CleanupBot II at 23:34, 13 August 2023

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Karl Graul
| image = Karl Graul (IZ 43-1864 S 424 E G).jpg
| caption = Portrait of Karl Graul
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1814|02|6}}
| birth_place = [[Wörlitz]], [[Duchy of Anhalt]], [[Germany]]
| death_date = {{Death date|df=yes|1864|11|10}}
| death_place = [[Erlangen]]
| occupation = Leader of [[Leipzig]] [[Lutheran]] [[Christian mission|mission]] and a [[Tamils|Tamil]] scholar
}}

'''Karl Graul''' (6 February 1814 – 10 November 1864)<ref name=BDCM/><ref>[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Graul,_Karl ADB:Graul, Karl] at [[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]]</ref> was a leader of [[Leipzig]] [[Lutheran]] [[Missionary|mission]] and a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] scholar. He was born in a poor weaver family in [[Germany]]. He moved to [[India]] as the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1849 and there he mastered Tamil.

Graul was one of the foremost figures in [[missiology]]. His approach towards [[caste system]] was considered to be too lenient by his critics since he considered that caste system would fade on its own accord and Christian organizations need not interfere with local traditions. He also advocated the supremacy of [[Lutheranism]] over other Christian denominations and found it hard to cooperate with [[Anglicans]] in India.

==Early life==
Karl Graul was born in [[Wörlitz]], [[Duchy of Anhalt]], into a poor [[weaving|weaver]]'s family. In spite of his poor background he received good education in [[classical language|classical]] and [[modern languages]] as well as in theology. However, as for as mission and missiology is concerned he was entirely self-taught.<ref name=BDCM>Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions p. 257</ref>

==Tamil scholar==
Karl Graul was appointed the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1844. The Lutheran mission had succeeded the Danish-Hale mission in [[South India]]. During his stay in India, Graul mastered the Tamil language.<ref name=BDCM/> After returning to Leipzig in 1853 he taught Tamil language and literature at the mission house.<ref>The Triumph of Confessionalism in Nineteenth-Century German Lutheran Missions p. 80</ref> Later Graul wrote ''Bibilotheca Tamulica seu Opera Praecipua Tamuliensium'' (1854–1865). A work in 4 volumes, it contains in its third and fourth volumes the first complete translation of the [[Tirukkural]] in [[Latin]], [[German language|German]],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sanjeevi
| first = N.
| title = ''Bibliography on Tirukkural''. ''In'' First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers
| publisher = University of Madras
| date = 1973
| location = Chennai
| pages = 146–147
}}</ref> and the standard spoken Tamil with notes and glossaries. It was published by his student [[Wilhelm Germann]] the year after Graul's death in [[Erlangen]]. Graul also wrote a ''Tamil Grammar'' in German (1855).<ref name=BDCM/>

==Missiology==
Graul being one of the foremost figures in missiology, insisted that other missionaries should go through academic training both in mission as well in theology. He insisted that the knowledge of locals with contextual approach towards indigenous churches.<ref name=BDCM/>

==Views on caste system==
Graul's views on [[caste system]] was considered by his critics as "too lenient".<ref name=BDCM/> This was in light that ''Madras Missionary Conference'' resolved that no one should be admitted to [[baptism]] until he had shed off the caste identity and breaks the caste by eating food prepared by a person from the lower caste. According to [[Stephen Neill]] all [[Protestant]] missionary societies agreed to these terms except for Graul's Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission. This was since Graul believed that caste system can be removed only as a slow process<ref>Christianity and African Culture p.24</ref><ref name=Neill407/> and making it mandatory is not needed.<ref name=Neill407>A History of Christianity in India p. 407</ref> It was his view that missionaries should not interfere with indigenous social orders unless they are wholly incompatible with the [[Gospel]].<ref>Christianity and African Culture p.23</ref>

==Supremacy of Lutheranism==
Graul believed in supremacy of Lutheranism over other Christian denominations.<ref name=BDCM/> Thus he found it hard on mutual cooperation with [[Anglicans]] in India especially on communion.<ref name=Neill396>A History of Christianity in India p. 396</ref>

==Death==
{{lutheranism}}
Graul in 1864 qualified himself as a university lecturer in missiology at [[Erlangen]]. However, he died the same year even before taking up the position.<ref name=BDCM/>

==Works==
* Übersetzung von Dante Allghieri's ''Göttlicher Komödie''; 1843. (Elektronischer Text auf www.dantealighieri.dk)
* ''Unterscheidungslehren der verschiedenen christlichen Bekenntnisse''; 1845
* ''Die Ev.-Luth. Mission an die ev-luth. Kirche aller Lande''; 1845
* ''Explanations concerning the principles of the Leipzig Society with regard to the Caste-Question''; Madras 1851
* ''Reise nach Ostindien'', 5 volumes; 1854–56
* ''Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium'', 4 volumes
** Volume 1: ''Tamulische Schriften zur Erläuterung des Vedanta-Systems oder der rechtgläubigen Philosophie der Hindus.'' Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1854. ([http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251485-7 Digitalisat])
** Volume 2: ''Kaivaljanavanīta. A Vedanta Poem. The Tamil Text with a Translation and Glossary and Grammatical Notes.'' Leipzig/London 1855. ([https://books.google.de/books?id=4qY-AAAAcAAJ&hl=de&pg=PR5#v=onepage&q&f=false Digitalisat])
** Volume 3: ''Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen.'' Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1856. ([http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251487-8 Digitalisat])
** Volume 4: ''Kural of Tiruvalluver. High-Tamil Text with Translation into Common Tamil and Latin, Notes and Glossary.'' Leipzig 1865. ([http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251488-3 Digitalisat])
* ''Outline of Tamil Grammar''; 1855
* ''Die christliche Kirche an der Schwelle des irenäischen Zeitalters''; 1860
* ''Die Stellung der evangelisch-lutherischen Mission in Leipzig zur ostindischen Kastenfrage''; 1861
* ''Über Stellung und Bedeutung der christlichen Missionen im Ganzen der Universitätswissentschaften''; 1864
* ''Indische Sinnpflanzen und Blumen zur Kennzeichnung des indischen, vornehmlich tamulischen Geistes''; 1864

==See also==

* [[Tirukkural translations into German]]
* [[List of translators]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book
| last = Anderson
| first = Gerald
| title = Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions
| publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
| year = 1999
| pages = 257
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC
| isbn = 978-0-8028-4680-8}}

*{{cite book
| last = Fiedler
| first = Klaus
| title = Christianity and African Culture
| publisher = Brill
| year = 1996
| pages = 23–24
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AX_jXSPc94wC
| isbn = 978-90-04-10497-6}}

*{{cite book
| last = Neill
| first = Stephen
| title = A History of Christianity in India
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 2002
| pages = 396 and 407
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi-tvrYbYxMC
| isbn = 978-0-521-89332-9}}

*{{cite journal
|last=Scherer
|first=James. A.
|title=The Triumph of Confessionalism in Nineteenth-Century German Lutheran Missions
|journal=Missio Apostolica
|volume=2
|pages=71–78
|year=1993
|url=http://www.lsfmissiology.org/Essays/SchererTriumphofConfessionalism.pdf
|access-date=2009-01-26
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060112180934/http://www.lsfmissiology.org/Essays/SchererTriumphofConfessionalism.pdf
|archive-date=January 12, 2006
}}

{{Tirukkural}}
{{Tamil language}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graul, Karl}}
[[Category:1814 births]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Wörlitz]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Anhalt]]
[[Category:German Lutheran missionaries]]
[[Category:Lutheran missionaries in India]]
[[Category:German expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Tamil–German translators]]
[[Category:Tamil–Latin translators]]
[[Category:19th-century linguists]]
[[Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into German]]
[[Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into Latin]]
[[Category:19th-century translators]]
[[Category:Tirukkural translators]]
[[Category:19th-century Lutherans]]
[[Category:Missionary linguists]]

Karl Graul - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 23:34, 13 August 2023