Hermann Mögling
Encyclopedia
Basel Mission
The Basel Mission is a Christian missionary society active from 1815 to 2001, when it was merged into Mission 21, the successor organization of Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione founded in 2001....
who spent most of his career in the western regions of the state of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He is credited to be the publisher of the first ever newspaper in the Kannada language called as Mangalooru Samachara in 1843. He was awarded a doctorate for his literary work in Kannada called as Bibliotheca Carnataca. He also translated Kannada literature
Kannada literature
Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
Early life
Hermann Mögling was born in 1811 in the town of BrackenheimBrackenheim
Brackenheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 15 km southwest of Heilbronn.With an area of 826 hectare of vineyards, it's the biggest grape-growing municipality of Württemberg....
in the Kingdom of Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...
and joined the Basel Mission
Basel Mission
The Basel Mission is a Christian missionary society active from 1815 to 2001, when it was merged into Mission 21, the successor organization of Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione founded in 2001....
. He came to the city of Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
in Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
as a missionary of Basel Mission
Basel Mission
The Basel Mission is a Christian missionary society active from 1815 to 2001, when it was merged into Mission 21, the successor organization of Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione founded in 2001....
in 1836.
Career
Mögling, being a Christian missionary, was involved in missionary related work in MangaloreMangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
but he also learnt the native Kannada language and contributed significantly to Kannada literature. One of his pioneering works was the publication of the first Kannada newspaper, Mangalooru Samachara (meaning Mangalore News).
Newspaper publishing
In the days of Mögling's career at MangaloreMangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
, there was no simple way of communicating news and other items to the general public because of non-existence of a medium like radio and of a newspaper in the native language. He decided to publish a Kannada newspaper with the intention of spreading news items to the public. He decided to name it as Mangalooru Samachara and its first issue rolled out on 1 July 1843. Thereafter it was published fortnightly and contained 4 pages. The paper was printed using stone slabs. Some of the news items covered were local Mangalore-related news, Indian population, news related to the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and its laws and regulations. Even songs of Purandaradasa and moral stories were also printed. There are conflicting reports on whether this newspaper was used by Mögling as a tool for proselytisation or not. The newspaper became popular and it was decided to shift its publication to the city of Bellary
Bellary
Bellary is a historic city in Bellary District in Karnataka state, India.-Origins of the city's name:There are several legends about how Bellary got its name....
where it was renamed as Karnataka Samachara. Karnataka Samachara was first released on 1 May 1844 and in fact it was the 15th issue of Mangalooru Samachara. Karnataka Samachara was the first Kannada newspaper to be printed using movable type
Movable type
Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
. Unfortunately, only three issues of Karnataka Samachara were released. Mögling is credited to be one of the visionaries for a unified Karnataka
Unification of Karnataka
The Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
. In his times, not much communication used to happen between the north and south regions of present-day Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
though the people in these two regions spoke the same language, Kannada. In the last issue of Karnataka Samachara, he talks of a Samagra Karnataka (Unified Karnataka) which is essentially a union of these different regions.
Proselytisation
Mögling's main job as a missionary of Basel Mission was the spread of ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. One of his converts by name Anandaraya Kaundinya and his family have exchanged letters with Mögling which he has published under the title Iraaru patragalu (Twelve letters). This was the first collection of letters ever published in Kannada. Even during his stay in Kodagu
Kodagu
Kodagu , also known by its anglicised former name of Coorg, is an administrative district in Karnataka, India. It occupies an area of in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. As of 2001, the population was 548,561, 13.74% of which resided in the district's urban centres, making it the least...
district during the years (1853–1858) he spent lot of his time on proselytisation and he also published a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
book titled Das Kurgland which mainly deals with his activities related to Christianity.
Literature
In 1848, Mögling started dealing with Kannada literature by publishing a list of more than 3000 Kannada proverbs. He also composed about 20 poems (along with Weigle who was his cousin brother and a fellow Basel Missionary) in modern Kannada poetical form. This makes him a pioneer of modern Kannada poetry. But his most important contribution to the Kannada literature is regarded as the Bibliotheca Carnataca; which is a collection of Kannada classics edited and published by him between the period 1848-1853. Mögling was helped in this venture by a philanthropist, J Casamajor who was a retired judge from ChennaiChennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
and settled in Nilgiris. With an exchange of letters, the two discussed on ways to collect Kannada manuscripts, select the important ones among them for publishing and identifying skilled people who would be needed to complete this activity. Casamajor agreed to bear all the expenses required for this venture and was very particular that his name should not be mentioned in any of the publications. A total of eight titles were brought out, the first one being the Ravana digvijaya - Yakshagana Prasanga (the victory of Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
, based on a scene from Yakshagana
Yakshagana
Yakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
). The largest published title running 760 pages was the Basava Purana
Basava purana
The Basava purana in Telugu was written by Palkuriki Somanatha at 13th C. Later it is translated in to kannada by Bhima kavi. This is the epic poem narrating the life story of Basaveshwara....
and the smallest one was Kanakadasa's Haribhaktasara. Other titles published as a part of Bibliotheca Carnataca were Dasara Padagalu (a collection of 170 Haridasa
Haridasa
The Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
songs) and Lakshmisha's Jaimini Bharata. This venture met an abrupt end due to the sudden demise of Casamajor and Mögling's return to Germany.
During his stay in Kodagu
Kodagu
Kodagu , also known by its anglicised former name of Coorg, is an administrative district in Karnataka, India. It occupies an area of in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. As of 2001, the population was 548,561, 13.74% of which resided in the district's urban centres, making it the least...
, Mögling also published the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
book Das Kurgland and also a Kannada book titled Raajendranaame at the behest of the Kodagu
Kodagu
Kodagu , also known by its anglicised former name of Coorg, is an administrative district in Karnataka, India. It occupies an area of in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. As of 2001, the population was 548,561, 13.74% of which resided in the district's urban centres, making it the least...
king, Senior Virarajendra. The whole book Raajendraname was printed using a simpler orthographic form invented by Mögling himself. The Kannada language uses double consonants frequently, which Mögling felt was difficult for children to learn easily and also to print (since a blank line between two print lines was necessitated to print the double consonant). Mögling devised a scheme of accommodating the double consonant in the same single line by breaking the double consonant into a half consonant wherever possible. After getting an approval for his scheme from the Madras Province's Education Department, Mögling published this entire book in his devised orthography. He also published a book called Coorg Memoirs which is supposedly one of the earliest history books on Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
. In this book, he has described the social life of Kodava
Kodava
The Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...
s and their customs as well.
On his return to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, he translated 24 songs of Kanakadasa and Purandaradasa to the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
which were published by Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
The Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft is a journal of Oriental studies, published by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft since 1847....
, an Oriental society in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1870, he also translated the first two chapters (67 verses) of Bibliotheca Carnatacas Jaimini Bharata into German.
Pilgrims Progress was published in Kannada by Moegling and Weigle in 1848
Late years
When his cousin Gottfried WeigleGottfried Weigle
Gottfried Weigle was a German missionary to Karnataka who translated the Bible into Kannada.He was based in Dharwad, under the Basel Mission in Mangalore. Herrmann Moegling, a fellow student from Tübingen also worked on translation projects. Ferdinand Kittel worked more independently...
died in 1855, Mögling (at a late age of 45) married Weigle's wife Pauline. This marriage also gave Mögling four stepchildren from Pauline's earlier marriage. One last contribution to Kannada from him was his interest in coming up with a Kannada - English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
dictionary. He motivated the British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
in this project and also suggested the name of Ferdinand Kittel
Ferdinand Kittel
Reverend Ferdinand Kittel was a priest and indologist with the Basel Mission in south India and worked in Mangalore, Madikeri and Dharwad in Karnataka. He is most famous for his studies of the Kannada language and for producing the first ever Kannada-English dictionary of about 70,000 words in 1894...
as the ideal person to head the project. Mögling died in 1881 and his memorial is in Esslingen.
Recognition
- At the recommendation of Rudolph Roth (a reputed Indologist), Mögling's alma materAlma materAlma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
; the Eberhard Karls University of TübingenEberhard Karls University of TübingenEberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...
awarded Mögling an honorary doctorate in 1858 for his work, Bibliotheca Carnataca. - The Mögling Institute of German Language which is in MangaloreMangaloreMangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
and affiliated to Mangalore UniversityMangalore UniversityMangalore University is a public university located in Konaje, Karnataka State of India. Ranked with a four star by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in June 2000, this young university offers higher education and conducts research in various fields...
is named after him. - 1 July (the day when the first issue of Mangalooru Samachara was released) is celebrated as Kannada Press Day in KarnatakaKarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
.