What’s New: Added a new picture postcard at the end.

Original Post – 2022:

‘The Hindu’ newspaper published on 02-Jul-2022 carried an article about a missing Tamil Bible from the Saraswathi Mahal Library at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. What’s interesting is that book happens or is considered to be the first Tamil translation of the Bible!

This post is not about the Tamil Bible, but about the person who printed it, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, a missionary from Denmark, and about Tranquebar.

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg landed in Tranquebar (Tharangambadi in Tamil) on 9 July 1706 to head the Tranquebar Lutheran Mission that was patronised by King Frederick IV of Denmark.

Ziegenbalg brought Lutheranism and a printing press. He studied Tamil language and its literature in detail. He also seemed to have interacted with the locals in Tamil language.

In 1715, he published his translation of the New Testament into Tamil and in the next year brought a volume of Tamil grammar called, Grammatica Damulica. India Post issued a stamp on Ziegenbalg in 2006 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Tranquebar Lutheran Mission.

In 1718 he and his associates constructed a church which is still in use today. A special postal cover with a pictorial cancellation (postmark) was brought out on 11 Oct 2018 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the church.

Ziegenbalg died of ill health on 23 Feb 1719 in Tranquebar and is buried in the church he established there.

He spent his last years in laying the foundations for German scholarship in Tamil that continues to this day.

A special pictorial cancellation (postmark) was brought out on 9 Jul 1981 to commemorate the 275th anniversary of Ziegenbalg’s arrival at Tranquebar.

Tranquebar became a Danish colony in 1620 after Ove Gjedde, a Danish Admiral, signed a deal with the then ruler of Thanjavur. Ove Gjedde built the Fort Dansborg at Tranquebar with the help of local labourers.

Tranquebar, which was a fishing village, rapidly transformed as a main trading port of the Danish East India Company. The commercial importance of the town declined in the 18th century. The fort and the Tranquebar town were sold to the British in 1845.

Here’s another vintage picture postcard showing the main thoroughfare of Tranquebar, published by the Church of Sweden’s mission board.

Do post your comments and feedback.