Constantine Joseph Beschi (8 November 1680 – 4 February 1747), also known under his

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

name of ''Vīramāmunivar'', was an Italian

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, missionary in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, and Tamil language littérateur.

Early years

Born in

Castiglione delle Stiviere Castiglione delle Stiviere ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Mantua, in Lombardy, Italy, northwest of Mantua by road. History The town's castle was home to a cadet branch of the House of Gonzaga, headed by the Marq ...

, in the district of Mantua, in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, on 8 November 1680, Beschi got his secondary education in the Jesuits' High School at

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

, which taught rhetoric, humanities and grammar. After becoming a Jesuit in 1698, he was trained in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

and

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, studying philosophy for three years from 1701–1703 in Bologna, and theology for four years from 1706–1710. His studies also included

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, French, Portuguese,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. He was ordained as a priest in 1709. On hearing about the work done in India by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

returning to Italy from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Beschi was eager to come to India. He requested and obtained permission from

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

Michelangelo Tamburini Michelangelo Tamburini (27 September 1648 – 28 February 1730) was an Italian Jesuit, who was elected fourteenth Superior General of the Society of Jesus from January 31, 1706 to February 28, 1730. After teaching Scholastic philosophy Sc ...

to be sent to the Jesuit mission at Madurai in South India. Sailing from

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

he reached

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

in October 1710, from where he proceeded immediately to South India. He arrived in

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

in May 1711.

In South India

Inspired by what was done in China, Beschi adopted the native Tamilians' lifestyle in his life and in his missionary work. For example, he adopted the

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of '' Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent ...

coloured robe generally worn by a ''

sannyasi ''Sannyasa'' (), sometimes spelled ''sanyasa'', is the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' ashramas'', the first three being ''brahmacharya'' (celibate student), '' grihastha'' (householder) and '' vanaprastha ...

'' (Indian ascetic). He visited several important centres such as

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

Ramanathapuram Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a city Municipal Corporation in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) ...

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of southern Indian religion, art ...

and,Madurai to learn the

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

. He also studied

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and Telugu. He met with persecution in 1714–15 and escaped a death sentence. This gave him more time to master the Tamil language in which he soon showed great proficiency.Because of his boldness in defending the correctness of his convictions, he was fondly called ''Dhairiyanathar'' (The Fearless Guru). During the first six years, he worked as a missionary in Elakurichy, a town near Tiruvaiyaru, Ariyalur district. Then he served as parish priest in Kamanayakkanpatti, one of the oldest Christian community in Tamil Nadu. He worked in the Thanjavur area till 1738 and settled in 1740 on the

Coromandel coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

where he remained till the end of his life. He helped build the Poondi Matha Basilica at Poondi near Thanjavur, Vyagula Matha Church at Thanjavur, The Perianayagi Madha Shrine, Konankuppam at Mugasaparur in Konankuppam, and Adaikala Maadha Shrine at Elakurichi. These churches are now Catholic pilgrim centres. He died at Ambalakaadu in Thrissur,

Kingdom of Cochin The kingdom of Cochin or the Cochin State, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It originated in the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until i ...

(now a part of the state of Kerala), and is buried at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Sampaloor, where his tomb can be seen.

Robert Caldwell Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a British missionary and linguist. A missionary for the London Missionary Society, he arrived in Company Raj, British India at age 24, and studied the local language to spread the word of the ...

, one of the eminent Tamil linguists and historians, in his book 'A Political and General History of Tinnevelly (Tirunelveli) in the Presidency of Madras: From the Earliest Period to the Cession to the English Government in AD 1801' opines that, based on the writings of his biographer and the letters written to Europe at the same time, "It is certain from authentic records that Beschi was "Rector" of Manapar (present Manapad) in 1744 and that he died there in 1746. This was in the 66th year of his age and the 40th of his residence in India. It is very probable that Manapar was the first place in the Tamil country where Beschi resided after he left Goa, in consequence of which he might naturally wish to end his days there." He, in the same book (page 243) further states that his body was laid in rest in the oldest church of Manapad which has been now completely buried in the sand.

Contribution to Tamil literature

Constantine compiled the first Tamil lexicon - a Tamil-Latin dictionary. He also compiled the comprehensive ''Chaturakarati'' (சதுரகராதி), a quadruple lexicon containing words, synonyms, and categories of words and rhymes. Beschi also composed two other Tamil grammars and three dictionaries, covering Tamil-Latin, Tamil-Portuguese and Tamil-Tamil. He translated and explained in Latin the "

Thirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

", an epic poem of

Thiruvalluvar Thiruvalluvar commonly known as Valluvar, was a Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the '' Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love. The text is considered an e ...

. This Latin work was an eye opener for European intellectuals, enabling them to discover truth and beauty in Tamil literature. He also translated into European languages several other important Tamil literary works such as ''Devaaram'' (தேவாரம்), ''Thiruppugazh'' (திருப்புகழ்), ''Nannool'' (நன்னூல்) and ''Aaththichoodi'' (ஆத்திசூடி). Besides composing literary Tamil Grammar work, he also wrote a grammar for the common use of Tamil (Urai nadai illakkiyam - உரை நடை இலக்கியம்), which at times led to him being referred to as the 'Father of Tamil Prose'. Earlier Tamil scripts were written without the

tittle The tittle or superscript dot is the dot on top of lowercase ''i'' and ''j''. In English writing the tittle is a diacritic which only appears as part of these glyphs, but diacritic dots can appear over other letters in various languages. In mos ...

(புள்ளி) for consonants, and the symbol ர was used to indicate long vowels. It was Veeramamunivar who introduced the system of dotting the Tamil consonants (க், ங், ச், ... ) and writing the long vowels as ஆ instead of அர, கா instead of கர, etc. His biggest poetical work is the '' Thembavani'' (தேம்பாவணி - The Unfading Garland - an ornament of poems as sweet as honey), 3615 stanzas long on

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

history and the life of

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

. It was presented for ratification as a classic in the Academy of Poets and received their approval and the poet was given the title Veeramanunivar (The Courageous Ascetic) He also wrote a ''prabandham'' (a ''minor'' literature) called ''Kaavalur Kalambagam'' (காவலூர் கலம்பகம்), a grammatical treatise called ''Thonnool'' (தொன்னூல்), a guide book for catechists with the title ''Vedhiyar Ozukkam'' (வேதியர் ஒழுக்கம்), and ''Paramarthaguruvin Kadhai'' (பரமார்த்த குருவின் கதை - ''The Adventures of Guru Paramartha''), a satirical piece on a naive religious teacher and his equally obtuse disciples. His prose works include polemical writings against the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

missionaries and didactic religious books for the instruction of Catholics.

Recognition

In 1968, the State of Tamil Nadu erected a statue for Beschi on the

Marina beach Marina Beach, or simply the Marina, is a natural urban beach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, along the Bay of Bengal. The beach runs from near Fort St. George in the north to Foreshore Estate in the south, a distance of , making it the second longest ...

in the city of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

as a recognition for his contribution to Tamil language and literature. A tablet was installed in his native place Castiglione delle Stiviere in 1980 to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Beschi. In it, it is mentioned that Beschi is called the

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

of the Tamil language. The fifth world Tamil Congress held at

in January 1981 erected his statue in the city of Madras.

References

* Giachi, G.: ''L'India divenna la sua terra'', Milan. 1981. * Sorrentino, A:: ''L'altra perla dell'India'', Bologna, 1980.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beschi, Constanzo 1680 births 1747 deaths People from Castiglione delle Stiviere 18th-century Italian Jesuits 18th-century Indian Jesuits Italian Indologists Tamil-language writers Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Non-native Tamil poets Roman Catholic missionaries in India Jesuit missionaries in India Italian expatriates in India Italian emigrants to India Indian people of Italian descent Tamil–Latin translators People from the Kingdom of Cochin Translators of the Tirukkural into Latin Tirukkural translators 18th-century Italian translators Italian missionary linguists Christianity in Tamil Nadu Christianity in Kerala Christian clergy from Kochi