Gundert and more (BH: D279)

May 11, 2012

The front pages of the two main Malayalam dailies was rather revealing this morning. Eminent author Zachariah has bemoaned the utter "selling out" of Malayalam media to the god called profit. He illustrates the seismic shift of the media's loyalty from to the people to the profit. Today's Manorama had all its headlines in the front page featuring murders except one which was about an accident death. So much violence and misfortune in page 1 on a Friday, I double checked if it was the 13th. 

No violence in the front page of Mathrubhumi newspaper though. In fact, no news at all. Full page ad glittering in gold. An advertisement about the latest branch opening of a leading jewelry. So there you have it, violence and gold, two things that sell aplenty in Kerala today.

Saving myself from the newspaper, I walked with Dr. Sreedhara Menon's book. I have 3-4 more chapters to go in it. Today's lesson was on Mr. Hermann Gundert, the 19th century traveler and scholar who is credited with the first model dictionary in Malayalam. 

Gundert was born in Germany and started his career in England. By the time he reached south India as a protestant missionary, he already knew 18 languages. He was quick to add Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu to that list. From Thirunelvelli, he traveled to Mangalore via Travancore before settling down in Malabar. 

Before listing the grand achievements of Gundert, I will briefly recap the major contributions to Malayalam from foreigners as mentioned by Dr. Menon. Jesuit priest Arnos who came to Kerala in 1699 was the first to contribute a dictionary and grammar book for the language. Another grammar helper by Angelo Francis in 1712. In the second half of 18th century, a missionary named Clement prepared a dictionary geared towards missionaries. He also created "Samkshepavedardham" (Concise Biblical Meaning) in 1722. Printed in Rome, this was the first book to be type set in Malayalam. 

The first travelogue in Malayalam was "Varthamana pustakam" by Paremmakil Thomakathanar published in the second half of 18th century. An Austrian priest named Barthelomew who lived in Varapuzha from 1777 to 1789 wrote "Thressiacharitham" (Story of Teresa, poetry) and "Kudashapustakam" (Book of Prayers, prose)

Gundert Malayalam Grammar book came out in 1851. From 1836 to 1859 he was in India, out of which the later twenty years were in Kerala. He passed away in Germany in 1893 at a ripe old age of 80. 

Gundert has 21 books to his credit in Malayalam. Majority of them were religious in nature. Even while writing mostly Christian works, he has to his credit "Muhammad Chairtam" on the life of Prophet Mohamed and "Nalacharitha Parishodana", an book based on the Hindu myth. Gundert also published the first compilation of Malayalam proverbs. His grammar book remains till date a wonderful helper for students of the language. 

Oldest newspapers in Kerala are also credited to Gundert. He started two of them in 1847. "Rajyasamacharam" was meant for missionary news while "Paschimodayam" contained articles on Kerala culture, history and geography, most of them written by the editor himself. These articles have been compiled into three books: Keralapazhama, Keralolpathi and Malayalarajyam.

Prof. Menon mentions that Kerala Sahitya Academy is working on the translation Gundert's detailed diary whose existence came to light only in 1986. I would like to find out where that project stands. 

The Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and the European missionaries who followed them here are undoubtedly responsible for large scale plunder of this land. But there were plenty of men like Gundert who enriched lives and culture here. The tragedy is that today we have elected leaders who not only continue the plunder of this land but also progressively ruin its culture and heritage.

Neighborhood is in a festive mood again. Our neighbor's daughter is getting married on Sunday. Illuminations and feasting as usual. I remember the day she was brought home as a baby. I remember the days she learnt to speak. Their car, like most Indian cars in those days, had an obnoxious warning voice that shrieked for attention (with a please thrown in) whenever the car was backing up. In her words, it was saying, "Athatha Pee, Dikar e baakina"I didn't recognize her when I saw her last August after a gap of 16 years. She is only 21 but her mother was super worried by some astrologer dropping the "now or very late" standard scare tactic. 

It is raining heavily this evening. The TV volume level required to make the program audible can be used as a good measure of the rain. Usually our TV volume is set to 5. Today's rain was an 8. It had rained heavily the day before the day before my sister's wedding as well.

If you haven't tried a hot, lime Sulaimani tea after spicy chicken biriyani dinner while enjoying the rain on an electricity-less late evening, you are missing out on a singular pleasure in the magnificent time-space fabric of life in this universe.