Samkshepa Vedartham (in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

: സംക്ഷേപവേദാർത്ഥം; full title in Malayalam: നസ്രാണികൾ ഒക്കേക്കും അറിയേണ്ടുന്ന സംക്ഷേപവേദാർത്ഥം; full title in

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 ...

: Compendiosa legis explanatio omnibus Christianis scitu necessaria Malabarico idiomate) is the first book in

language ever to be printed. Malayalam language is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, is spoken by at least 35 million people in India and has been designated as a classical language of India. ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' is basically a

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 ...

book written in the question-answer format. It was authored by Clemente Peani (1731–1782), also known as Clemens Peanius, who was a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

who reached Kerala in 1757 and spent several years there as a

Christian missionary A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

. The book was printed in the year 1772 in Rome using movable types. Peanius had to cut as many as 1128 letter types for printing the book. Peani is also the author of another book titled " Alphabetum grandonico-malabaricum sive samscrudonicum" printed in Rome in 1772 dealing with the Malayalam alphabet. This latter book is a book written in Latin; it is not a book in Malayalam even though Malayalam characters and sentences appear in the book.

The contents

The contents of ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' has been summarized thus: :"The divisions of the contents are made as groups, lessons and cantos. The book is in the form of a dialogue between a teacher and his student. The topics discussed touch the Cardinal principles and faith of Christianity and spirituality. The mystery of creation, life after death, the mystery of the Trinity and incarnation, mark of the cross, the Lord’s Prayer, doctrines of Christianity, the seven sacraments, purity and sinfulness, vespers etc. are explained by the author in their totality in a very easy-to-understand manner."

A modern edition

A second edition of the ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' has been published jointly by D. C. Books, Kottayam and Carmel Publishing Centre, Thiruvananthapuram in 1980 with an introduction by Chummar Choondal and a commentary by Mathew Ulakanthara.

A new Malayalam typeface

The typeface used in the first printing of ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' has inspired a few Malayalam typographers to design and construct a new modern typeface in Malayalam that closely resembles the ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' typeface.

Full texts

*A digitized version of the full text of the original edition of Samkshepa Vedartham is available in the Internet Archive at the lin
HERE
*The full text of ''Samkshepa Vedartham'' with modern Malayalm typeface is available in Malayalam Wikisource at the lin
HERE
*A digitized version of ''Alphabetum grandonico-malabaricum sive samscrudonicum'' is available at the lin
HERE

References

{{Kerala topics Malayalam-language literature Malayalam language

The contents

A modern edition

A new Malayalam typeface

Full texts

See also

References