Reverend Ferdinand Kittel was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

priest and

indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

with the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...

in south India and worked in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

Madikeri Madikeri is a hill station town in Madikeri taluk and headquarters of Kodagu district in Karnataka, India. Etymology Madikeri was known as ''Muddu Raja Keri'', which meant Mudduraja's town, was named after the prominent Haleri king Mudduraj ...

and

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. He is most famous for his studies of the

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

language and for producing a Kannada-English dictionary of about 70,000 words in 1894. He also composed numerous Kannada poems.Journal of the Karnatak University: Humanities: Volume 19 Karnatak University - 1975 "He was also involved in the work of the revision of the Kannada Bible. But his magnum opus was the school dictionary English- Kannada Shala Nighantu, which saw the light of the day in 1876. Though

William Reeve (missionary) :See also ''William Reeve (bishop) (1844-1925), missionary to Canada'' William Reeve (1794-1850) was a London Missionary Society missionary to India, author of an early dictionary of the Kannada language, and translator with John Hands of the Bib ...

compiled and published ..."

Early life

He was born 7 April 1832.Resterhafe, East Frisia Friesland, off the northwestern coast of Germany. The father Gottfried Christian Kittel was Gaz Freit, a priest. Mother Tudov Helen Hubert. Kittel is the eldest of his 5 children. His education was praised by the headmaster as "Never Less Than Good." Join the

as the desire of his father.

In India

He had learned Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French and English. He arrived in India in 1853. As a missionary, he endeavoured to follow Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians and "become as an Indian unto the Indians". Having a strong desire to learn Kannada, he undertook exhaustive studies learning the Kannada language, customs and local music. This earned rebuke from the Basel Mission, where he was already an outsider on account of his North German origin and academic education (the other missionaries were chiefly from southwest Germany and the lower/middle classes, though Gottfried Weigle had studied at Tübingen). This marginalised him by pushing him to a remote station in the

Nilgiris The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At le ...

and later confining him to the mission's press in Mangalore. He returned to Germany, but visited India again in his fifties to complete his dictionary, which by then had become for him an end in itself, and not merely an instrument secondary to missionary work.

Contribution to Kannada

Kittel worked in

and

, inspired by and attracted to Kannada Literature. He is most famous for his studies of the

language and for producing a Kannada-English dictionary of about 70,000 words in 1894. (Many Kannada-language dictionaries had existed at least since poet Ranna's 'Ranna Khanda' in the tenth century.) Kittel also composed numerous Kannada poems. In 1862, Kittel, published his Kannada poem `Kathamale' which presented the life of Jesus Christ in the form of Indian musical metre style. Kittel also wrote a book on

Kannada grammar Standard Kannada grammar ( kn, ಕನ್ನಡ ವ್ಯಾಕರಣ) is primarily based on Keshiraja's Shabdamanidarpana (c. 1260 CE) which provides the fullest systematic exposition of Kannada language.''Studies in Indian History, Epigraphy, and ...

called ''A Grammar of the Kannada Language: Comprising the Three Dialects of the language''. He translated Nagavarma's work on Kannada prosody. Originally published by Basel Mission Book & Tract Depository, 1875.

Contemporary recognition

Kittel is today almost forgotten in Germany, but is still widely recognised in Karnataka. Many educational institutions have been named after him. A statue at the end of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

road in the city of

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

commemorates him. Austin Town in Bangalore was renamed "Kittel Nagar".

Legacy

The book ''An Indian to the Indians? On the Initial Failure and the Posthumous Success of the Missionary Ferdinand Kittel (1832–1903)'', edited by Reinhard Wendt, describes various aspects of his work.

Reviews
Robert Eric FrykenbergMartin KriegerNile Green
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References

External links

Ferdinand Kittel and the Cultural Dialogue with India
International Seminar, Germany 2003

at Kamat's Potpourri {{DEFAULTSORT:Kittel, Ferdinand East Frisians Lexicographers Protestant missionaries in India Dravidologists Christian clergy from Mangalore 1832 births 1903 deaths Linguists of Kannada Translators of the Bible into Kannada 19th-century translators German Protestant missionaries German expatriates in India Missionary linguists 19th-century lexicographers