for 44 years, and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district. Bodding created the first alphabet and wrote the first grammar for the Santali-speaking native people in eastern India. In 1914 he also completed the translation of the Bible into the Santali language.
He was also a celebrated scientist, and he is still well known among the santals living in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam as well as in Bangladesh and the Scandinavian countries. After returning from India in 1934, Bodding settled with his Danish-born wife Christine Larsen in Odense, Denmark, where he died during 1938.
Cecil Henry Bompas published compiled from stories collected by P. O. Bodding. In 2006, Olav Hodne issued a biography in his book Oppreisning. A monument to Bodding stands in front of Gjøvik church in Oppland.

Works