Bishop Caldwell honored for contribution to Tamil language

Bishop Robert Caldwell's house in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu is now a memorial.

The state government decided to honor the English Protestant missionary for his contribution to Tamil language in the 19th century.

Caldwell occupied the house from 1841 to 1882 during when he was involved in preaching as well as linguistic research.

DMK founder CN Annadurai had earlier honored Bishop Caldwell by installing his stiatue on the Marina Beach in 1968 on the occassion of Second World Tamil Conference.

Bishop Caldwell first came to India as a member of the London Mission Society. Graduated from the university of Glasgow, Caldwell was fascinated by the comparative study of languages to which he made stupendous contributions.

He is said to have first proposed that the South Indian languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu formed a separate language family. Besides, he is also credited to have first coined the the term 'Dravidian languages'.

Caldwell's work Dravida Mozhigalin Oppilakkanam (a comparative grammar of Dravidian languages) established the uniqueness of Tamil.

The Indian historian Dr MS Pandian says Caldwell's "contribution to both Christianity in South India and the cultural awakening of the region is unmatched during the last two hundred years".