Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert (Stuttgart, 4 February 1814 – 25 April 1893 in Calw, Germany) was a German missionary and scholar, who compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam (1859), the first Malayalam-English dictionary (1872), and translated the Bible into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India. Gundert also contributed to the fields of history, geography and astronomy.[1] The archives of information he collected from Tellicherry are kept in the Tuniberg University, Germany and were collected and compiled by the scholar Dr Skaria Zacharia as Thalassery Rekhakal.[2]
Hermann Gundert obtained a doctoral degree in philology from Tübingen. In Kerala, he took a deep interest in the local culture and the Malayalam language, attempting a systematic grammar of the language. This was one of the prominent non-Sanskrit-based approaches to Indic grammar. Gundert considered Malayalam to have diverged from Proto-Tamil–Malayalam, or Proto-Dravidian. Apart from the early inscriptions found on copper and stone, Gundert traced Malayalam to the Rāma Charitam, a poem predating the Sanskrit alphabet.[3]
Gundert is held in high regard to this day among linguistic experts in Kerala for the high scholastic aptitude exhibited in his work. His dictionary has been described as "monumental" in a review of the work on Dravidian languages.[4]
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Though as a child he was obstinate and presumptuous, all this changed at the age of 13, believed to be because of his sister's death. In 1831 he was able to obtain a degree from the University and then Doctor of Philosophy from Switzerland.[5]
He left Germany at the age of 22 for missionary work in Calcutta (Kolkata) India. While travelling in the ship he mastered Bengali, Hindustani and Telegu languages. Instead of Calcutta he reached Madras (Chennai) in 1836. There he learned Tamil. He worked in Chittor and Tirunelveli. While he was there he published a book in Tamil. Then he joined the Basel Mission and went to Mangalore for missionary work. But on his way to Mangalore he passed through Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) and had an audience with His Highness Sree Swathi Thirunal Maharaja , the ruler of Travancore. Most probably it was here he heard Malayalam for the first time.[5]
In 1838 he reached Mangalore but by April 1839 he moved to Illikunnu near Thalassery. At first when he moved to Illikunnu he was interested only in spreading the Gospel among others. Then he was a school inspector for two years in Malayalam-Karnataka region. At Illikunnu he lived for 20 years.[5]
While he was there, Malayalam language was taught by Ooracheri Gurukkanmar from Chokli, a village near Thalassery. He helped him to write the first Malayalam Dictionary.
In 1839, the year in which he moved to Thalassery, he married Eulia de Bova, whom he had known for many years.[5]
At first when he moved to Illikunnu near Thalassery, he was interested in spreading the Gospel among others. During this period he published around thirteen books in Malayalam including a translation of the Bible, Old Testament from Hebrew and New Testament from Greek.[5]
| Year published | Transiteration | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1843 | Keralolpathi | Origin of Kerala | |
| 1845 | Pazhancholmala | String of Malayalam proverbs | |
| 1851 | Malayala Bhasha Viyakaranam | Malayalam Grammar | |
| 1860 | Paathamala | First school text in Malayalam | |
| 1868 | Kerala pazhama | 33 years history of kerala from the time of arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 | |
| 1879 | Malayalarajyam | Geography of Kerala | |
| 1847 June | Rajya Samacharam | Newspaper, News of the Kingdom | |
| 1879 October | Paschimodayam | Magazine, Rise of the west |
He spent his working years at Calw. During this time he published in German four publications including a children’s newspaper. In 1855 his wife died. Even before that his son Samuel Gundert died. Due to dropsy, by 1890 Dr. Gundert was bed ridden and on April 25, 1893 he died.[5]
Though Gundert came to Kerala as a missionary, he is remembered today mainly for his literary contributions. In Thalassery (Tellicherry), people have honored him by a statue in the city.
He was the grandfather of Hermann Hesse, German novelist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. There is a bungalow in Thalassery where he used to stay when he was there, where the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) is now situated.
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