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Book Review
Contributions of Christians to Tamil
KIRITHAVA TAMIZH KODAI — Parts I & II: S. Innasi; Meyyappan Tamizh Aayvagam; 53, New Street, Chidambaram. Rs. 100 each.
IN THE books under review, the author has exhaustively dealt with the manifold contributions of Christian missionaries to Tamil language and literature.
In the beginning, he has made a review of literature on the subject of his study and also referred to the arrival of both Catholic and Protestant Fathers for propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ, besides rendering service to the people and their language.
The invention of printing press for Tamil, the translation of Tamil classics such as Tirukkural, Naaladiyar and some Sangam poems into English and other European languages, the publication of fresh lexicons, new grammatical manuals and prose works are some of the praiseworthy contributions.
Robert Caldwell's A Comparative Grammar of South Indian Family of Languages has been regarded a landmark in the annals of Dravidian linguistics. Thempavani, a unique narrative glorifying the advent of Jesus Christ, was composed by Joseph Beschi, popularly known as "Veeramaamunivar" after the model of Tamil epics. Henry Alfred Krishna Pillai, a local convert has created the Iratchanya Yaatrikam in pleasant Tamil verses, closely following John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
The Christian Tamil poets have adopted the native literary genres such as "aatrupadai", "satakam", "patigam", "kalampakam", "ulaa" and "kovai" and also some folk forms such as "ammaanai" and "sindhu" to effectively communicate their theological thoughts.
The second part deals mainly with the Christian contributions to modern literary forms, like neo-poetry, drama, novel, short story and journalism. Also included are some Christian institutions and centres, doing significant service to the cause of music, dance and drama. The books are highly informative.
S. N. KANDASWAMY
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