Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bishop Robert Caldwell


Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814–1891) was an Evangelist missionary and linguist, who academically established the Dravidian family of languages. He served as Assistant Bishop of Tirunelveli from 1877. He was described in The Hindu as a 'pioneering champion of the downtrodden' and an 'avant-garde social reformer'.


India Post released a stamp on Robert Caldwell on 7th May 2010. Robert Caldwell-was born at Clady, Northern Ireland, on May 7, 1814 to Scottish parents. Initially self-taught and religious, young Caldwell graduated from the University of Glasgow and was fascinated by the comparative study of languages. At 24, Caldwell arrived in Madras on January 8, 1838 as a missionary of the London Missionary Society and later joined the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Mission (SPG). Caldwell was married in 1844 to Eliza Mault.He knew 18 languages ( the stamp background shows 4 languages of South India like, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu). He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was awarded the title of LLD and DD. His most impressive work was "A comparative Study of Grammar of Dravidian Languages".

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