
The introduction and early development of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
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 ...
is attributed to
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
propaganda and the endeavours of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. Among the pioneers in this arena, maximum attention is claimed by the
Jesuit missionaries
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
, followed by the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
Fathers and Hindu
Pandits. Once the immigrants realized the importance of the local language, they began to disseminate their religious teachings through that medium, in effect ushering in the vernacular print culture in India. The first
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 ...
booklet was printed in 1554 (11 February) in
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 ...
- ''Cartilha em lingoa Tamul e Portugues'' in Romanized Tamil script by Vincente de Nazareth, Jorge Carvalho and Thoma da Cruz, all from the
Paravar
Paravar (also known as Bharathar or Bharathakula Kshatriyar) is a predominantly Catholic Tamil maritime community, mainly living in the state of Tamil Nadu, and in Sri Lanka. Historically, they were inhabitants of the ''Neithal'' (coastal) lands ...
community of
Tuticorin
Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the district. ...
.
These developments took place at a time when other locations such as
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 ...
were still confined to the use of copper plates and stone inscriptions. This book was printed earlier than the first printed and dated books of Russia (1563), Africa (1624) and Greece (1821).
Henriques and the sixteenth century

The appearance of Tamil in print, both in Roman transliteration and in its native script was the result of the convergence between
colonial expansion and local politics, coupled with the beginnings of the
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 ...
'Madurai Mission' led, among others, by a
Portuguese Jesuit
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 ...
,
Henrique Henriques who arrived on the Fishery Coast (
Tuticorin
Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the district. ...
) in 1547. During his stay Henriques produced five different books in the Tamil script and language, printed at various
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 ...
settlements on the west coast. He also compiled a Tamil Grammar and a Tamil Dictionary, which, though never printed, were widely used by other Europeans. Graham Shaw speaks of Henriques as, "the first great European Scholar of any Indian language" (
Stuart Blackburn).
Around 1575 Henriques was relieved of his
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
duties on the east coast and moved to
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 ...
where he began to prepare his texts. Henriques was there assisted by Father Pedro Luis, a local Brahman
convert, who entered the
Jesuit order
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...
in 1562. The stage was finally set when Tamil types were cast in Goa by João Gonçalves (perfected by Father João de Faria in
Kollam
Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the List of cities and towns in Kerala, fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake ...
), with the assistance of Luis.
In 1577 the first of the Henriques’ five books, ''
Doctrina Christam en Lingua Malauar Tamul (Thambiran Vanakkam)'' was printed in Goa. The book was the first book printed with Indian type. Although some scholars refuse to consider this as a historical fact, Graham Shaw seems convinced that it was printed. The second printed Tamil book was only 16 pages long, but a third Catechism of 127 pages, a Tamil translation of the popular Portuguese text by Marcos Jorge, was printed again with new type in
Cochin
Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...
on November 14, 1579. Three
Catechism
A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
s were printed with three sets of type, at three different locations on the west coast over the following three years. Henriques’ two other books printed at
Punnaikayal
Punnaikkayal (called Punicale by the Portuguese), is a harbour city in Tamil Nadu, India.
Punnaikkayal seems to have been the main Portuguese possession on the southern Coast of India for a period of 50 years after their arrival from 1551, when ...
were:
# A Confessionary (''Confessionairo'') 1580 (214 pages)
# Lives of Saints (''
Flos Sanctorum''), 1586 (669 pages)
Roberto De Nobili and the seventeenth century
In the 17th century, Tamil books were printed at
Ambalakad with type made in Rome. Only five in number and printed within a space of two years, these books might be called the second phase of Tamil printing. There were five books but only two texts. The first was
Roberto De Nobili
Roberto de Nobili (1577 – 16 January 1656) was an Italian priest, a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who worked as a missionary in Southern India. He used novel methods to preach Christianity, adopting many local customs of India whi ...
’s
Catechism
A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
, ''Nanopatecam'', printed posthumously in three volumes: Volume 1 in 1677 followed by Volumes 2 and 3 in 1678. The second text was Antem De Proenca’s ''Tamil-Portuguese Dictionary'' of 1679.
Unlike Henriques,
Roberto de Nobili
Roberto de Nobili (1577 – 16 January 1656) was an Italian priest, a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who worked as a missionary in Southern India. He used novel methods to preach Christianity, adopting many local customs of India whi ...
did not translate a Portuguese text into Tamil, instead he wrote his own manual, so that he might emphasize the hidden truths of the new faith.
Ziegenbalg and printing in Tranquebar
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (24 June 1683 – 23 February 1719) was a member of the Lutheran clergy and the first Pietist missionary to India.
Early life
Ziegenbalg was born in Pulsnitz, Saxony, on 24 July 1683 in a devout Christian family. His ...
was the pioneer in the setup of a
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
at Madras. In South India the printing press had been established as early as 1578, but printing activities came to an end owing to a gradual decline in the religious zeal of successive generations of missionaries. Tamil printing stopped after 1612, as the numerous writings of Nobili and Manoel Martin lay unpublished in 1649 and 1660. There were some attempts to revive printing, but they proved short-lived. For instance, there is a reference to a Latin–Tamil grammar by Father Beschi, a Sanskrit scholar, having been printed at Ziegenbalg’s press.
Ziegenbalg explained in a number of letters that the books prepared in the Malabar language, to help in the propagation of the
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
faith, were initially written in Portuguese and then translated into the “Malabarick Language” with the help of Indian assistants. In the absence of a printing press the books that had been prepared up until then had to be transcribed by hand. This proved to be a slow, laborious and expensive process. With the objective of facilitating a wider and faster dissemination of Christian literature, Ziegenbalg in his letter of August 22, 1708, put forth a demand for a “Malabarick and Portuguese printing press”. In the meantime, Ziegenbalg devoted considerable attention to collecting
manuscripts
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...
of Indian literature, as this would help him to understand the old beliefs of the Hindus which he proposed to refute.
In a letter written in 1708, Ziegenbalg speaks of 26
sermons
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. E ...
delivered by him at the church of
Tranquebar
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar (, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kaveri River. It wa ...
and two vocabularies of Malabar language prepared by him. The first consisted of 26,000 words in common use, and had three columns, the first giving the word in Malabar characters, the second its
transliteration
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...
and the third its meaning in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
. The second contained words used in poetry. For this work Ziegenbalg was assisted by Indian scholars and poets who remained at his house for four months.
Ziegenbalg was keenly aware that to attain his object he needed a printing press. He made repeated demands for a press in his letters of April–June 1709. The
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Christians, Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christians, Christian faith in the Un ...
, set up in the 1690s, came forward to help under the recommendation of the Rev. A. W. Boehme (the German chaplain to
Prince George of Denmark
Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (; 2 April 165328 October 1708), was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708.
...
). In 1711 the society sent the mission some copies of the Bible in Portuguese as well as a printing press with
pica types
Pica or PICA may refer to:
Biology
* Pica (disorder), an abnormal appetite for earth and other non-foods
* Posterior inferior cerebellar artery, a major artery supplying blood to the cerebellum
Organisms
* ''Aechmea'' 'Pica', a cultivar of the ...
and other accessories along with a printer to operate it. The ship was held up by the French near
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and the printer Jones Finck was arrested but later released. Finck soon succumbed to fever near the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...
. The printing press reached India in 1712 unaccompanied by its operator. The press, however, started functioning with the help of a German printer–cum–compositor.
Malabar characters were obtained from Europe. A letter dated April 7, 1713, contains a list of 32 books in the Malabar language, original works as well as translations, and 22 books in Portuguese prepared by the missionaries. It is stated that the books in the Malabar language included a vocabulary written on paper and another written on
palm leaves.
According to a letter of January 3, 1714, the work of printing the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
in Tamil had already begun. Another letter of September 27, 1714, states that, "The
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...
and Acts of the
Apostles
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...
" was already printed. Reportedly, this is the oldest Tamil book printed at Tranquebar, a copy of which is available at the
Serampore
Serampore (also called Serampur, Srirampur, Srirampore, Shreerampur, Shreerampore, Shrirampur or Shrirampore) is a city in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Srirampore subdivision. It is a part ...
College Library. From 1715 onwards with the completion of the New Testament, printing activity in Tamil commenced in full swing. In 1715 Ziegenbalg wrote a concise grammar of the Malabar language for use by Europeans and had it printed by 1716. A copy of this book also exists at the Serampore College Library.
Ziegenbalg and his collaborators aimed at spreading their printed work all over India. Consequently, their marketing strategies cajoled them to produce
almanacs
An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...
which were quite scarce in the country. A ''Sheet Almanac'' was printed and sold on the coast of
Coromandel
Coromandel may refer to:
Places India
*Coromandel Coast, India
** Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements
**Dutch Coromandel
* Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India
New Zealand
*Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula
*Cor ...
as well as in Malabar and Bengal.
Constanzo G. Beschi

Parallel to printing efforts by the Protestant missionaries at
Tranquebar
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar (, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kaveri River. It wa ...
or Tarangampãdi, the growth of the Jesuit missionary
Constanzo Beschi
Constantine Joseph Beschi (8 November 1680 – 4 February 1747), also known under his Tamil name of ''Vīramāmunivar'', was an Italian Jesuit priest, missionary in South India, and Tamil language littérateur.
Early years
Born in Castiglione ...
(Viramãmunivar; Constantine Joseph Beschi 1680–1747) was equally significant in revolutionizing the face of Tamil print and literature. The difference in the Christian beliefs of the respective cults gave rise to rigorous disputes and theological debates, which on many occasions even led to violent conflicts resulting in injuries and death. These disputes were carried on by the Lutherans through "printed books and pamphlets", whereas Beschi (due to lack of a Jesuit-owned printing press) mainly concentrated on writing influential pieces of literature. Although printing in Tamil was introduced by the Jesuits, by the eighteenth century the scenario had changed and the domain of the press came to be majority controlled and cultivated by the Protestants. Beschi's efforts in a place populated with thousands of
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 ...
converts (mainly
Tanjore
Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore,#Pletcher, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian c ...
and
Travancore
The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...
), grew to become an "alarming", "arrogant" and "formidable" rival to the already sprawling missionary activities of the Protestant fathers. One particular reason for Beschi's popularity was, as Blackburn observes, his "Romanish compromises with local customs". In the books of Muttusami Pillai (Beschi's Tamil biographer), he is frequently portrayed as a traditional Eastern or
Oriental
The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world.
In English, it is largely a meto ...
king, adorned with ornate jewellery and chandan on his forehead. Beschi was reportedly favoured by the local rulers, especially Chanda Sahib whom he had served diwan to, thereby making it easier for him to master the language. He was intelligent enough to adopt such means which would undoubtedly benefit him in ways more than one.
Contrary to this image, Beschi has also been examined as a magical Indian "poet-saint" with extraordinary literary skills and persuasion prowess. Beschi's written works constituted the substructure of modern Tamil literary acculturation. According to sources, Beschi wrote more than twenty books :– dictionaries,
epic poetry
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard t ...
, prose collections, grammar, folklore. His major prose essay was ''Veta Vilakkam'' which ran to 250 pages. The first
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
Tamil grammar printed in India is also credited to Beschi. He composed various interlingual dictionaries: ''Tamil-Latin'', ''Latin-Tamil-Portuguese'', and ''Tamil-French'' and most importantly the four-way
lexicon
A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
''Tamil-Tamil'' ''Catur-Agarati'' which comprised meanings, synonyms, rhymes, etc. This book was not printed before 1824. Although it cannot be assumed that his works were well accepted and appreciated by the Protestants, as Blackburn comments, the rival camp unbiasedly “admired Beschi’s literary skills - they printed one of his grammars and another of his books (''Vetiyar Olukkam'', A Manual for Catechists) became standard reading for them by the nineteenth century…”. Beschi's ''Parramarta Kuruvin Kattai'' or ''Guru Simpleton'' was the first printed book of Tamil
folktale
Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...
.
Guru Simpleton
Beschi's ''Guru Simpleton'' (which occupies a status similar to The Arabian Nights or The Panchatantra in Tamil culture) is a blend of the oral tradition of Tamil folklore and the European story form, wrapped in the author's imaginative faculty. Although Beschi had completed its composition (along with a preface) by 1776, the book was not published singularly until 1822 in London. Records show that Beschi wrote the Tamil version first and later translated it into Latin. Although Beschi claimed that the sole purpose of the book was to disseminate amusement and humour among both locals and missionaries, Blackburn mentions that the author was most probably yearning for something more than that – “this was a plea for a Jesuit patron, somewhere outside India, to underwrite the publication of his dictionary and folktale”, as print was a more reliable medium to “demonstrate correct spelling” than local
scribes
A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing.
The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as secretarial and ...
and copyists.
Printed oral tales in Tamil
In the history of print in early nineteenth-century India there were an enormous number of books of
oral literature
Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used v ...
, especially folktales published. Between 1800 and 1835 most printed books in Tamil(dictionaries and grammars aside) were collections of oral tales. Well known literary texts, such as ''Tirrukkural'' and ''Nalatiyar'', also appeared in print, but these classical texts were outnumbered by books of oral tales. The first of these was ''Vikkiramatittan'' ''Katai'', a collection of folktales in the framework of a literary tale which appeared in 1804, followed by the ''Catamuka Ravanan Katai'' in 1808; the ''Mariyatai Raman Katai'' and ''Tamilariyum Mantai Katai'' in 1812; the ''Pururava Cakravarti Katai'' in 1819; the ''Katamantacari'', a collection of oral tales in 1820; the Tamil – English bilingual publication of ''Paramartta Kuruvin Katai'' (''Guru Simpleton'') in 1822 (in London); a Tamil ''Pancatantra'' in 1826; the ''Katacintamani'', another collection of oral tales, in 1833; and translations of tales from English, French and
Aesop
Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...
by the 1850s. Some of these books are still available today.
Printing by Pundits
A number of early Tamil print publishing houses were set up by the pundits in the 1830s in Madras. These establishments played a significant role in the consolidation of the commercial printing world. They were also involved in public–politics, the anti–missionary movement in Georgetown, for instance. Pundits who were educated at the College Fort of St George and some who were not, used the text-making skills they learned from the Europeans in setting up of their own presses at Madras.
The rise of the pundit - presses saw growth during the 1830s with Kalvi Vilakkam, the joint venture of Charavanaperumal Aiyar and Vichakaperumal Aiyar in 1834. The press functioned till the 1850s producing more than 50 books. This was followed by the Sarasvati Press (1835) of Tiruvenkatachala Mutaliar, and Kalvi Kalanchiyam set up in 1839 by Umapati Mutaliar and his three brothers. These presses quickly became associated with movements in deflecting the missionaries as they started voicing the sentiments of certain sections of the Hindu community.
Arumuka Navalar
Arumuka Navalar
Arumuka Navalar (; 18 December 1822 – 5 December 1879) was a Sri Lankan Shaivite Tamil language scholar and a religious reformer who was central in reviving native Hindu Tamil traditions in Sri Lanka and India.
Navalar's birth name was N ...
spearheaded the Saivism cult both in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
and in Tamil Nadu. He was the guardian of pure and pristine Saiva tradition. He established a number of schools for Tamil and Saivism and printing presses at
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...
,
Chidambaram
Chidambaram is a major town and municipality in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the banks of the Vellar River where it meets the Bay of Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Chidambaram taluk. The town is believed to b ...
and
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 ...
. He was the most fluent Tamil speaker and writer of his generation. At the age of 27, Arumugam was conferred the title of “Navalar”, the eloquent.
In the context of printing, Arumuka Navalar or Arumuga Navalar was an editor of old Tamil texts. Among his editions the most important are Mantalapurutar's lexicon ''cutamani nikantu'' with commentary (first printed in 1849), the standard medieval grammar ''
Nannūl'' with a commentary (1851), the early devotional poem ''
Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai
''Tirumurukātṟuppatai'' (, meaning ''Guide to Lord Murugan'') is an ancient devotional Tamil poem in the Sangam literature genre entirely dedicated to the god Murugan. Murugan is described as the nephew of the god Vishnu, who is called M ...
'',
Manikkavacakar
Manikkavacakar was a 3rd-century Tamil saint and poet who wrote '' Thiruvasagam and Thirukkovaiyar'', books of Shaiva hymns. Tamil scholars and researchers share that he was a minister to the Pandya king Nedunjeliyan II (3rd Century CE) and li ...
’s great devotional poems ''
Tiruvacakam
''Thiruvasagam'' () is a volume of Tamil language, Tamil hymns composed by the 3rd century Shaivite ''bhakti'' poet Manikkavasagar. It contains 51 compositions and constitutes the eighth volume of the Tirumurai, the sacred anthology of the Tami ...
'' and ''tirukkovaiyar'', the text of ''
Tirukkuṛaḷ
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 ...
'' with
Parimelazhagar
Parimelalhagar (), sometimes spelled Parimelazhagar, born Vanduvarai Perumal, was a Tamil language, Tamil poet and scholar known for his Literary criticism, commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was the last among the canon of Ten Medieval Comm ...
’s detailed gloss in 1861.
Arumuga Navalar apparently introduced few novel features in the area of Tamil editing. He was probably the first to use punctuation marks like the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation mark. He produced the first “split” complex sandhi forms to facilitate reading and comprehension.
Madras School Book Society
The
Calcutta School-Book Society was established under the patronage of the
Marquis of Hastings in 1817. Soon after a similar society was set up in Madras. The association in South India soon languished, and for many years it virtually ceased to exist. It was revived around 1850, when prizes were offered for the best school book on specified subjects. Several new publications were thus secured of which, The History of India by H. Morris Esq., was very successful.
The publications of the Madras School Book Society being chiefly used in Government Schools such that religious sentiments were adapted accordingly. The committee of the Madras Tract Society issued some books with Christian elements intended specially for mission schools Classified catalogue of Tamil printed books, with introductory notices. Though reading books of the Madras School Book society were prepared with special reference to the government schools, the committee was not restricted to non–Christian publications. The Rev. A.R. Symonds suggested that the society should make an effort to provide wholesome and attractive literature. Prizes were also offered for the best translation of
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...
.
Printing in Sri Lanka
Sheikh Mustafa from Beruwala who published his work 'Mizan Malai'
Arwi
Arwi ( ) or Arabu-Tamil (, is an Arabic-influenced dialect of the Tamil language written with an extension of the Arabic alphabet, with extensive lexical and phonetic influences from the Arabic language. Arwi has been used extensively by the ...
poem book in 1868.
Vepery Press

Madras was the foremost seat of printing among the “colonial metropolises”. The
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Christians, Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christians, Christian faith in the Un ...
(SPCK) was set up at Vepery (situated just outside Madras) in 1726 by Benjamin Schultz. This new venture (Vepery mission) was just an extension of the Tranquebar mission. Earlier in 1712, a printing press enabled with Tamil and Telugu typefaces was provided by the SPCK for publishing activities at Tranquebar, on repeated appeals by Ziegenbalg. This press mostly dealt with smaller publications like ''A General Description Of Malabar Heathendom'', ''Four Gospels And Acts'', and ''Accursed Heathendom'' which were usually antagonistic to Hindu beliefs and principles. It also printed the translated version of the New Testament in 1715. When the English army under Sir Eyre Coote attacked the French colony of Pondicherry in 1761 they seized the printing press from the governor's house along with its typefaces (which were a “prize catch” for them ) and the printer, Delon and transferred it to Madras. Nonetheless
Johann Phillip Fabricius, a well-known Tamil scholar convinced Coote to hand over the press, only on agreement that the printing demands of
Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress at the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
would be given maximum importance. In 1762 itself, the SPCK press published a calendar and several Tamil books, “pre-dating the books printed in Calcutta and Bombay at least by a decade”.
By 1766, Vepery got its own press supplemented with its own print equipment. Therefore, the presses confiscated from
Pondicherry
Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...
were returned to Fort St George, which led to the establishment of the Government Press in Mount Road. The Vepery Press was renamed as the SPCK Press;
Johann Philipp Fabricius being its managerial head, who composed and printed a Tamil book on Catechism (1766) with typefaces cut in Germany (
Halle). By the next decade typecases were produced by the SPCK Press itself and they lasted until the 1870s. Books printed included Fabricius's ''Translation of the New Testament'' (1772); his ''Dictionary of Tamil and English'', based on Ziegenbalg's ''Malabar English Dictionary''(1779) which came out 100 years after Antão da Proença's ''Tamil-Portuguese Dictionary'' of 1679; and ''Oru Paratecyin Punyacaritram'' (a translation of Bunyan's ''
Pilgrims Progress'' (1793). This press was sold to the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...
(the American Board Mission or ABM) in Çintadaripet in the mid 19th century. When the ABM left India in 1886 the press was reacquired by the SPCK–Diocesan committee and renamed the Diocesan Press that still exists today, almost 250 years later, as the CLS Press.
Notes
References
*Stuart Blackburn (2004)
"The Burden of Authenticity"''India's Literary History: Essays on the Nineteenth Century''
*Stuart Blackburn (2006)
"Beschi and the Lutherans" ''Print Folklore and Nationalism in Colonial South India'']
*A.K. Priolkar. ''The Printing Press in India''
*J.B. Prashant More (2004)
''Muslim Identity, Print Culture and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil Nadu''*
Rimi B. Chatterjee"Outlines of a Discipline : Book History in India"''Paradise: new worlds of books and readers'' (2007)
*J. Murdoch.
Classified Catalogue of Tamil Printed books, with introductory notes' (1865)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Printing In Tamil Language
Cultural history of Tamil Nadu
Printing in India
History of printing
Jesuit Asia missions
Economy of Tamil Nadu