Bishop A.J Appasamy introduced to the Christian readers the ways of worshipping God as mentioned in the Shaivite Tamil works!
A constitutional authority, who could defy even the Supreme Court of India, would utter a blatant lie and belittle the erudite Christian missionaries including Robert Caldwell and G.U Pope as “School dropouts”.
While Caldwell is remembered for his monumental work in linguistics A Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages and Pope for his translations of Thiruvachagam, Thirukural, and Naladiyar into English, it’s time we remembered that even a bishop in Coimbatore had a great passion for pieces in Hindu religious literature and translated them into English!
A. J. Appasamy, the first Bishop of the Church of South India in Coimbatore Diocese, who wrote the book Temple Bells – Readings from Hindu Religious Literature, had his roots from an orthodox Shaivite family at Tirunelveli, which also showed deep devotion for the village God Sudalai Maadan. The people of Tirunelveli worshiped the sentinel deity Sudalaimadan, particularly, in the belief that He would ensure safe delivery to pregnant women. Interestingly, even Appasamy's father was christened as
'Sudalayaadum Perumal' after the village deity! However, with the name being little comfortable to pronounce, the family members called him 'Appavu'.
Though Appavu became an ardent reader of Tiruvachagam, Thevaram, Ramayana and Mahabharatha in his student days, he later embraced Christianity inspired by the dignity of the great Tamil poet H.A. Krishnapillai, who was popularly called as Kiruthuva Kamban (The Kamban of Christianity) for his excellent verse rendering of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress as Ratchanya Yaathreekam in Tamil. Appavu happened to meet the great bard at Sawyerpuram, a Christian hamlet in Tuticorin, when the latter was working as a Tamil teacher.
Like his father Appavu, A. J. Appasamy also had a flair for Hindu religious literature. Since Appasamy wanted Christians to enjoy the pleasure he experienced by reading pieces in Hindu religious literature, he translated them into English. Moreover, as a student at Madras Christian College, he developed a friendship with Tamil scholar Maraimalai Adigal, who is popularly referred to as 'Thani Thamizh Iyaka Thanthai ‘(The father of the pure Tamil movement), when the latter worked as a Tamil professor in his Alma mater.
Appasamy, who studied philosophy and religion at Harvard University in the U.S, later took his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Oxford in England. A man with a flair for Tamil Bhakthi literature, in his book Temple Bells – Readings from Hindu Religious Literature, Appasamy introduced to the Christian readers the ways of worshiping God as mentioned in the Shaivite Tamil works like Thirumandiram and Thevaram.
As Thirmular, the author of Thirumandhiram tells people that the abode of God is none but the human body, Appasamy translates the savant's verse thus:
“Our body is the shrine and the firm mind is the devotee. We have cleansed the shrine with truth and erected God, the jewel of our minds”
While Caldwell is remembered for his monumental work in linguistics A Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages and Pope for his translations of Thiruvachagam, Thirukural, and Naladiyar into English, it’s time we remembered that even a bishop in Coimbatore had a great passion for pieces in Hindu religious literature and translated them into English!
A. J. Appasamy, the first Bishop of the Church of South India in Coimbatore Diocese, who wrote the book Temple Bells – Readings from Hindu Religious Literature, had his roots from an orthodox Shaivite family at Tirunelveli, which also showed deep devotion for the village God Sudalai Maadan. The people of Tirunelveli worshiped the sentinel deity Sudalaimadan, particularly, in the belief that He would ensure safe delivery to pregnant women. Interestingly, even Appasamy's father was christened as
'Sudalayaadum Perumal' after the village deity! However, with the name being little comfortable to pronounce, the family members called him 'Appavu'.
Though Appavu became an ardent reader of Tiruvachagam, Thevaram, Ramayana and Mahabharatha in his student days, he later embraced Christianity inspired by the dignity of the great Tamil poet H.A. Krishnapillai, who was popularly called as Kiruthuva Kamban (The Kamban of Christianity) for his excellent verse rendering of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress as Ratchanya Yaathreekam in Tamil. Appavu happened to meet the great bard at Sawyerpuram, a Christian hamlet in Tuticorin, when the latter was working as a Tamil teacher.
Like his father Appavu, A. J. Appasamy also had a flair for Hindu religious literature. Since Appasamy wanted Christians to enjoy the pleasure he experienced by reading pieces in Hindu religious literature, he translated them into English. Moreover, as a student at Madras Christian College, he developed a friendship with Tamil scholar Maraimalai Adigal, who is popularly referred to as 'Thani Thamizh Iyaka Thanthai ‘(The father of the pure Tamil movement), when the latter worked as a Tamil professor in his Alma mater.
Appasamy, who studied philosophy and religion at Harvard University in the U.S, later took his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Oxford in England. A man with a flair for Tamil Bhakthi literature, in his book Temple Bells – Readings from Hindu Religious Literature, Appasamy introduced to the Christian readers the ways of worshiping God as mentioned in the Shaivite Tamil works like Thirumandiram and Thevaram.
As Thirmular, the author of Thirumandhiram tells people that the abode of God is none but the human body, Appasamy translates the savant's verse thus:
“Our body is the shrine and the firm mind is the devotee. We have cleansed the shrine with truth and erected God, the jewel of our minds”