Comparative Theology

Romans makes claims that sit in tension with both Hindu and Buddhist concepts a Nepali-speaking audience may hold, sometimes on the same doctrine for two different reasons.

Romans doctrine	Hindu-tradition tension	Buddhist-tradition tension
Salvation (उद्धार)	मुक्ति/मोक्ष — liberation from the rebirth cycle, reunion with the impersonal Absolute	निर्वाण — the cessation of craving and the extinguishing of self, not reconciliation with a personal God
Incarnation (देहधारण)	अवतार — a deity’s, and in Nepal’s own recent history a king’s, repeatable divine descent	Buddhism has no creator-God-incarnation concept, but the tulku tradition (a recognized reincarnated teacher) can be conflated with Christ’s unique incarnation if not carefully distinguished
Resurrection (पुनरुत्थान)	पुनर्जन्म — rebirth into a new life within the same cosmic cycle	Rebirth across six realms driven by karma, a core rather than peripheral Buddhist teaching
Grace (अनुग्रह)	पुण्य — merit accumulated through right action	पुण्य is shared vocabulary in Buddhist ethics as well; merit-accumulation toward better rebirth is a parallel, not identical, works-based framework
Sin (पाप)	Moral/ritual transgression against cosmic or social order	अकुशल कर्म — “unskillful action,” an impersonal cause-and-effect framing rather than an offense against a personal God

Why this matters for translation

Nepali is the only language in this batch whose comparative theology table has to run two parallel columns for nearly every major doctrine. A rendering that successfully avoids the Hindu wrong answer (as Hindi’s translation tradition already does) can still be read correctly through Buddhist categories only by accident; this Language Package treats that as a separate check, not an assumed byproduct.