Linguist and Pastor
Kerala became and will remain the field of his activities: Hanxleden learnt and appreciated its culture, along with identifying with its people. In addition to his mother tongue German, and his mastery of Malayalam, Hanxleden also had a good command over Latin, Syriac, Portuguese, and Tamil. He moved to Palayur and, after surmounting several formidable barriers, learnt Sanskrit too and improved his Malayalam from two Namboothiri Brahmins, Kunjan and Sankaran from Angamaly, who were students in the Trichur Sanskrit school.
From 1707 to 1711 Hanxleden served as secretary to John Ribeiro (who was Archbishop of Cranganore). During this time he travelled the length and breadth of Kerala on various tasks such as preaching and catechesis. It is recorded that he served as the vicar of the main church in Malabar (the present Mother of God Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Calicut).
Read more about this topic: Johann Ernst Hanxleden
Famous quotes containing the word linguist:
““10 April 1800—
Blacks rebellious. Crew uneasy. Our linguist says
their moaning is a prayer for death,
ours and their own.”
—Robert Earl Hayden (1913–1980)