George Uglow Pope (1820–1908) popularly known as Rev. G.U. Pope or G.U. Pope was a Christian missionary who spent many years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations include Tirukkural and Tiruvachagam. His efforts were recognized by the Royal Asiatic Society in the form of a gold medal. He was the head of the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore before returning to Oxford.
George Uglow Pope was born on 24 April 1820 in Prince Edward Island in Canada. His family migrated to England when he was an infant. He left for South India in 1839 and arrived at Sawyerpuram near Tuticorin. Pope turned into a scholar of Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu. He set up several schools and taught Latin, English, Hebrew, Mathematics and Philosophy.
He completed his translation of Tirukkural on September 1, 1886. His Sacred Kural contains introduction, grammar, translation, notes, lexicon and concordance. It also includes the English translation of F. W. Ellis and the Latin Translation of Constanzo Beschi (வீரமாமுனிவர்) with 436 pages. He had, by February 1893, translated Naaladiyaar (நாலடியார்), a didactic work of moral sayings in quatrains (வெண்பா), 400 in number in 40 chapters, each by a Jain ascetic, according to a Tamil tradition.
His magnum opus, the translation of Tiruvachakam(திருவாசகம்) appeared in 1900. Of this he said: "I date this on my eightieth birthday. I find, by reference, that my first Tamil lesson was in 1837. This ends, as I suppose a long life of devotion to Tamil studies. It is not without deep emotion that I thus bring to a close my life's literary work".
The much coveted Gold Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society was awarded to him in 1906. He died on 12 February 1908. He delivered his last sermon on May 26, 1907. Rev. Pope was buried at St Sepulchre's Cemetery, located in Jericho, central Oxford, England.
Read more about George Uglow Pope: Bibliography
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