Collector of rare bibles

It is not unusual to find a Christian owning a bible, for it is the holy book of Christianity. But, for a young woman here, collecting bibles is a hobby and she is now a proud owner of 266 bibles of different sizes, languages and editions.

Akvil Karien, a resident of Christian Colony in the city, scouts for rare bibles whenever she visits book stores. She is so dedicated to her hobby that her house has turned into a mini library of bibles.

A rare collection of bibles, including one the size of a match box, can be found under one roof. Her collection includes holy, green, sports, children’s, youth and daily bibles among 29 different kinds of bibles.

The bibles in her collection are in 28 languages, including Hindi, English, Malayalam, Tamil, Urdu, Tulu, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Nepali and Portuguese.

She has bibles of different editions, including the historic edition of King James (1611) to the recently published bi-lingual Kannada-English bible. She is also the proud owner of the first Kannada edition of the bible brought out by the Basel Mission, Mangaluru in the year 1865 and the ‘Talking Bible’ which was published exclusively for the benefit of the visually-impaired persons.  The ‘annual bible’, which can be completed in a year if read daily, is also in her library.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Karien said that she has spent her scholarship, pocket money and salary from her new job for purchasing editions of bibles published by different authors in various languages. So far, she has spent over Rs 80,000 and the collection will continue to grow with additional purchases from time to time, she added. 

Karien said the Pusthakada Mane of Ankegowda in Pandavapura was her inspiration. She had visited his book house three years ago. Inspired by the lakhs of books in his collection, she began collecting bibles, she added.

She mentioned that her parents, Thomas Benjamin and Moris, are very encouraging. For the first time, her collection is being displayed from December 25 to January 2, Karien said.