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| Lutheran saint Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg.baptists.net |
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| First page of the Bible (New Testtament).en.wikimedia.org |
Above image: First page of a Tamil bible (new testament) printed in Tranquebar/Tharangambadi by Ziegenbalg. The Tranquebar press was established in 1712. The Tamil alphabet types were made in Germany by Ziegenbalg's friends. The Pica sized types were bulky, missing some letters and were not carved properly. Christian Literature. commons..................
Contrary to popular belief in the West, Christianity in India predates European colonialism by centuries. Far from being a religion introduced by the Portuguese, Christianity has flourished in the Indian subcontinent for nearly 2,000 years. St. Thomas the Apostle, one of Jesus Christ's twelve disciples, is believed to have arrived on the Malabar Coast in AD 52, founding early Christian communities—especially in present-day Kerala and southern Tamil Nadu. Today, Tamil Nadu is home to Roman Catholics (Latin Rite), Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the Church of South India, among others.
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| First Printing press, Tharangambadi,TN.thehindu.com |
Above image: A printing press on display at Ziegenbalg House at Tharangambadi. Printing technology was first introduced in India with the arrival of Portuguese in Goa in the middle of the 16th Century. The first press in Goa (1556) during Francis Xavier period was mainly used by the Church of Portuguese in their settlements as there was no printing press owned by the natives. However. it was the Danish mission in Tharangambadi gave new life to printing in the early 18th Century with the publication of some Christian religious works. Lutheran Saint Ziegenbalg set up the first printing press in Tharangambadi on October 24, 1712...........
A pivotal figure in the Protestant Christian tradition in India was Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1682–1719), a German Lutheran missionary. Sent by King Frederick IV of Denmark, he arrived in Tranquebar (Tharangambadi), a Danish trading post on the Tamil coast, on 9 July 1706, alongside fellow missionary Heinrich Plütschau. Ziegenbalg’s mission marked the first Protestant mission in India.
What sets Ziegenbalg apart was not just his religious zeal but his embrace of Tamil language and culture. He quickly learned Tamil and compiled Bibliothece Malabarke, a catalogue of 161 Tamil texts he had read. He translated the New Testament into Tamil (1708–1711) and used a press brought from Denmark in 1712—India’s first Protestant printing press—to publish it. Tamil typefaces were specially cast in Germany for this effort, despite early flaws in design.
He got in touch with Germany and received a wooden screw press, Roman Pica Tamil type letters, 100 reams of papers, ink and assistants on a ship in 1712.
Ziegenbalg’s press also published India’s first Almanac -Panchangam (1713) and likely the first English book printed in Asia (1716). By 1817, the Tranquebar press had produced material in 40 languages, including 33 Indian ones. When he ran out of paper and ink, he had a paper-and ink making mill set up with help from Johann Gottlieb Adler, in nearby Porayar.
Despite physical ailments due to the harsh climate and opposition from local Danish officials and militant Hindus, Ziegenbalg remained undeterred. He was even imprisoned for four months in 1708 for allegedly inciting rebellion by converting locals. Yet he continued championing education, social upliftment, and interfaith understanding.
Ziegenbalg, who is credited with introducing printing technology in India and more importantly, preserving palm leaf manuscripts in Tamil on paper, died in 1719 at just 36. He was buried on the premises of the church constructed No, doubt, this dedicated young missionary had achieved some thing which others in his realm, failed to under take.
Every year, on July 9, missionaries and Tamilscholars meet at Tharangambadi (Tranquebar) in Mayiladuthurai District to celebrate the father of the Indian printing industry first Lutheran missionary from Gemany Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg. He left behind a remarkable legacy of Tamil-Christian scholarship, still recognized in academic and theological circles today.
