Translation Landscape

Existing Punjabi Bible translations

The Punjabi Bible Society tradition (Gurmukhi script) is the dominant existing translation among Indian Punjabi Christian communities. This Language Package follows that tradition’s precedent for established terms (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ, ਯਿਸੂ, ਪ੍ਰਭੂ, ਮਸੀਹ, ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ) rather than introducing new renderings — with one significant exception.

Where existing translation precedent itself creates risk

• ਮੁਕਤੀ for salvation: unlike Hindi, where उद्धार was chosen specifically to avoid the Hindu-liberation-coded मुक्ति, the established Punjabi Bible tradition uses ਮੁਕਤੀ, the same word used in Sikh theology for release from the transmigration cycle. This Language Package does not overturn a century-plus of Punjabi Christian usage, but it treats the term as requiring active management (a mandatory clarifying gloss) rather than passive trust, unlike every other established term in this glossary.
• No settled glossary for doctrinal instruction: as with other languages in this pipeline, there is no widely used Punjabi glossary specifically for teaching doctrine as opposed to translating narrative Scripture text. This Language Package’s translation_memory.json fills that gap for this curriculum.
• Gaps around technical theological vocabulary: compound renderings like “imputed righteousness” (ਲੇਖੇ ਲਾਈ ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ) exist in specialist theological Punjabi but are not in common devotional use.

Readiness assessment

Punjabi is a mixed case: most of its highest-risk terms already have settled, safe renderings (ਦੇਹਧਾਰਨ, ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ, ਰਸੂਲ), but its single highest-profile term — salvation — is the one place in this entire pipeline where the established Bible translation itself carries the syncretism risk rather than having already solved it. The translation task here is therefore not uniform disciplined enforcement, as in Hindi, but a mix of enforcement (most terms) and active risk-mitigation through mandatory glossing (ਮੁਕਤੀ specifically).