trom Europe Ziegenbalg himself ventured in 1711 to answer these questions in his famous work entitled Malabarisches Heidenthum13 (i.e. Tamil Society). Ziegenbalg had the joy of baptising Kaöapati Vâttiyâr as Christian. Frederick in remembrance of the Danish king who had sent the missionaries to Tranquebar. Moreover among the palm leaf manuscripts there are some works of Tamil literature, especially that of Auvaiyâr III (TAM 89, 100). In 1735 Walter seems to have sent them to Halle. Among the manuscripts there is a Stalapura.a of Cidambaram (TAM 80), a story of Citraputra (TAM 78), a summary of 27 Nak 7atras (TAM 79) and a vaishavite work (TAM 98). III. Significance of these palm leaf manuscripts
This is a fairly large collection of palm leaf manuscripts that date back to the first half of the 18th Century that remained unknown to Tamil public. Almost all of these manuscripts are written in spoken Tamil that was used in and around Tranquebar. For linguistic study these documents would be of immense importance. In like manner these manuscripts could be used for cross cultural studies. German pietistic devotional texts that had their original in a particular European mind set, historical context and cultural net work were translated into Tamil and were presented to Tamils of Bhakti traditions. It would be a fascinating study to examine how the thoughts and concepts of the original German works were transferred into Tamil concepts. One could find out how much agreement is there between the two systems of concepts, and how they were translated, whether there was a loss of meaning and how these translations have enriched the Tamil cultural heritage. Furthermore these manuscripts reveal the fact that though the Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic teachings they borrowed their theological concepts enshrined in terms such as carvêcura. (= skt. šarva-îšvara, *commander of all') and used them in their writings. The interplay of relationships between the Roman Catholics and Protestants which showed in outward hatred, but inward interdependence, needs to be examined. The various kinds of influence that these Tamil manuscripts had on the Germans would be an interesting study. While the Germans were primarily interested in the meaningful communication of the message of Jesus Christ it would be a rewarding enterprise to verify how their cultural and religious study affected their perception of Tamil way of life and how they had incorporated their insights into their main enterprise. On the other hand the writings by Tamils themselves would be great importance. They were the people who disclosed the Tamil world of belief and practice to them. As such their ability to learn European language and to translate literature was enormous. One example would suffice here:
13 Ziegenbalg. B.: Ziegenbalgs Malabarisches Heidenthum. (Ed.) William Caland.
Amsterdam 1926.
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