> Research & Reports Dravidian Studies in the Part I (1605-1690s) Pioneers of Orientalism at the VOC Dravidian studies seemed almost non-existent in the Netherlands when I settled there eleven years ago. The renowned Czeck Research > Dravidologist K.V.Zvelebil had just retired from Utrecht University, and his chair was abolished. Accustomed to the Soviet practice of South India propagating scholarly achievements abroad, and faced with the absence of such material on the Dutch Indological school but for a six- Paleacatta (Pulicat, the VOC headquar- page paper by J. Gonda (1964), I decided to fill the gap. This article is the first of a three part series surveying four centuries of ters until 1690) and twenty other Dutch Dravidian Studies in the Netherlands. trade posts which he visited over thir- teen years. The causes were involuntary By Luba Zubkova interest in India through their trave- (Kesavan 1985:59). Printing was brought idleness in the monsoon periods which logues. Impressed by the learning of the by the Dutch to Ceylon in the late 1720s, led to corruption, and the Company’s ven a detached onlooker would soon brahmans and their views on life and and the earliest Tamil work printed was infamous economy drive. With profits Ededuce that the Dutch are a nation death, clergyman Abraham Rogerius, a 1741 Tamil Bible by the Hollender dwindling, the VOC offered its employ- of doers, more apt to maintain reality who for seventeen years (1630-47) lived Press of the VOC. ees shackling contracts, usually picked than to philosophise about it. Practical at Paliacatta on the , up by unscrupulous fortune seekers or incentives lie behind Dutchmen’s aspi- wrote a book on the life, customs, faith Baldaeus’ personal observations of the bankrupts, thus fuelling the forbidden rations to knowledge, a problem-solving and religious practices of Tamil brah- life and mores of Hindus constituted a practice of private commerce and mentality rather than dream-like ideal- mans (De open-deure tot verborgen hey- monumental work in Dutch, printed in smuggling (‘mors-handel’). ‘In Coro-

ism. The ever urgent problem being dendom, 1651). Rogerius was the first to in 1672. In the same year it 937 1995: Israel mandel you see very few men with water – whether in the guise of over- mention the four Vedas, but their was translated into German, and in 1703 VOC Trade Posts ideals’, Philippus Baldaeus complained. flowing rivers or untameable sea – sci- description, according to J. Gonda, was abridged in English: A True and Exact There was no zeal on the part of mis- entific research in the Netherlands has more in harmony with the Tamil Vais- Description of the most Celebrated East pany and the Reformed Church. The sionaries either, as the bookish, ration- often been linked to sailing and naviga- nava hymns than sources India Coasts of Malabar and Choromandel. two loyalties were often in conflict. A al Calvinism proved hard to proselytise. tion. (Gonda 1964:5). As also the Great Island of Ceylon and the predicant was a Company official with Epidemics of cholera, political chaos in Religion of the Heathens of the East Indies. the salary of a Senior Merchant (90-100 Tamilnadu, and British expansion in the Maritime republic Phillipus Baldaeus The book included maps, engravings guilders a month apart from allowances) 18th century did the rest; J.A. Braam’s As is generally known, the Golden Age Another missionary who came to Cey- illustrating the author’s experiences, and and had considerable influence. How- 1818 inspection reported that Dutch pos- of the between 1588 and lon upon the conquest of Colombo by a supplement entitled Introduction to the ever, he could not fully use this influ- sessions in India had depreciated 1702 was the epoch of great maritime the Dutch in 1656 was Phillipus Bal- Malabar language which contained ele- ence in his ecclesiastical work because (Peters and de la Porte 2001). expeditions and scientific discoveries. daeus (1632-1672). A talented cartogra- ments of Tamil grammar followed by the the Company was grudging of addition- So it is not surprising that, as in the pher and writer, the Company appoint- Lord’s Prayer and the Creed in Tamil. al expenses. For example, the Company The Company’s commercial activities exact sciences, among the pioneers of ed him a predicant responsible for left no trace on south Indian life, except what was later called Dravidian studies converting the Tamil communities on the Company's activities left no trace on South Indian for numerous gravestones with we find cartographers, adventurers and the northern part of the island to the inscribed life-stories of the deceased geographers. Dutch Reformed religion. He lived in life, except for gravestones with life-stories of the employees, which are nowadays used by and around for nine years and deceased employees, which are nowadays used by the locals for laundry. Research work of After the discovery of the eastern sea sailed around to inspect the Dutch pos- the Dutch pioneers was continued by route around the Cape of Good Hope by sessions in South India. the locals for laundry the German protestant Ziegenbalg, who Vasco da Gama in 1497, the Dutch pub- belonged to a Danish mission in Mal- lic was fascinated by India’s wonders. Baldaeus moved among the people, Accompanying engravings contained the objected to Baldaeus’ suggestions for abar. The books by Rogerius and Bal- They felt especially attracted to her exot- mastering the in which complete Tamil alphabet. Explaining his improving religious education and con- daeus were reclaimed as sources of first- ic culture when in 1605 the Dutch East he could preach and converse. He reasons for learning the local language, verting the natives, and ruled that funds hand knowledge and translated into India Company (Verenigde Oostindis- thought ‘...it is more befitting and seem- Baldaeus praises its richness and flexi- should be raised from fines levied in the other European languages. They attract- che Compagnie, VOC) set foot on South ly that a teacher or minister masters the bility, anticipating the attitude of the enforcement of school rules. Philippus ed the attention of the educated public India’s Coromandel coast populated by language of his congregation, rather famous English proponents of Dravidi- Baldaeus refused to conform and was and eventually contributed to the estab- Dravidian people. than for the congregation to learn the an studies, R. Caldwell and G.U. Pope nearly accused by the Governor of dis- lishment of Indological chairs in language of their minister’ (Saparamadu two centuries later. honest financial dealings. He could not French, German and British universi- Founded in 1602 by the wealthy middle 1958:XIX). Baldaeus compiled several continue his linguistic studies because ties in 1814, 1818 and 1833. < classes to trade in the East and secure manuscripts to be used by native pro- The Description is an interesting his- the Church, bound by the state, thought profits for its shareholders, the VOC set ponents of Protestantism and school- torical document abounding with soci- it a waste of time. In 1666 he decided to References up trade posts and forts to purchase the masters, and prepared a Tamil Psalter. ological, ethnological and other valuable leave Ceylon. - Gonda, Jan, 1964. Indology in The Nether- world’s best pepper, cinnamon, indigo It was published in book form in 1755, information, though the author is biased lands. : E.J. Brill. and so on, and to provide the metropo- ‘the earliest vernacular book of music’ because of his dual loyalty to the Com- VOC research - Israel, Jonathan I, 1995. The Dutch Repub- lis with a growing market for its manu- The VOC demanded from personnel a lic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806. factures. The VOC appointed governors certain expertise in native speech, local New York: Oxford University Press. who maintained garrisons and signed culture and political intrigue, which - Kesavan, B.S., 1985. Printing and Publish- alliances with native peoples, under the could prove handy in trade transac- ing in India: A story of cultural re-awakening, supervision of the Staten-Generaal (the tions. There were more officials and Vol.1. Delhi: National Book Trust. early Dutch parliament). The VOC, like missionaries working on a glossary of - Peters, M. and de la Porte F.A., 2001. In its counterpart in the western hemi- ‘Malabaric’ (Tamil/Malayalam) lan- steen geschreven: Leven en sterven van VOC- sphere, the Westindische Compagnie, guage and Telugu. Others produced dienaren op de Kust van Coromandel in personified the expansive dynamics of detailed accounts of the local condi- India. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bas Lubber- the state economy, foreign policy and tions, climate and plants, and everyday huizen. religious ideology. life of various Hindu castes. To name - Saparamadu, S.D., 1958-59. ‘Introduction’ but a few: Herbert de Jager, a peasant’s in A True and Exact Description of the Great By the 1640s the Dutch were entrenched son and former theology student at Lei- Island of Ceylon by Phillipus Baldaeus. on the Indian subcontinent and the den University, indulged in compara- Translated by Pieter Brohier in The Ceylon Malay peninsula as well as in Indonesia. tive study of ‘Malabaric’, Sanskrit and Historical Journal, Vol.VIII, July 1958 to Challenging Portuguese military power High-Javanese during his ten years’ April 1959, Nos. 1-4. Published in co-oper- in Ceylon, the VOC was soon able to con- stay in Coromandel; Wouter Schouten, ation with the Ceylon Branch of the Royal trol the coastal zone of the island and a surgeon attached to the Dutch fleet, Asiatic Society. annex a whole string of Portuguese for- wrote the book The East Indian Voyages; tified bases around the tip of India (Israel Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drak- I express my gratitude to my Dutch colleagues 1995:937). From around 1660 until the enstein, Malabar Governor in 1671-77 Frans Janssen and Dick Plukker who advised 1720s the Dutch remained the leading and vice-admiral, prepared the volu- me when collecting materials for this study. European power in India. minous botanical treatise Hortus indi- cus Malabaricus; while Daniel Havart, Luba Zubkova (Bytchikhina) worked as a Sending loaded ships to the Coroman- the Company’s senior official and a researcher of modern Tamil literature in the del and then the Malabar coast of India keen observer, published in 1693 a academic Institute of Oriental Studies in and to Ceylon, the VOC hired Protestant book with the title The rise and fall of Moscow. At present she is a free-lance priests to create a favourable moral cli- Coromandel. researcher and teaches at the Utrecht Insti- mate in the trade posts. Some inquisi- The book by tute of Translators (ITV). tive Company servants in the 17th and Baldaeus: bastard Havart’s statement of ‘fall’ refers to the [email protected]

18th centuries contributed to the public 1958-59 S.D. Saparamadu, title page of 1672 gradual decline in moral climate at

14 IIAS Newsletter | #35 | November 2004