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Subject: [agathiyar] Tamil and the German connection
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>From The Hindu, Dated May 10, 1999.



As someone involved in research, which brought to light the German
involvement in Tamil culture, Dr. C. S. MOHANAVELU, (54), feels there
is a treasure house of Tamil history and knowledge to be explored in
German archives. ``German missionaries had shown great
interest in studying our culture, language and society for over 250
years. They sent back to Europe huge quantities of materials, including original palmleaf manuscripts. These have to be revived or micro-filmed to bring out our own ancient knowledge systems,'' the Reader in History at Presidency College tells K. RAMACHANDRAN.


``My work is not about the religious mission but the other activities''
undertaken by the missionaries. Since they first landed at Tranquebar in
1706, they recorded in detail the social, economic and other customs.
They learnt Tamil perfectly. Some of them showed interest in Tamil
grammar and literature; a few others were involved in unearthing the
secrets of the Siddha system of medicine; and others in the customs,
legends, fables, feasts and festivals, rituals and the ceremonies. Travelling
around Tamil Nadu and Malabar they wrote down in diaries the day- to-day
activities of the Tamils and sent them to Germany for over 300 years.

``The records comprising two lakh documents now form the original source
materials for research. Some have decayed, but the rest are well preserved
now in the Francke Foundation archives in Halle, Germany,'' says the
academician. During a visit in 1986 as part of a quest for Ph.D research
material, he found sackfuls of Tamil palm-leaves lying in Halle.

His research led him to the conclusion that German Indology was firmly
rooted in Tamilology. The Danish King, Fredrick IV, in order to spread the
Gospel among the Tamils, sent the Germans - because only they were
willing - to Tranquebar. The missionaries such as Bartholomaus
Ziegenbalg, Schultze or Emil Francke, wrote in detail about the native
society.

``They came here thinking the Tamils were barbarians, but found them to
be quite the opposite. When Zeigenbalg wrote back so, he was criticised.
But to prove his point, the missonary took with him a Tamil
``'Malleiappan,'' who convinced the Danish King about Tamil culture, by
speaking to him in fluent German in 1715.''

The missionary diaries recorded the ancient methods of Siddha treatment
of 4,448 diseases, most of which the Europeans had no idea about. Every
Tamil house then had dozens of medicinal plants and herbs. Gruendler in
`Malabar Medicus' dealt with these diseases and the curative properties of
herbs. There is evidence to show that several original palmleaf
manuscripts, some of them on our unique native knowledge of herbs and
medicines, were sent back to Germany secretly, says Dr. Mohanavelu.

The missionaries also recorded the social customs, the Telugu marriages
in Madras and the `thalis' of the different Tamil sects. Like Schultze's
diaries other records say that the Tamils knew of a special shorthand in
which they noted down the preachers' words, even as they spoke; or the
prices of commodities in Madras. They also provide chilling accounts of
bride burning or bride burying, and superstitions, which the missionaries
used against the upper castes for proselytising the Dravidians.

Recently, Dr. Mohanavelu visited Berlin to present a paper on how Karl
Graul praised the grammatical significance of Tirukkural, which was
translated into German, 150 years ago.

``I am certain that a full-fledged research department is needed to discover
the past glory of the Tamil people, as observed and recorded by the
Germans,'' feels the academicians, who hails from a family deeply
influenced by Saivism. Once initiated, he hopes to get the support of six
German research foundations for the task.


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