Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Colossians | English → Bodo
This glossary extends the Romans translation_memory.json for the Colossians curriculum. Terms marked (reused) carry forward the exact Romans baseline rendering and risk tier without modification, per the hard rule that established renderings must be reused exactly. All new terms below are proposed for addition to translation memory upon theologian/native-speaker confirmation, following the same versioning and provisional-flagging conventions the baseline itself uses.
Reused Terms (from Romans Translation Memory — unchanged)
| Term | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Colossians Passages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | ईश्वर | Isor | Critical | 1:1-3, 3, 9-10, 25, 27; 2:2, 9, 12, 19; 3:1, 3, 6, 12, 16-17; 4:11-12 |
| Jesus | जिसु | Jisu | Critical | throughout |
| Messiah/Christ | मसीह | Mosih | Critical | throughout |
| Lord | प्रभु | probhu | Critical | 3:13, 16-18, 20, 22-24; 4:1, 7, 17 |
| Father | आफा | afa | Critical | 1:2-3, 12; 3:17 |
| Holy Spirit | पबित्र आत्था | pobitro aatha | Critical | 1:8 |
| apostle | गोदान जायगारि | godan jaigari | Medium | 1:1 |
| saints | पबित्र मानुष | pobitro manwsw | High | 1:2, 4, 12, 26; 3:12 |
| holy | पबित्र | pobitro | High | 1:2, 22; 3:12 |
| church | मण्डली | mwndoli | Medium | 1:18, 24; 4:15-16 |
| faith | बिश्वास | biswas | High | 1:4, 23; 2:5, 7, 12; 4:12 |
| grace | मोफादांनाय दान | mwphwdangnai daan | Critical | 1:2, 6; 3:16; 4:6, 18 |
| peace | सान्ति | santi | Medium | 1:2, 20; 3:15 |
| gospel | मंगल खबर | mangal khabor | High | 1:5, 23 |
| thanksgiving | धिनानाय | dhinanai | Low | 1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2 |
| resurrection | जिउनाय सोलायनाय | jiunai solainai | Critical | 1:18; 2:12-13, 20; 3:1 (as “raised with”) |
| gentiles/nations | गैर-जुथुद | goir-juthud | Medium | 1:27 (“among the Gentiles”) |
| sin | गुनाह | gunah | High | 1:14; 2:11, 13 |
| obedience/obey (root) | मानोन | manwn | High | 3:18, 20, 22 |
| covenant-bond root | थारि | thari | High | 3:14 (“bond of love”) |
| power/sakti root | सक्ति | sakti | High | 1:11, 16, 29; 2:10, 15 |
| glory | महिमा | mohima | High | 1:11, 27; 3:4 |
| exhort/teach root | गोसो होनाय | gwsw honai | Low | 1:28; 3:16 |
| intercession/prayer | बिनयनाय | binoinai | Medium | 1:3, 9; 4:2-3, 12 |
New Terms — Core Passage (Colossians 1:15-20)
| Term | Greek | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| image | εἰκών | रूप | rup | Critical | Deity/Supremacy of Christ | Never प्रतिमा/मूर्ति (idol); Bathouism is aniconic, so image-language for Christ requires explicit teaching against both idol-veneration and image-avoidance defaults. |
| invisible | ἀόρατος | अदृश्य | adrishyo | High | Deity of Christ | Guard against reducing to “just like Bathoubwrai, also unpictured.” |
| firstborn (of creation / from the dead) | πρωτότοκος | प्रथम जोनोम | prothom jonom | Critical | Supremacy of Christ / Resurrection | Rank/heirship, NOT chronological first-created; guards same ground as forbidden फिन जोनोम. |
| creation/created | κτίσις / κτίζω | सृष्टि / जायखानाय | sristi / jaikhanai | High | Supremacy over Creation | Distinguish from Hindu/Brahma Dharma cyclical cosmology. |
| spiritual powers (thrones/dominions/rulers/authorities) | θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι | सर्गनि सक्ति आरो अधिकारफोर | sorgoni sakti aro adhikarphor | Critical | Supremacy over Creation | Direct collision with Bathou spirit pantheon (nature/ancestral spirits, Kherai deities incl. Mainao); all are Christ’s subordinate creatures. |
| before all things | πρὸ πάντων | सर्बनि सिगां थानाय | sorboni sigang thanai | High | Deity/Supremacy | Eternal preexistence, not mere seniority-by-age. |
| hold together | συνέστηκεν | गासैआव स्थिर थाखोनाय | gasaiao sthir thakhonai | High | Providence/Supremacy | Active personal sustaining cause, not impersonal cosmic balance; cross-ref baseline providence entry. |
| head | κεφαλή | बोथोर | bwthwr | High | Christ as Head of Church | Not मुखिया (administrative headman); organic life-source, not org-chart authority. |
| body (of Christ = church) | σῶμα | गुदि | gudi | Medium | Church | Keep distinct from incarnation-body and from doudini-vessel-body senses. |
| beginning | ἀρχή | सुरु | suru | Medium | Resurrection/New Creation | Distinct sense from ἀρχαί (“rulers”); flag homonym risk for teachers. |
| preeminent | πρωτεύων | श्रेष्ठ | srestho | Medium-High | Supremacy of Christ | Absolute, exclusive supremacy, not superlative-among-peers. |
| fullness | πλήρωμα | पूर्णता | purnota | Critical | Deity of Christ / Sufficiency | Entire, undivided divine nature in Christ alone, not distributed among ranked powers. |
| dwell | κατοικέω | थानाय | thanai | High | Incarnation | Permanent residence, not episodic trance-visitation (Kherai doudini). |
| reconcile | ἀποκαταλλάσσω | फिन गोसोमोन खालामनाय | phin gwswmwn khalamnai | Critical | Reconciliation through the Cross | Once-for-all, cosmic in scope; never reciprocal ritual exchange or Brahma Dharma ethical self-reform. |
| make peace | εἰρηνοποιέω | सान्ति खालामनाय | santi khalamnai | Medium | Reconciliation | Judicial/relational peace with God, not household-harmony ritual protection. |
| blood | αἷμα | रक्त | rokto | Medium-High | Reconciliation/Atonement | Once-for-all sacrificial blood, not repeatable Bathou/Kherai offering blood. |
| cross | σταυρός | क्रुस | krus | Medium | Reconciliation/Atonement | Standard regional transliteration; retain specific historical-redemptive content. |
New Terms — Chapter 1 (beyond core passage)
| Term | Greek | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| love | ἀγάπη | मोरोम | morom | Medium-High | Union/Household/Ethics | Self-giving covenantal love, not sentimental affection or reciprocal exchange. |
| hope | ἐλπίς | आस | aas | Medium | Eschatology/Assurance | Certain future hope in Christ, not this-worldly protection-hope from Bathou/Kherai offerings. |
| full knowledge | ἐπίγνωσις | पूर्ण जाननाय | purno jannai | Critical | Warning against False Teaching | Never built on ज्ञान (gyan, Hindu/Brahma Dharma soteriological term); relational knowing of Christ. |
| wisdom | σοφία | बुद्धि | buddhi | High | Warning against False Teaching | All wisdom is in Christ alone; not Brahma Dharma’s reform wisdom-literature. |
| inheritance | κλῆρος | उत्तराधिकार | uttaradhikar | High | Union with Christ | Not settled in Bodo afad clan-succession custom (birth-lineage based); a gift of grace. |
| light / darkness | φῶς / σκότος | प्रकाश / अंधकार | prokash / ondhokar | Medium | Salvation | Moral-spiritual domains, not Bathou’s “or” (fire) element or folk light-symbolism. |
| kingdom of the Son | βασιλεία τοῦ υἱοῦ | गोरानि राज्य | gorani rajyo | High | Kingdom/Sonship | Combine kingdom_of_god territorial caution with Critical Sonship caution. |
| redemption | ἀπολύτρωσις | दाम होनायजों फोरायनाय | dam honaijwng phoraynai | Critical | Reconciliation/Salvation | Christ’s own costly self-giving, never a human payment to appease Bathoubwrai/Kherai pantheon. |
| forgiveness of sins | ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν | गुनाहनि माफ | gunahni maph | High | Reconciliation | Correct here (unlike as a gloss for justification); moral pardon, not ritual harmony-restoration. |
| alienated/hostile | ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι, ἐχθροί | फोजोर जानाय | phojwr janai | Medium | Reconciliation | Retain strength of “hostility.” |
| mystery | μυστήριον | रहस्य | rohosyo | Critical | Warning against False Teaching / Gospel | Fully revealed to all, unlike restricted doudini/ओझा ritual secrets. |
| minister/servant | διάκονος | सेवारि | sewari | Medium | Church/Ministry | Not a ritual-mediating specialist (doudini/ओझा). |
| fill up Christ’s afflictions | ἀνταναπληρῶ… θλίψεων | (descriptive phrase) | — | High | Sufficiency of Christ | Must not imply Christ’s atonement is incomplete. |
| toil/struggle | ἀγωνιζόμενος | (reuse मोनथिजों लांनाय) | monthijwng langnai | Low-Medium | Ministry | Standard perseverance language. |
New Terms — Chapter 2
| Term | Greek | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| philosophy | φιλοσοφία | मानसिनि गुनथि खान्थि | manwsini gunthi khanthi | Critical | False Teaching/Syncretism | Distinguish from Brahma Dharma’s own systematized reform philosophy. |
| human tradition | παράδοσις ἀνθρώπων | मानसिनि रीति | manwsini riti | High | False Teaching/Syncretism | Bathou oral custom + Brahma Dharma reform tradition both relevant. |
| elemental spirits of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου | जगतनि आदि सक्तिफोर | jagwtni adi saktiphor | CRITICAL | False Teaching/Syncretism / Supremacy | Highest-priority collision term; never render using the specific Bodo names for the five sijou elements. |
| deity/Godhead | θεότης | ईश्वरत्व | Isortwo | Critical | Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily | Full, undivided divine nature; matches baseline deity_of_christ doctrine name. |
| bodily | σωματικῶς | गुदिजों | gudijwng | Critical | Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily | Permanent embodiment, not Kherai-trance temporary embodiment. |
| filled/made complete | πεπληρωμένοι | पूर्णता जानाय | purnota janai | Medium-High | Sufficiency of Christ | Completeness in Christ alone. |
| circumcision | περιτομή | खत्ना | khatna | Medium | Union with Christ | Requires OT background; distinguish spiritual from literal/traditional rites. |
| buried/raised with him | συνετάφητε/συνηγέρθητε | मसीहजों गोरोबनाय / मसीहजों जिउनाय सोलायनाय | Mosihjwng gwrwbnai / Mosihjwng jiunai solainai | CRITICAL | Union with Christ | Core union doctrine; guards against फिन जोनोम (rebirth) collapse. |
| dead in trespasses | νεκροὺς… παραπτώμασιν | गुनाह (+ nuance note) | gunah | Low-Medium | Sin | παράπτωμα nuance distinct from ἁμαρτία. |
| bond of debt | χειρόγραφον | ऋणनि लिखित | rinni likhit | High | Reconciliation/Atonement | Once-for-all legal cancellation, not ongoing ritual debt-management. |
| nailed to cross / triumphed | προσηλώσας / θριαμβεύσας | क्रुसाव लोगोनाय / जित होनाय | krusao logonai / jit honai | High | Supremacy over Creation | Public cosmic victory over spirit-powers; unfamiliar Roman-triumph imagery needs unpacking. |
| shadow | σκιά | छाया | chaya | Medium | Fulfillment/Sufficiency | OT ceremonial shadow fulfilled in Christ; don’t over-generalize against religious form. |
| self-made religion/asceticism | ἐθελοθρησκία | मोनसे नि जायखिनाय धर्म | monse ni jaikhinai dhormo | High | False Teaching/Syncretism | Parallels Bathou purification-fasting and Brahma Dharma ascetic ethic. |
| worship of angels | θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων | देउफोरनि पुजा | deuphorni puja | CRITICAL | False Teaching/Syncretism | Direct structural parallel to Kherai puja spirit-veneration; requires careful, non-polemical teaching framing. |
| growth from God | αὔξησις τοῦ θεοῦ | ईश्वरनि बारायनाय | Isorni baraynai | Medium | Church/Head of Church | Growth from the Head, not ascetic self-effort. |
New Terms — Chapter 3
| Term | Greek | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| set mind on things above | τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε | सर्गनि गुबुननाव मन थिनाय | sorgoni gubunnao mon thinai | Medium | Union with Christ | Inward priority, not literal ritual orientation. |
| hidden with Christ in God | κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ | (descriptive) | — | High | Union with Christ | Permanent reality, not doudini altered-consciousness state. |
| put to death [members] | νεκρώσατε | जोबोर होनाय | jwbwr honai | High | Old Self / New Self | Deliberate wordplay with resurrection root; preserve connection. |
| vice list (immorality, impurity, passion, desire, covetousness) | πορνεία κτλ | (set of terms) | — | Medium-High | Old Self / New Self | Serious moral categories, not minor faults. |
| idolatry | εἰδωλολατρία | मूर्ति पुजा | murti puja | CRITICAL | Old Self / False Worship | Bathouism’s aniconic self-understanding risks false exemption from this warning; needs explicit teaching. |
| wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | ईश्वरनि खों | Isorni khong | High | Judgment/Sin | Personal judicial wrath, not karma or appeasable nature-deity anger. |
| put off / put on | ἀποθέσθε / ἐνδύσασθε | बोस्तर बोखांनाय / बोस्तर सोननाय | bwstwr bokhangnai / bwstwr sonnai | High | Old Self / New Self | Definitive identity-change grounded in union with Christ. |
| old self / new self | ὁ παλαιὸς / ὁ νέος ἄνθρωπος | बुरा मानसि / नतुन मानसि | bura manwsi / notun manwsi | CRITICAL | Old Self / New Self | Note बुरा’s root-adjacency to reserved elder-deity titles बुरहा/बर’ऐ — handle with care though not itself forbidden. |
| Christ is all, and in all | τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν Χριστός | मसीह गासैबो, आरो गासैआव थानाय | Mosih gasaibo, aro gasaiao thanai | CRITICAL | Supremacy/Unity | Absolute Lordship claim, not animist pantheistic immanence. |
| virtue list (compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience) | (list) | (set of terms) | — | Low-Medium | Ethics/New Self | Standard exhortation vocabulary. |
| love binds together in unity | σύνδεσμος τῆς τελειότητος | मोरोमनि थारि | moromni thari | Medium | Church/Ethics | Reuses covenant-bond root थारि; nice cross-ref to 1:17’s “hold together.” |
| psalms / hymns / spiritual songs | ψαλμοί, ὕμνοι, ᾠδαὶ πνευματικαί | जबूर / हिम्न / आत्मिक गीत | jabur / himno / aatmik git | Medium-High | Worship | Not a Kherai-trance-inducing ritual chant technique. |
| wives submit to husbands | ὑποτάσσεσθε | सोंगावनि आगोरजों मानोन खालामनाय | songaoni agworjwng manwn khalamnai | High | Household Codes | Read with husbands’ self-sacrificial-love command; relate to, don’t equate with, afad custom. |
| husbands love, do not be harsh | ἀγαπᾶτε, μὴ πικραίνεσθε | मोरोम खालामनाय (+ qualifier) | morom khalamnai | Medium | Household Codes | ”Do not be harsh” is a non-optional check on authority. |
| children obey / fathers do not provoke | ὑπακούετε / μὴ ἐρεθίζετε | (reuse मानोन + qualifier) | manwn | Medium | Household Codes | Pastoral concern for children’s morale. |
| slaves obey masters / masters treat justly | δοῦλοι… κύριοι | गुलाम (slave) / मालिक (master) | gulam / malik | CRITICAL | Household Codes | Requires explicit historical-institutional framing; दास avoided as primary term due to positive bhakti connotation. |
New Terms — Chapter 4
| Term | Greek | Bodo | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gracious speech, seasoned with salt | ὁ λόγος… ἐν χάριτι… ἅλατι | (descriptive, secondary sense of grace) | — | Low | Ethics/Speech | Everyday sense; do not import Critical soteriological weight. |
| fellow servant / fellow worker | σύνδουλος / συνεργός | सेवारि (+ companion term) | sewari | Low | Ministry/Church | Standard. |
| wrestling in prayer | ἀγωνιζόμενος ἐν προσευχαῖς | (reuse toil/struggle + prayer) | — | Medium | Prayer | Notable pastoral intensity (Epaphras). |
| fulfill the ministry | τὴν διακονίαν πλήρου | (reuse सेवा root) | — | Low | Ministry | Standard (Archippus). |
Chapter 4 note: No new Critical-tier vocabulary is introduced. Chapter 4 is confirmed reviewed in full; it reuses the mystery/wisdom/grace/ministry vocabulary established in chapters 1-3 for its epistolary and travel-related content.
Risk Summary (New Colossians Terms Only)
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 19 | Human theologian (mandatory, every occurrence) |
| High | 20 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 21 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 9 | Automated review |
Total new terms proposed for translation memory addition: 69 (in addition to 23 terms reused verbatim from the Romans baseline).
Highest-priority Critical items requiring theologian sign-off before any Phase 2 processing begins: firstborn (πρωτότοκος), spiritual powers (thrones/dominions/rulers/authorities), fullness (πλήρωμα), deity/Godhead (θεότης), bodily (σωματικῶς), elemental spirits of the world (στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου), worship of angels (θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων), reconcile (ἀποκαταλλάσσω), redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις), mystery (μυστήριον), philosophy (φιλοσοφία), buried/raised with him (συνετάφητε/συνηγέρθητε), old self/new self (ὁ παλαιὸς/νέος ἄνθρωπος), idolatry (εἰδωλολατρία), Christ is all and in all (τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν), slaves/masters (δοῦλοι/κύριοι), image (εἰκών).
This glossary must be loaded alongside the Romans translation_memory.json (reused terms take precedence and are non-negotiable) before any Phase 2 Colossians segment translation begins. New entries above are provisional pending native-speaker/theologian confirmation, consistent with the baseline’s own treatment of its provisional compounds.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ईश्वर
Transliteration: Isor
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: बाथौबुरै (never use as the primary term for the biblical God; reserve strictly for describing traditional Bathou belief)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians’ repeated ‘fullness of God/deity’ language (1:19; 2:9) makes the ईश्वर-vs-बाथौबुरै distinction even more load-bearing than in Romans, since a hearer could otherwise assume Christ is simply Bathoubwrai’s own fullness embodied under a new name.
Jesus
Approved rendering: जिसु
Transliteration: Jisu
Doctrine: Christology
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Established Bodo Bible form. Verify directly against a current printed Bodo Bible before finalizing, per the baseline’s own caveat.
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: Mosih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise / Supremacy of Christ
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Reused exactly; Colossians extends this term’s supremacy claims (1:15-20) beyond Romans’ messianic-fulfillment framing.
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: probhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: बुरहा/बर’ऐ titles reserved for Bathoubwrai and Kherai-pantheon elder-deities, never use for Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Especially critical in Colossians since the letter repeatedly places Christ above a populated hierarchy of ‘thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities’ (1:16) — exactly the category बुरहा/बर’ऐ denote.
Father
Approved rendering: आफा
Transliteration: afa
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family / Kingdom of the Son
Rejected alternatives: बाथौबुरै (reserve strictly for describing traditional belief, never for the biblical Father)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Source of the kingdom into which believers are transferred (Col 1:12-13).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पबित्र आत्था
Transliteration: pobitro aatha
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: देउ (a generic spirit-being from the Bathou/Kherai pantheon, never use), बुरहा-बुरही आत्था (ancestral household spirits, never use)
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Always in full; Col 1:8 reports the Spirit’s work in the Colossians’ love.
Grace
Approved rendering: मोफादांनाय दान
Transliteration: mwphwdangnai daan
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: दान गोरोबनाय (reciprocal gift expecting return, rejected), पुण्य (Brahma Dharma merit-language, never use)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Frames the letter’s opening, closing, and its treatment of speech (1:2, 6; 3:16; 4:6, 18); Colossians’ reconciliation, redemption, and forgiveness vocabulary all inherit this term’s forbidden reciprocal-exchange fencing wholesale.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: जिउनाय सोलायनाय
Transliteration: jiunai solainai
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ / Union with Christ
Rejected alternatives: फिन जोनोम (rebirth/reincarnation, absorbed into Bodo discourse via Brahma Dharma, never use)
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγήγερται
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. The forbidden फिन जोनोम substitution risk is arguably HIGHER in Colossians than in Romans, since ‘raised with him’ language (1:18; 2:12-13, 20; 3:1) concerns personal transformation and new identity — precisely the domain where rebirth-vocabulary would naturally be reached for.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि गोरा
Transliteration: Isornni gwra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: देवता गोरा (a lesser divine being’s son, an explicit downgrade)
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Colossians’ ‘kingdom of the Son’ (1:13) and the letter’s broader Sonship claims; never a lesser spirit-being’s offspring among the Bathou pantheon’s many figures.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: मानसि गुदि सोलायनाय
Transliteration: manwsi gudi solainai
Doctrine: Incarnation / Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: देउनि आगोर (a deity temporarily ‘descending into’/speaking through a doudini during Kherai trance, never use)
Inherited from Romans package. Directly relevant to Colossians 2:9’s ‘fullness of deity dwells bodily’ — the sharpest single-verse expression of this doctrine in the NT; must be sharply distinguished from doudini possession, a real, currently practiced phenomenon.
Salvation
Approved rendering: फोरायनाय
Transliteration: phoraynai
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मोक्ष (Brahma Dharma’s Hindu-derived liberation concept, never use), रैखाथि (Kherai-pantheon protection from misfortune, never use as a stand-alone gloss)
Inherited from Romans package. Its root underlies the new ‘redemption’ entry (दाम होनायजों फोरायनाय, Col 1:14); this remains a genuine conceptual gap requiring ground-up teaching, not a wrong-existing-word substitution.
Image
Approved rendering: रूप
Transliteration: rup
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: प्रतिमा (idol/cult-image, never use), मूर्ति (idol/cult-image, reserved for warning against idolatry, never use here)
Original: εἰκών
Category: Christology
Col 1:15. रूप (‘form/appearance’) is chosen because Bathou worship is deliberately aniconic; even रूप requires explicit teaching that Christ is God’s own being disclosed, not a crafted representation venerated in his place — the opposite of both an idol and of Bathou’s image-avoidance.
Firstborn
Approved rendering: प्रथम जोनोम
Transliteration: prothom jonom
Doctrine: Firstborn Supremacy in Creation and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: a bare chronological ‘first-created’ reading (Arian-adjacent, must never be implied), insertion of ‘other/आन’ before ‘things’ as in the Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation’s 1:16-17 interpolation — absolutely forbidden
Original: πρωτότοκος
Category: Christology
Col 1:15, 18. Rank/heirship, NOT chronological first-created or first-in-a-birth-cycle; must always be glossed with the qualifying phrase ‘जायखानाय बादिफोरनि गोदान’ (foremost in rank over all created things). Guards the same ground as the forbidden फिन जोनोम substitution. Highest-priority sectarian collision point in the letter (see analysis/05_translation_landscape.md).
Spiritual Powers
Approved rendering: सर्गनि सक्ति आरो अधिकारफोर
Transliteration: sorgoni sakti aro adhikarphor
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation / Elemental Spirits and Spiritual Powers
Rejected alternatives: any rendering that enumerates or maps onto named Bathou/Kherai figures (Bathoubwrai, Mainao), never use
Original: θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι
Category: Cosmology
Col 1:16; cf. 2:10, 15. The single most theologically load-bearing category in the letter for the Bodo context: names the exact populated spirit-world (elemental spirits behind the sijou plant, ancestral spirits, the wider Kherai pantheon) that Bathou religious life venerates. Every such power is Christ’s own subordinate creature, never a rival or co-mediator. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Fullness
Approved rendering: पूर्णता
Transliteration: purnota
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: any rendering suggesting divine essence distributed piecemeal across ranked intermediary spirit-beings, never use
Original: πλήρωμα
Category: Christology
Col 1:19; 2:9. The entire, undivided divine nature present in Christ alone. Do NOT adopt Recovery Version/Living Stream Ministry ‘mingling’ phrasing patterns that stress believer-deification; keep this term exclusively Christological.
Reconcile
Approved rendering: फिन गोसोमोन खालामनाय
Transliteration: phin gwswmwn khalamnai
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: any framing of reconciliation as an ongoing ritual process of reciprocal appeasement (Bathou/Kherai offerings), never use, Brahma-Dharma-style ethical self-reform toward restored moral order, never use
Original: ἀποκαταλλάσσω
Category: Salvation
Col 1:20-22. Once-for-all, cosmically comprehensive restoration accomplished exclusively through the cross. Inherits the grace entry’s forbidden reciprocal-exchange fencing wholesale.
Full Knowledge
Approved rendering: पूर्ण जाननाय
Transliteration: purno jannai
Doctrine: All Wisdom and Knowledge in Christ / Warning against False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: ज्ञान (gyan), the Sanskrit term central to Hindu/Brahma Dharma soteriology (jnana-marga toward moksha), never use as the base of this term
Original: ἐπίγνωσις
Category: Faith
Col 1:9-10; 2:2-3; 3:10. Relational, exact knowing of Christ and God’s will; never esoteric or meritorious attainment. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Redemption
Approved rendering: दाम होनायजों फोरायनाय
Transliteration: dam honaijwng phoraynai
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Rejected alternatives: a payment offered by humans to appease Bathoubwrai/the Kherai pantheon, never use, a debt cancelled through accumulated Brahma-Dharma-style merit, never use
Original: ἀπολύτρωσις
Category: Salvation
Col 1:14; cf. 1:20. Christ’s own costly self-giving (his blood, 1:14/1:20) securing release; built on the salvation root फोरायनाय.
Mystery
Approved rendering: रहस्य
Transliteration: rohosyo
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Rejected alternatives: any framing implying restricted, specialist-guarded secret knowledge (as with a doudini’s oracular role or an ओझा’s esoteric ritual knowledge), never use
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Faith
Col 1:26-27; 2:2; 4:3. Paul’s mysterion is a once-hidden divine plan now fully revealed and openly proclaimed to all — the opposite structure of restricted ritual-specialist knowledge. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Philosophy
Approved rendering: मानसिनि गुनथि खान्थि
Transliteration: manwsini gunthi khanthi
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: φιλοσοφία
Category: False Teaching
Col 2:8. Human systems of thought that displace Christ’s sufficiency; must be distinguished from Brahma Dharma’s own systematized reform teaching, which explicitly presents itself as a reasoned philosophical-religious system. The warning targets any human system that displaces Christ, ancient or modern, never embedded as direct polemic against a named contemporary movement.
Elemental Spirits
Approved rendering: जगतनि आदि सक्तिफोर
Transliteration: jagwtni adi saktiphor
Doctrine: Elemental Spirits and Spiritual Powers
Rejected alternatives: any rendering built on the specific Bodo names for the five sijou elements (ha/dwi/bar/or/okhrang) or the sijou plant itself — ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Cosmology
Col 2:8, 20. Highest-priority collision term in the entire book. Bathou cosmology organizes worship around these five named elements represented by the sijou plant’s five branches. This rendering must never be built on those specific words; any connection must be drawn explicitly and carefully by teachers, never embedded silently in translation. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Deity Godhead
Approved rendering: ईश्वरत्व
Transliteration: Isortwo
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily / Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: hierarchical-emanation readings (a portion/rank of delegated divine power), never use, Recovery Version ‘mingling’-style believer-deification framing, never use
Original: θεότης
Category: Christology
Col 2:9. Matches the doctrine name already coined in the baseline deity_of_christ registry entry. 2:9 is the fullest single-verse NT statement of Christ’s full deity; must resist a Bathou possession-trance embodiment reading, a hierarchical-emanation reading, and a Brahma-Dharma monotheistic frame that might dismiss embodied divine fullness as blasphemous.
Bodily
Approved rendering: गुदिजों
Transliteration: gudijwng
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: any temporary/trance-state indwelling language, never use
Original: σωματικῶς
Category: Christology
Col 2:9. Emphasizes permanent, real, physical embodiment, explicitly ruling out a merely temporary/trance-state indwelling such as a doudini’s Kherai-trance embodiment of Bathoubwrai — a live, currently-practiced parallel phenomenon.
Buried Raised With Him
Approved rendering: मसीहजों गोरोबनाय / मसीहजों जिउनाय सोलायनाय
Transliteration: Mosihjwng gwrwbnai / Mosihjwng jiunai solainai
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised with Him)
Rejected alternatives: फिन जोनोम (rebirth/reincarnation) under any framing — ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN
Original: συνετάφητε / συνηγέρθητε
Category: Union with Christ
Col 2:12-13, 20; 3:1, 3. The core Union-with-Christ term of the letter. The temptation to hear ‘died and raised’ as a gloss on reincarnation is arguably higher here than anywhere in Romans, since this doctrine concerns personal transformation and new identity. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Worship Of Angels
Approved rendering: देउफोरनि पुजा
Transliteration: deuphorni puja
Doctrine: Worship of Angels and False Mediation
Rejected alternatives: any direct-name mapping onto Bathou/Kherai figures embedded silently in the translated text, never use
Original: θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων
Category: False Teaching
Col 2:18. Maps with startling directness onto the Kherai puja’s own devotional structure (venerating intermediary spirit-beings, often via the doudini’s mediation). One of the most pastorally urgent verses in the curriculum; mandatory theologian review, with explicit teaching notes cautioning against a bare anti-Bathou polemic.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: मूर्ति पुजा
Transliteration: murti puja
Doctrine: Covetousness as Idolatry
Original: εἰδωλολατρία
Category: Ethics
Col 3:5. Bathouism is explicitly, self-consciously aniconic, so मूर्ति पुजा risks a Bathouist hearer concluding the verse is irrelevant to them, missing Paul’s point that inordinate desire functions religiously exactly like idol-worship, regardless of any physical image. Requires explicit teaching against both false exemption and mistaken direct accusation against Bathou’s own aniconic practice.
Old Self New Self
Approved rendering: बुरा मानसि / नतुन मानसि
Transliteration: bura manwsi / notun manwsi
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Original: ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / ὁ νέος ἄνθρωπος
Category: Old Self/New Self
Col 3:9-10. बुरा shares its root with बुरहा/बर’ऐ, the elder-honorific titles reserved exclusively for Bathoubwrai/the Kherai pantheon and forbidden for Christ; teachers should be alert to this phonetic/etymological adjacency in oral teaching without abandoning the established rendering. ‘New self, renewed after the image of its creator’ echoes εἰκών (1:15/रूप) and must be taught as a definitive, Spirit-empowered new identity, distinct from Brahma Dharma’s reform-identity narrative. Mandatory theologian review.
Christ All In All
Approved rendering: मसीह गासैबो, आरो गासैआव थानाय
Transliteration: Mosih gasaibo, aro gasaiao thanai
Doctrine: New Identity: No Distinction, Christ Is All and in All
Rejected alternatives: a pantheistic reading of Christ as a diffuse impersonal life-force pervading nature, never use — a real risk given Bathouism’s own animist framework of spirit-presence pervading natural elements behind the sijou plant
Original: τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν Χριστός
Category: Supremacy
Col 3:11. An absolute, totalizing, personal supremacy/sufficiency claim erasing ethnic/social distinctions in Christ. Mandatory theologian review.
Slaves Masters
Approved rendering: गुलाम / मालिक
Transliteration: gulam / malik
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: दास (unusable as the primary term: carries an entirely positive charge in surrounding Hindu bhakti usage, a devotee’s self-designation as ‘servant of God,’ which would blunt the passage’s social-institutional edge), a softened ‘servant/employer’ pairing (as used in some dynamic-equivalence regional editions), avoid — under-signals the household code’s original historical stakes
Original: δοῦλοι … κύριοι
Category: Household
Col 3:22-4:1. Requires the most careful historical-cultural contextualization in the curriculum: first-century Greco-Roman slavery is a specific, now-abolished institution, not a timeless endorsement, though its underlying dignity-and-justice principle (4:1) transfers to contemporary structurally unequal labor relationships. Mandatory theologian review with explicit historical-background teaching notes required before this section is taught.
High Risk Terms
Saints
Approved rendering: पबित्र मानुष
Transliteration: pobitro manwsw
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Corporate designation for all believers at Colossae (1:2, 4, 12, 26; 3:12); must not be narrowed to a specialist religious elite paralleling the doudini’s recognized ritual role.
Holy
Approved rendering: पबित्र
Transliteration: pobitro
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: साफ (physically clean, ritual-purity sense only)
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:22; 3:12.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: पबित्रनाय
Transliteration: pobitronai
Doctrine: Sanctification and Holy Living
Rejected alternatives: साफनाय (ritual cleansing, avoid as a substitute)
Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced in the Colossians doctrine registry for the ‘sanctification_and_holiness’ doctrine (1:22; 3:12), expressed through putting off the old self and putting on the new; distinct from external, occasional Bathou/Kherai ritual purification.
Faith
Approved rendering: बिश्वास
Transliteration: biswas
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: भरोसा (generic trust, too weak alone)
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. The object of faith must always be named as Christ specifically (1:4, 23; 2:5, 7, 12; 4:12).
Gospel
Approved rendering: मंगल खबर
Transliteration: mangal khabor
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: सुसमाचार (Hindi loan, avoid as default)
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:5-6, 23; the proclaimed good news bearing fruit throughout the whole world.
Sin
Approved rendering: गुनाह
Transliteration: gunah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: दोष (fault/blame, too weak/civic)
Original: ἁμαρτία / παράπτωμα
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:14; 2:11, 13; distinct from ritual impurity addressed through Bathou/Kherai cleansing rites.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: बिश्वासनि मानोन
Transliteration: biswasni manwn
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: धर्मनि निदान मानोन (rule-keeping obedience to a reformed religious code)
Inherited from Romans package. Its root मानोन is reused (see new entry ‘obedience’) for the Colossians household code’s obedience commands; the full phrase remains reserved for the specific faith-flowing-obedience doctrine.
Covenant
Approved rendering: गोसाथारि
Transliteration: gwsathari
Doctrine: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Its bond root थारि is reused in Colossians for ‘bond of love/unity’ (3:14), deliberately echoing Christ’s cosmic ‘holding together’ role (1:17).
Power Of God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि सक्ति
Transliteration: Isornni sakti
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: देउनि सक्ति (spirit/deity power via a doudini’s trance, avoid as a substitute)
Inherited from Romans package. Its सक्ति root is reused throughout Colossians (1:11, 16, 29; 2:10, 15) and requires unusually strict fencing here since Colossians repeatedly pairs power directly against the very spirit-powers Bathou practice venerates.
Glory
Approved rendering: महिमा
Transliteration: mohima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Hope of Glory
Original: δόξα
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:11, 27; 3:4 — the hope of glory is Christ himself in believers; avoid metaphors resembling a doudini’s trance-radiance.
Providence
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि सामलानाय
Transliteration: Isornni samlanai
Doctrine: Christ’s Sustaining of All Things
Rejected alternatives: भागी (fate, never use)
Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced by ‘hold_together’ (Col 1:17, ‘in him all things hold together’) — must remain an active, personal, ongoing sustaining cause, never impersonal cosmic balance or भागी.
Adoption
Approved rendering: गोसोआव फैनाय
Transliteration: gwswao phoinai
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced by the new ‘inheritance’ entry (Col 1:12; 3:24), which carries the same caution: formal legal inheritance/adoption is not a settled category in Bodo customary afad (clan) succession, which runs through birth lineage.
Abba
Approved rendering: अब्बा
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package. Not required by Colossians’ own text but retained for cross-curriculum consistency whenever Colossians 3:17’s ‘Father’ language is taught alongside Romans 8:15.
Invisible
Approved rendering: अदृश्य
Transliteration: adrishyo
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ἀόρατος
Category: God
Col 1:15-16. Risk that Bathoubwrai’s own aniconic status makes ‘invisible’ sound like a familiar category rather than a claim about the infinite, wholly-other triune God; teach alongside the god entry’s ईश्वर-vs-बाथौबुरै distinction.
Creation
Approved rendering: सृष्टि / जायखानाय
Transliteration: sristi / jaikhanai
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: κτίσις / κτίζω
Category: Creation
Col 1:15-16, 23. सृष्टि is a widely used loan in Hindu/Brahma Dharma cyclical cosmology; Colossians’ usage is a definite, purposeful, once-for-all act by a personal Christ, not a phase in a repeating cosmic cycle.
Before All Things
Approved rendering: सर्बनि सिगां थानाय
Transliteration: sorboni sigang thanai
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: πρὸ πάντων
Category: Christology
Col 1:17. Must convey eternal, uncreated preexistence, not mere honorary seniority-by-age such as an elder deity’s ‘senior’ standing within a pantheon.
Hold Together
Approved rendering: गासैआव स्थिर थाखोनाय
Transliteration: gasaiao sthir thakhonai
Doctrine: Christ’s Sustaining of All Things
Rejected alternatives: an impersonal ‘cosmic balance/harmony’ framing, avoid
Original: συνέστηκεν
Category: Creation
Col 1:17. Christ’s active, personal, ongoing sustaining cause of the universe’s coherence; cross-reference ईश्वरनि सामलानाय (providence) and its caution against भागी (fate).
Head
Approved rendering: बोथोर
Transliteration: bwthwr
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Rejected alternatives: मुखिया (village-headman/administrative chief, never use as primary rendering)
Original: κεφαλή
Category: Church
Col 1:18; 2:19. बोथोर (the literal body-part word) preferred over मुखिया, which would reduce Christ’s headship to an organizational-leadership role rather than the organic, life-giving headship the body-metaphor requires.
Preeminent
Approved rendering: श्रेष्ठ
Transliteration: srestho
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: πρωτεύων
Category: Christology
Col 1:18. श्रेष्ठ alone could be heard as merely superlative-among-comparable-things; must be taught with the full weight of 1:15-20 to guard against a ‘greatest-among-many-spirits’ reading of the Bathou pantheon.
Dwell
Approved rendering: थानाय
Transliteration: thanai
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: language implying a spirit temporarily ‘coming upon’/‘entering’ a medium, never use
Original: κατοικέω
Category: Christology
Col 1:19; 2:9. Permanent, settled residence, not episodic trance-visitation as in Kherai doudini possession or ‘deu falling upon’ language for nature/ancestral spirits.
Blood
Approved rendering: रक्त
Transliteration: rokto
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
Col 1:20. Once-for-all, sacrificial, covenant-sealing blood; distinguish from blood offered in traditional animal sacrifices to Bathoubwrai/Kherai deities for protection or prosperity, a real currently-practiced ritual category.
Love
Approved rendering: मोरोम
Transliteration: morom
Doctrine: Love as the Bond of Unity / Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: the reciprocal-exchange logic already forbidden for grace, never apply to love
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Ethics
Col 1:4, 8; 3:14, 19. Self-giving, covenantal love — God’s own and that expected among believers, especially in the household code; not a merely sentimental/romantic affection sense.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: बुद्धि
Transliteration: buddhi
Doctrine: All Wisdom and Knowledge in Christ
Original: σοφία
Category: Faith
Col 1:9, 28; 2:3; 3:16. All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ alone; must not be conflated with Brahma Dharma’s own presented wisdom-reform literature.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: उत्तराधिकार
Transliteration: uttaradhikar
Doctrine: Inheritance of the Saints
Original: κλῆρος
Category: Salvation
Col 1:12; 3:24. Formal legal inheritance is not a settled category in Bodo customary afad (clan) succession, which runs through birth lineage; must be explicitly taught as a gift of grace, not a lineage-based right, per the same caution the baseline records for adoption.
Kingdom Of The Son
Approved rendering: गोरानि राज्य
Transliteration: gorani rajyo
Doctrine: Kingdom of the Beloved Son
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ υἱοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Col 1:13. Combines the baseline kingdom_of_god territorial-political caution with the Critical Sonship-of-Christ caution; must not be read as a territorial-political kingdom given Bodo identity’s strong association with the Bodoland Territorial Region.
Forgiveness Of Sins
Approved rendering: गुनाहनि माफ
Transliteration: gunahni maph
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Original: ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν
Category: Salvation
Col 1:14; 2:13. NOTE: the Romans baseline explicitly rejected this exact phrase as too narrow a gloss for ‘justification’; here it is the correct, positive term. God’s decisive pardon through Christ’s blood/cross, not restoration of ritual/household harmony sought through Bathou/Kherai purification offerings.
Fill Up Afflictions
Approved rendering: (descriptive phrase — render contextually; no fixed compound)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: Ministry and Suffering for the Gospel
Original: ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων
Category: Ministry
Col 1:24. Must be carefully taught so as not to contradict 1:15-20/2:13-15’s claim of Christ’s fully sufficient atoning work; Paul shares in gospel-ministry suffering, not atonement.
Human Tradition
Approved rendering: मानसिनि रीति
Transliteration: manwsini riti
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: παράδοσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων
Category: False Teaching
Col 2:8. Relevant given Bathou tradition’s orally-transmitted customary teaching and Brahma Dharma’s own reform ‘tradition’; the issue is any human tradition set up as authoritative alongside/in place of Christ.
Filled Complete
Approved rendering: पूर्णता जानाय
Transliteration: purnota janai
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Original: πεπληρωμένοι
Category: Salvation
Col 2:10. Believers’ completeness is found in union with Christ alone, countering any felt need to supplement faith with additional ritual, ascetic practice, or angel-veneration.
Bond Of Debt
Approved rendering: ऋणनि लिखित
Transliteration: rinni likhit
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Rejected alternatives: an ongoing debt-relationship requiring repeated ritual offerings to maintain standing, never use
Original: χειρόγραφον
Category: Salvation
Col 2:14. A decisive legal transaction accomplished once for all at the cross, inheriting the grace entry’s forbidden do-ut-des fencing.
Nailed Triumphed
Approved rendering: क्रुसाव लोगोनाय / जित होनाय
Transliteration: krusao logonai / jit honai
Doctrine: Elemental Spirits and Spiritual Powers
Original: προσηλώσας / θριαμβεύσας
Category: Salvation
Col 2:14-15. The letter’s climactic supremacy statement over the exact spirit-power hierarchy of 1:16; pastorally liberating for a Bathouist-background convert, but the Roman military-triumph imagery is culturally unfamiliar and needs careful, reader-facing unpacking (not merely a translator note).
Self Made Religion
Approved rendering: मोनसे नि जायखिनाय धर्म
Transliteration: monse ni jaikhinai dhormo
Doctrine: Worship of Angels and False Mediation
Original: ἐθελοθρησκία
Category: False Teaching
Col 2:23. Bears real structural resemblance to Bathou purification-fasting before Kherai puja and to Brahma Dharma’s own ascetic reform ethic; the point is not that discipline is bad, but that it cannot produce holiness or add to Christ’s sufficiency.
Hidden With Christ
Approved rendering: (descriptive phrase — render contextually; no fixed compound)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Original: κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ
Category: Union with Christ
Col 3:3. A settled, permanent spiritual reality, not an episodic altered state; must not be confused with the doudini’s own altered ritual consciousness during trance.
Put To Death
Approved rendering: जोबोर होनाय
Transliteration: jwbwr honai
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Original: νεκρώσατε
Category: Old Self/New Self
Col 3:5. Deliberately built on the same ‘death’ root as resurrection vocabulary — believers already raised with Christ must now actively put to death remaining sin; this wordplay must be preserved in teaching.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि खों
Transliteration: Isorni khong
Doctrine: The Wrath of God against Sin
Rejected alternatives: an impersonal karma-consequence framework (Brahma Dharma’s ethic), never use, the capricious, appeasable anger of a nature-deity requiring ritual offerings (Bathou/Kherai), never use
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Judgment
Col 3:6. A holy, personal, judicial response to sin.
Put Off Put On
Approved rendering: बोस्तर बोखांनाय / बोस्तर सोननाय
Transliteration: bwstwr bokhangnai / bwstwr sonnai
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: Brahma Dharma’s gradualist, effort-based moral-reform ethic, never use as the interpretive frame, any cyclical rebirth framing (फिन जोनोम), never use
Original: ἀποθέσθε / ἐνδύσασθε
Category: Old Self/New Self
Col 3:8-14. A definitive, once-for-all, Spirit-enabled change of identity grounded in union with Christ’s death and resurrection.
Psalms Hymns Songs
Approved rendering: जबूर / हिम्न / आत्मिक गीत
Transliteration: jabur / himno / aatmik git
Doctrine: Corporate Worship in Song
Original: ψαλμοί, ὕμνοι, ᾠδαὶ πνευματικαί
Category: Worship
Col 3:16. Corporate, Spirit-prompted, God-directed singing and mutual teaching in ordinary consciousness must be distinguished from the Kherai puja’s own ritual singing/chanting that helps induce the doudini’s trance/possession state.
Wives Submit
Approved rendering: सोंगावनि आगोरजों मानोन खालामनाय
Transliteration: songaoni agworjwng manwn khalamnai
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: ὑποτάσσεσθε
Category: Household
Col 3:18. Must be taught within its full context (husbands commanded to self-sacrificial love, v.19) and related to, but never simply equated with, existing Bodo afad (clan) household-authority patterns.
Obedience
Approved rendering: मानोन
Transliteration: manwn
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: a purely hierarchical clan-obedience reading detached from Christ-centered motivation, never use as the sole frame
Original: ὑπακούω
Category: Household
Col 3:18, 20, 22. Reuses the मानोन root from the baseline obedience_of_faith entry (बिश्वासनि मानोन), but here is the household code’s own obedience vocabulary (children to parents, slaves to masters), done ‘as to the Lord.’ Must not collapse into unmodified afad household-authority custom.
Power
Approved rendering: सक्ति
Transliteration: sakti
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation / Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: देउनि सक्ति (ritual/mediumistic power attributed to a doudini’s Kherai-trance state, never use)
Original: δύναμις
Category: God
Col 1:11, 16, 29; 2:10, 15. Reuses the सक्ति root from ईश्वरनि सक्ति (power_of_god); must remain categorically distinct from देउनि सक्ति — a distinction of unusual urgency here since Colossians repeatedly pairs this power directly against the very spirit-powers (1:16; 2:15) that Bathou practice venerates.
Medium Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: गोदान जायगारि
Transliteration: godan jaigari
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: दूत (generic messenger, too weak)
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:1.
Church
Approved rendering: मण्डली
Transliteration: mwndoli
Doctrine: Church as God’s People / Christ as Head of the Church
Rejected alternatives: नमासोलि (Bathou/Kherai shrine site or worship ground, never use)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:18, 24; 4:15-16.
Peace
Approved rendering: सान्ति
Transliteration: santi
Doctrine: Peace with God / Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:2, 20; 3:15; distinct from household-harmony/misfortune-protection sought via Bathou/Kherai offerings.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: गैर-जुथुद
Transliteration: goir-juthud
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:27, ‘among the Gentiles.‘
Intercession
Approved rendering: मोनसे नि थाखाय बिनयनाय
Transliteration: monse ni thakhai binoinai
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: προσευχή / δέησις
Category: Prayer
Inherited from Romans package. Its बिनयनाय root is reused throughout Colossians (1:3, 9; 4:2-3, 12); distinguish from petitions traditionally carried to Bathoubwrai/the Kherai pantheon through a doudini or ओझा.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि राज्य
Transliteration: Isornni rajyo
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Inherited from Romans package. Base form for the new Colossians-specific ‘kingdom_of_the_son’ entry (1:13); distinguish from territorial-political framing given Bodo identity’s association with the Bodoland Territorial Region.
Mission
Approved rendering: मंगल खबरनि दायो
Transliteration: mangal khaborni dayo
Doctrine: Gospel Proclamation and Mission
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Colossians’ ‘gospel bearing fruit in the whole world’ (1:5-6, 23); frame as the church’s own ongoing calling, not a foreign historical mission project, given the history of American Baptist mission work among the Bodo.
Body Of Christ
Approved rendering: गुदि
Transliteration: gudi
Doctrine: Church as the Body of Christ
Original: σῶμα
Category: Church
Col 1:18, 24; 2:19; 3:15. Must be kept distinct from (1) the literal human body Christ assumed in the incarnation, and (2) the doudini’s own body as a ritual vessel during Kherai trance; these three categories must never be blended.
Beginning
Approved rendering: सुरु
Transliteration: suru
Doctrine: Firstborn Supremacy in Creation and Resurrection
Original: ἀρχή
Category: Eschatology
Col 1:18. Christ as originating source of new-creation resurrection life; distinct sense from ἀρχαί (‘rulers,’ 1:16) — flag the homonym risk for teachers to prevent confusion when both senses appear in the same lesson.
Make Peace
Approved rendering: सान्ति खालामनाय
Transliteration: santi khalamnai
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: εἰρηνοποιέω
Category: Salvation
Col 1:20. Built on the peace entry; relational/judicial peace with God, not household-harmony ritual protection.
Cross
Approved rendering: क्रुस
Transliteration: krus
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: σταυρός
Category: Salvation
Col 1:20; 2:14-15. Standard regional transliteration (paralleling Assamese क্ৰুচ); retain specific historical-redemptive content, not a generic suffering-symbol.
Hope
Approved rendering: आस
Transliteration: aas
Doctrine: Hope of Glory
Original: ἐλπίς
Category: Eschatology
Col 1:5, 23, 27; 3:4. Certain future expectation grounded in Christ’s resurrection and return, stored up in heaven; not the this-worldly hope for protection/prosperity sought through Bathou/Kherai ritual offerings.
Light Darkness
Approved rendering: प्रकाश / अंधकार
Transliteration: prokash / ondhokar
Doctrine: Kingdom of the Beloved Son
Original: φῶς / σκότος
Category: Salvation
Col 1:12-13. A moral-spiritual domain contrast, not a reference to or (fire), one of the Bathou five sacred sijou-branch elements, nor to folk light-symbolism generally.
Alienated Hostile
Approved rendering: फोजोर जानाय
Transliteration: phojwr janai
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι / ἐχθροί
Category: Reconciliation
Col 1:21. Must retain the strength of ‘hostility,’ not soften to mere unfamiliarity.
Minister Servant
Approved rendering: सेवारि
Transliteration: sewari
Doctrine: Ministry and Suffering for the Gospel
Original: διάκονος
Category: Ministry
Col 1:7, 23, 25; 4:7. Distinguish from a ritual-mediating specialist role such as a doudini or ओझा.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: खत्ना
Transliteration: khatna
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
Col 2:11. Requires OT covenant-sign background teaching; ‘circumcision of Christ’ (a spiritual reality) must be distinguished from the literal rite and from any Bodo traditional body-marking/purification rite.
Shadow
Approved rendering: छाया
Transliteration: chaya
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: σκιά
Category: Covenant
Col 2:17. OT ceremonial regulations point forward to Christ, the substance; needs OT background teaching; guard against over-generalizing to devalue religious form as such.
Growth From God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि बारायनाय
Transliteration: Isorni baraynai
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: αὔξησις τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Church
Col 2:19. The body/church grows by a growth from God through the Head, not through ascetic human effort resembling Bathou/Brahma Dharma disciplines.
Set Mind Above
Approved rendering: सर्गनि गुबुननाव मन थिनाय
Transliteration: sorgoni gubunnao mon thinai
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Original: τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε
Category: Union with Christ
Col 3:1-2. An inward priority/disposition, not a literal ritual orientation toward a sacred object such as the sijou plant.
Vice List
Approved rendering: (descriptive set: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: Christian Ethics: Virtue and Vice Lists
Original: πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πάθος, ἐπιθυμία κακή, πλεονεξία
Category: Ethics
Col 3:5. Serious, decisive moral categories requiring definitive renunciation, not minor social faults.
Virtue List
Approved rendering: (descriptive set: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: Christian Ethics: Virtue and Vice Lists
Original: (list: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience)
Category: Ethics
Col 3:12. Standard exhortation vocabulary for the new self’s character.
Love Binds Unity
Approved rendering: मोरोमनि थारि
Transliteration: moromni thari
Doctrine: Love as the Bond of Unity
Original: σύνδεσμος τῆς τελειότητος
Category: Church
Col 3:14. Reuses the थारि covenant-bond root; a deliberate cross-reference to Christ ‘holding together’ the cosmos (1:17) — love now perfects the church body.
Husbands Love
Approved rendering: मोरोम खालामनाय (+ ‘do not be harsh’ qualifier, non-optional)
Transliteration: morom khalamnai
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: ἀγαπᾶτε, μὴ πικραίνεσθε
Category: Household
Col 3:19. The ‘do not be harsh’ qualifier is essential and functions as a check on the authority granted in the surrounding verses; it must never be dropped.
Children Obey Fathers
Approved rendering: मानोन (+ fathers’ non-provocation qualifier)
Transliteration: manwn
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: ὑπακούετε / μὴ ἐρεθίζετε
Category: Household
Col 3:20-21. Standard household-code vocabulary, with a pastoral concern for children’s morale as the non-optional balancing clause.
Wrestling In Prayer
Approved rendering: (reuse मोनथिजों लांनाय + बिनयनाय)
Transliteration: monthijwng langnai + binoinai
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: ἀγωνιζόμενος ἐν προσευχαῖς
Category: Prayer
Col 4:12. Epaphras’s intense, persistent intercessory prayer for the Colossians; notable pastoral intensity.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: धिनानाय
Transliteration: dhinanai
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Repeated throughout Colossians’ prayer reports and exhortations (1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2).
Exhort
Approved rendering: गोसो होनाय
Transliteration: gwsw honai
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package. Col 1:28; 3:16, teaching/admonishing one another in wisdom.
Toil Struggle
Approved rendering: मोनथिजों लांनाय
Transliteration: monthijwng langnai
Doctrine: Ministry and Suffering for the Gospel
Original: ἀγωνιζόμενος
Category: Ministry
Col 1:29; 4:12. Standard perseverance language for Paul’s and Epaphras’s strenuous ministry and prayer.
Dead In Trespasses
Approved rendering: गुनाह (+ nuance note)
Transliteration: gunah
Doctrine: Sin
Original: νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν
Category: Sin
Col 2:13. Reuses गुनाह with a footnote on the distinct παράπτωμα (‘false step’) nuance versus ἁμαρτία (‘missing the mark’).
Gracious Speech
Approved rendering: (descriptive, secondary/everyday sense of grace)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: Christian Ethics
Original: ὁ λόγος ἐν χάριτι, ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος
Category: Ethics
Col 4:6. An everyday sense of ‘grace/gracious speech’; flagged so translators do not import the Critical soteriological weight of मोफादांनाय दान into ordinary speech-etiquette advice.
Fellow Servant Worker
Approved rendering: सेवारि (+ companion term)
Transliteration: sewari
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Greetings
Original: σύνδουλος / συνεργός
Category: Ministry
Col 4:7, 11. Standard co-laborer terminology for Paul’s gospel co-workers.
Fulfill Ministry
Approved rendering: (reuse सेवा root)
Transliteration: sewa
Doctrine: Ministry and Suffering for the Gospel
Original: τὴν διακονίαν πλήρου
Category: Ministry
Col 4:17. Archippus charged to fulfill his ministry; standard exhortation.
Referenced passages