Hermann Gundert

Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert (Stuttgart, 4 February 1814 – 25 April 1893 in Calw, Germany) was a German missionary, scholar, and linguist, as well as the grandfather of German novelist and Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse. Gundert compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam (1859), in which he developed and constricted the grammar spoken by the Keralites, nowadays; a Malayalam-English dictionary (1872), and contributed to work on Bible translations into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Thalassery on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India. Gundert also contributed to the fields of history, geography and astronomy.

At the age of 5 he entered Latin School in Stuttgart, Germany, joined the "Lower Seminary" at Maulbronn in 1827 and entered the "Higher Seminary" - the Protestant "Stift"- and the University Tuebingen. In 1835 he obtained a doctoral degree in Philology from Tuebingen and successfully completed his theological studies.

Having been engaged as private tutor in Calcutta (Kolkata), India, he prepared for this job in England. In April 1836 he left Bristol with the party of his employer. While traveling on the ship he concentrated on learning Bengali, Hindustani and Telugu and taught these languages to his fellow passengers. Instead of Calcutta the party reached Madras (Chennai) in July 1836 and settled there. Gundert immediately started learning Tamil. Soon he was giving a duty in Tirunelveli, and after some time in Chittoor (nowadays Andhra Pradesh). There he married Julie Dubois in July 1838. She originated from French speaking Switzerland and had come to India in the same party. After marriage the two left for Tirunelveli, and on the way they were invited to join the Basel Mission in Mangalore. They accepted, and en route Gundert left Tamil drawing ups with a printer in Nagercoil. In Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) Hermann Gundert had an audience with His Highness Sree Swathi Thirunal Maharaja, the ruler of Travancore. Most probably it was here he heard Malayalam for the first time.

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