Paul Olaf Bodding (2 November 1865 – 25 September 1938).
2nd November is P. O. Bodding Jayanti.
Bodfing was Norwegian. He is famously known as a Missionary, linguist, folklorist and a celebrated scientist.
He was the son of a bookseller. He landed in India in 1890 as a misionary priest. He mainly worked among the Santal tribals in Santal Parganas.
Bodding became expert in Santali language, in the knowledge of Santal customs, culture and traditions. His was not an exercise in coverting the Santals. Rather, he spent 44 years of life among the Tribals in Eastern India doing research on their life and language, culture, and customs, traditional medical practices etc. He was a prolific writer with his well researched findings.
He left India in 1934 and settled with his Danish-born wife Christine Larsen (1883–1940) in Odense, Denmark. He breathed his last in Denmark in 1938.
Bodding ‘s celebrated works are:
Studies in Santal Medicine and Connected Folklore, 1925.
A Santali Grammar for Beginners, 1929.
Santali Dictionary – Five Volumes, 1933-1936.
Santal Folktales, 1925-29.
Santal Riddles (and) Witchcraft among the Santals, 1940.
Materials for a Santali Grammar, 1940.
Santali Grammar Book (Mostly phonetic), 2011.
Traditions and Institutions of the Santals, 2003.
Bible translated into Santali, 1914.
Thus, Rev. Bodding made great contributions to highlight the different aspects of Satal tribal life and nuances.