Bibliotheca Malabarica: Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg's Tamil Library

165 Pages·2012·0.646 MB·English

by  Will Sweetman, R. Ilakkuvan


L’InstitutFrançaisdePondichéry(IFP),UMIFRE21CNRS-MAEE,estunétablissementàautonomiefinan-
cièresousladoubletutelleduMinistèrefrançaisdesAffairesEtrangèresetEuropéennes(MAEE)etduCentre
NationaldelaRechercheScientifique(CNRS).Ilestpartieintégranteduréseaudes27centresderecherche
deceMinistère.AvecleCentredeSciencesHumaines(CSH)àNewDelhi,ilformel’USR3330duCNRS
“SavoirsetMondesIndiens.”Ilremplitdesmissionsderecherche,d’expertiseetdeformationenSciencesHu-
mainesetSocialesetenEcologiedansleSudetleSud-estasiatique.Ils’intéresseparticulièrementauxsavoirs
etpatrimoinesculturelsindiens(langueetlittératuresanskrite,histoiredesreligions,étudestamoules…),aux
dynamiquessocialescontemporaines,etauxécosystèmesnaturelsdel’IndeduSud.
eFrenchInstituteofPondicherry(IFP),UMIFRE21CNRS-MAEE,isafinanciallyautonomousinstitution
underthejointsupervisionoftheFrenchMinistryofForeignandEuropeanAffairs(MAEE)andtheFrench
NationalCentreforScientificResearch(CNRS).Itisapartofthenetworkof27researchcentresunderthis
Ministry. Italsoformspartoftheresearchunit3330“SavoirsetMondesIndiens”oftheCNRS,alongwith
theCentredeSciencesHumaines(CSH)inNewDelhi.Itfulfilsitsmissionsofresearch,expertiseandtraining
inHumanandSocialSciencesandEcologyinSouthandSouth-EastAsia.Itworksparticularlyinthefieldsof
Indianculturalknowledgeandheritage(Sanskritlanguageandliterature,historyofreligions,Tamilstudies…),
contemporarysocialdynamicsandthenaturalecosystemsofSouthIndia.
FrenchInstituteofPondicherry,11,St.LouisStreet,P.B.33,Pondicherry605001–India.
Tel:[phone],Email:[email protected]
Website:http://www.ifpindia.org
(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:71)
L’écolefrançaised’Extrême-Orient(EFEO),fondéeen1900àHanoï,estunétablissementrelevantduminis-
tèrefrançaisdel’EnseignementsupérieuretdelaRecherchedontlamissionscientifiqueestl’étudedescivi-
lisationsclassiquesdel’Asie.Sonchampderecherchess’étenddel’IndeàlaChineetauJaponet,englobant
l’ensembleduSud-Estasiatique,comprendlaplupartdessociétésquifurentindianiséesousiniséesaucours
del’histoire.Autourdesesdix-septcentresetantennes,installésdansdouzepaysd’Asie,sesontconstituésdes
réseauxdechercheurslocauxetinternationauxsurlesquelsl’écoleapus’appuyerpourconstruiresonessor.
L’EFEOabordel’Asiepardesrecherchespluridisciplinairesetcomparatistes,associantl’archéologie,l’histoire,
l’anthropologie,laphilologie,etlessciencesreligieuses.APondichéry,lesprojetsdel’EFEOportentessentielle-
mentsurl’“indologie”classique:sanskrit,tamoulancien,histoire,histoiredel’artetdesreligions.
emissionofeFrenchSchoolofAsianStudies(EFEO),foundedin1900inHanoiandtodayunderthe
aegisoftheFrenchMinistryofHigherEducationandResearch,istostudytheclassicalcivilizationsofAsia.
StretchingfromIndia,intheWest,acrossthewholeofSoutheastAsiatoChinaandJapan,theEFEO’sresearch
areascovermostofthesocietieswhichhavebeen‘Indianised’or‘Sinicised’overthecourseofhistory.Anetwork
ofinternationalscholarsworkingattheEFEO’sseventeencentresandbranchoffices,whicharespreadacross
twelveAsiancountries,hasbeenessentialinthedevelopmentoftheSchool’sresearchprogramme.Interdiscip-
linaryprojectsbringtogetherleadingscholarsinthefieldsofanthropology,archaeology,history,philology,and
religiousstudies. InPondicherry,theprojectsoftheEFEOfocusmainlyonclassicalIndology: Sanskrit,Old
Tamil,History,Historyofartandofreligions.
Ecolefrançaised’Extrême-Orient PondicherryCentreoftheEFEO
22,avenueduPrésidentWilson 16&19,DumasStreet,
75116Paris,France. Pondicherry–605001,India.
Tel:[phone] Tel:[phone]
Website:http://www.efeo.fr/ Email:[email protected]
–
 
’



. 

’-
ComitéEditorial/AdvisoryBoard
DiwakarACHARYA(KyotoUniversity),
R.BALASUBRAMANIAM(IndianInstituteofTechnology,Kanpur),
NaliniBALBIR(UniversitédeParisIIIetÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudes),
PeterBISSCHOP(EdinburghUniversity),
R.CHAMPAKALAKSHMI(JawaharlalNehruUniversity,retired),
AlexanderDUBIANSKI(MoscowStateUniversity),
ArloGRIFFITHS(Écolefrançaised’Extrême-Orient),
FrançoisGROS(ÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudes),
PascaleHAAG(ÉcoledesHautesÉtudesenSciencesSociales),
OskarvonHINÜBER(UniversitéFreiburgimBreisgau),
JanE.M.HOUBEN(ÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudes),
PadmaKAIMAL(ColgateUniversity),
KeiKATAOKA(KyushuUniversity),
VempatiKUTUMBASASTRY(BanarasHinduUniversity),
R.NAGASWAMY(TamilnaduStateDepartmentofArchaeology,retired),
LeslieORR(ConcordiaUniversity),
AlokaPARASHER-SEN(UniversityofHyderabad),
PierrePICHARD(Écolefrançaised’Extrême-Orient),
HermanTIEKEN(LeidenUniversity).
ComitédeLecture/Evaluation
Lesmembresducomitééditorialfontappelàdesspécialistesdeleurchoix/emembersofthe
advisoryboardcallonexpertsoftheirchoice.
©InstitutFrançaisdePondichéry,(ISBN----)
©Écolefrançaised’Extrême-Orient,(ISBN----)
TypesetbyWillSweetmanusingXELATEX
Cover photo: Title page of the manuscript of the Bibliotheca Malabarica in the Archives of the
FranckeFoundations,Halle(AFSt/MC)
Coverdesign:N.Ravichandran,Pondicherry
PrintedatSriAurobindoAshramPress,Pondicherry
ForKartiChidambaram
ingratefulrecognitionofhisfriendship,hospitality,andsupport

Contents
Introduction 
Ziegenbalg’sencounterwithTamil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
eBibliothecaMalabarica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Ziegenbalg’slibraryafter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
ManuscriptsoftheBibliothecaMalabarica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Ziegenbalg’scollection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Ziegenbalg’slibraryandhisaccountofHinduism . . . . . . . . . . . 
Anoteontheformatoftheedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
BibliothecaMalabarica: textandtranslation 
TamilworksinZiegenbalg’slaterwritings 
MalabarischesHeidenthum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
GenealogiadermalabarischenGötter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Bibliography 
IndexofTamilworks 

Acknowledgements
Researchforthisworkwasmadepossiblebysupportfromanumberofagencies.
IthanktheAlexandervonHumboldtFoundationforafellowshipin–,
during which I began work on the Halle and Copenhagen manuscripts of the
BibliothecaMalabarica. AgrantfromtheUniversityofOtagoenabledthearchival
researchcarriedoutbyR.IlakkuvaninTamilNaduin. Iamgratefultothe
DivisionofHumanities,UniversityofOtago,forsabbaticalleaveforworkinIndia
andEuropeinand,andfortwosmallergrantsinand. Work
ontheSloanemanuscriptintheBritishLibrarywascarriedoutduringtenureof
aSmutsVisitingFellowshipatWolfsonCollege,Cambridge,in–.
Ifthisworkhastakenratherlongertoappearthanwasfirstsuggestedinsome
ofmypromisestothebodieslistedabove,thathasatleastallowedmetobenefit
from the advice and assistance of a number of scholars who have given freely of
their time and expertise. Under Dominic Goodall, the Pondicherry Centre of
theÉcolefrançaised’Extrême-Orientbecameahappyhomefromhomeformany
scholarsfromIndiaandabroad,andwasthebaseformuchoftheresearchreported
here. WheneverIfeltthisprojectmightbenearingcompletion,readingDominic’s
introductiontohiseditionoftheParākhyatantrainspiredmetoaimhigher. Iam
grateful also to M. Kannan at the Institut Français de Pondichéry for his advice
and encouragement over several years. e work of Eva Wilden and Charlotte
Schmid in organising a series of Classical Tamil seminars has been enormously
helpful for many who would otherwise have little or no opportunity to engage
with the language in a formal manner. I am grateful to them and to all those
whotookpartintheseminarsinand. IthankalsoValérieGilletand
Y.SubbarayaluforacceptingthisworkforpublicationintheCollectionIndologie.
Indira Viswanathan Peterson, A. R. Venkatachalapathy, François Gros, Eva
Wilden, and V. Rajesh read and commented on draft versions of the text and I
expressmygratitudetothemallfortheirsuggestedimprovementswhileacknow-
ledging sole responsibility for all the remaining shortcomings. Chalapathy and
EstherFihlinvitedmetopresentmyideasonZiegenbalg’slibraryatasymposium
inCopenhagenorganisedinconnectionwiththeNationalMuseumofDenmark’s
TranquebarInitiativeandIamgratefultothemandtotheotherparticipantsfor
the stimulation and suggestions they provided. I am grateful also to the Royal
AsiaticSocietyofGreatBritainandIreland,andtoitsPresident,GordonJohnson,
for inviting me to address a meeting of the Society in . Michael Bergunder
andGitaDharampal-Frickwereinstrumentalinobtainingsupportforthisproject
initsearlieststages,andIremaingratefultothemfortheircontinuedsupportand
encouragement. IthankSomdevVasudevaforadviceandassistancewiththefont
in which the text is set. Deane Galbraith and Valérie Gillet checked the proofs
meticulouslyandsuggestedanumberofimprovements.
My thanks to the following libraries and archives for allowing access to their
holdings: thearchiveandlibraryoftheFranckeFoundationsinHalle;theRoyal
Library,Copenhagen;theBritishLibrary;theGovernmentOrientalManuscripts
Library,Chennai;theNationalLibraryofFrance;CambridgeUniversityLibrary;
theFrenchInstituteofPondicherry;theSarasvatiMahalLibrary,anjavur;Tamil
University, anjavur. I am grateful to Dr Britta Klosterberg, of the Archive of
theFranckeFoundationinHalle,forpermissiontoreproducethetitlepageofthe
HallemanuscriptoftheBibliothecaMalabarica(AFSt/MC).
Andreas Gross and his family made my many stopovers in Chennai vastly
more pleasant than they would otherwise have been. In Chennai, Pondicherry,
and NewZealandI havebeenfortunate to haveRickWeissas a companion and
collaborator,andhopethatImaylongremainthedakṣina-Rick.
My greatest debts remain to be acknowledged. Alex and Artie have brought
more joy into my life than I could ever have imagined, and have been poorly
repaid by having to hear more of Ziegenbalg than anyone has a right to expect.
R. Ilakkuvan, a scholar to his bones, is also a true devotee of Tamil, and this
workwouldnotremotelyhavebeenpossiblewithouthisdiligentarchivalresearch
andpatientguidance. KartiChidambaram,afriendforalmosttwodecadesnow,
has been a generous host since my very first visit to India and also sponsored
the doctoral research of R. Ilakkuvan at a period when other support was not
forthcoming. isworkisdedicatedtohimintokenofourjointappreciation.
WillSweetman