Dear MB, here my focus is only on the contributions made by Carey to Indian languages. (I do not deal with Carey's contribution to Bangla Literature.)
Through the publication of Bengali Colloquies, written with the help of Bengali scholars, Carey showed the power of the colloquial Bengali as an effective medium of communication. It is Carey, more than any other European scholar-missionary, who really showed to the natives of India that prose could be an effective medium. He chose the medium of prose for his translation much against the traditional practice of saying profound things through the medium of poetry. It was the necessity to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all, not just the educated or upper classes, that made him to choose the medium of prose for the translation of the Bible. It was the very same necessity that forced these translators to base their translation on the colloquial language rather than on the formal style of the language. Moreover, the Bible itself was ...more