Thomas Stephens

Thomas Stephens (c.1549–1619) was an English Jesuit priest and missionary in Portuguese India, writer and linguist (focusing on Marathi and Konkani). Father Thomas Stephens, educated at Oxford, was one of the earliest Western Christian missionaries to India. He, along with Roberto Nobili, helped in converting the top class of Indian Society by adopting local practices and writing books in local languages, to appeal to the local people. He wrote the Krista Purana (Story of Christ), while Nobili is considered to have written Ezourvedam – an adaptation of the Yajurveda in Tamil, introducing Christ (Ezous) to the reader in terms of the Indian belief system of the time.