Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa.

Issue 55 July 2010

Arrival of the first Moravian missionaries in Tranquebar, July 2, 1760

Moravian historian Hartmut Beck has strained relationship with the Lutheran mis- reported that the natives referred to them described the Tranquebar mission, along sionaries from Halle who did not appreciate as the “Saints” or “Nyanigöl,” which means with the other missions in the Bay of Bengal, the Moravian competition. The younger “the wise men,” a term they also used for as a dramatic, unprofitable and mistake-filled Francke, no longer friendly with Zinzendorf, their own holy men. period in Moravian mission history. Tran- complained in 1759: “Another piece of news Despite starting off with ample resources quebar, now known as Tharangambadi, which I have received has struck me very and seasoned missionaries, the overwhelm- “place of the singing waves,” is a coastal much, and troubled me not a little, namely ing stress of illness and death quickly de- town near the southeastern tip of India on that the Moravians are trying to establish moralized the colony. After 40 years in the the Bay of Bengal. During the eighteenth themselves in Tranquebar.” region, 47 lives were lost and the number of century it was a Danish col- converts could only be ony initially evangelized by counted on one hand. Ram- the Lutherans. Zinzendorf’s pant alcoholism (stemming missionary zeal was stoked as from the 18th-century mis- a young man by conversa- conception that alcohol pro- tions with Lutheran mission- tected one from tropical aries to Tranquebar who illnesses), political unrest and gathered around the dinner plundering of Brüdergarten table of August Hermann during the 1780s contributed Francke, the headmaster of to the overall failure of the his Pietist school at Halle. In mission. Although the 1789 1758 Zinzendorf sent the Synod decided to continue missionary Georg Johann the mission, the effort was Stahlmann to Copenhagen to garner permis- The group arrived in Tranquebar on July finally abandoned in 1795, missionaries be- sion for Moravian mission work in the Dan- 2, 1760, and established a typical Moravian gan returning to Europe, and the property ish East Indies. The Danish court granted settlement they called Brüdergarten, Garden was sold in 1803. Despite so much adver- Moravians freedom to establish their own of the Brethren. Buttler and Völkel immedi- sity, the last surviving missionary, Johann churches and missions in the region, with ately immersed themselves in Tamil and Gottfried Hänsel, wrote that God “strength- Tranquebar intended as the gateway to Portugese and translated Zinzendorf’s ser- ened our hearts, and comforted us by such a nearby islands. In Zeist on September 28, mons into these languages. Soon the Mora- lively sense of His divine presence, that we 1759, Zinzendorf bade good-bye to the first vians became very popular in the region. were frequently filled with heavenly joy...The group of Moravian colonists. Stahlmann led Another detractor, Oluf Maderup, ascribed Lord hath done all things well, and I have the group of fourteen men comprised pri- their popularity to their “irreproachable lacked no good thing.” marily of skilled craftsmen and two young lives.” He stated, “I cannot describe how the theologians, Adam Gottlieb Völker and Moravians have insinuated themselves in so Sources Christoph Buttler. It was one of the last short a time into the good will of Danes, Image: view of Brüdergarten, engraving by Noual. Moravian missions Zinzendorf saw estab- French and even Hindus by their voluntary Sources: Hartmut Beck, Brüder in vielen Völkern lished in his lifetime. humility and angel-like conduct...If they were (1981); History of the Tranquebar Mission The Moravian colonists sailed on the same as pure in their doctrine and teaching as (Evangelical Lutheran Mission Press, 1863); La- Trobe, Letters on the Nicobar Islands by John ship with the new governor of Tranquebar, their life is outwardly to the eyes of the Gottfried Haensel (1812); Müller, 200 Jahre Brüder- with whom they established a friendly rela- world, there would not be a sect or race to mission, vol. 1 (1931). tionship. This created jealousy and a equal them in the whole of Asia.” He further www.moravianchurcharchives.org