Henry Alfred Krishnapillai
Henry Alfred Krishnapillai (1827–1900) was a well-known poet in
Krishnapillai is well known to use analogies from Hindu text in his Christian writings. His Christian
Early life
Krishna Pillai was born in 1827 at Karaiyiruppu,
Conversion to Christianity
In May 1853, he moved to Sawyerpuram, a Christian hamlet. The settlement was founded by the Society for Propagation of the Gospel.
Tamil Christian literature
After his retirement, Krishnapillai aspired to write Tamil Christian classics[4] along the lines of Hindu epics.[1] Hence, he spent the 16 years writing the book Rakshanya Yatrikam (the journey of salvation, 1894). This work was modeled after John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Nevertheless, it was not a translation but an adaptation of the story in Tamil.[1] This work is considered as his masterpiece. He had read the Pilgrim's Progress even before his conversion and had planned to retell the story in Tamil verses. However, he started working on it only in 1878 to appear serially in Friendly Instructor. He fell ill with malaria in 1879, and then, with encouragement from his friends, Krishnapillai decided to compile the work in an epic form similar to the Tamil Ramayana. After 16 years, it was sent to print in 1894 and is considered one of the most significant Tamil poetry works of the nineteenth century.[5]
In addition to this masterpiece, Krishnapillai wrote several other books in Tamil on Christianity.
DIED ON : 3 February 1900
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 376
- ^ a b A Dictionary of Indian Literature, p. 187
- ^ Love's Redeeming Work, p. 460
- ^ Dictionary of Hindu Literature, p. 102
- ^ Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, p. 115
- ^ "'Thamizh Isai Peruvizha' to be held on November 5, 6". The Hindu. 3 November 2005. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Religions View Religions, p. 253
- ^ The Smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India, p. 265
References
- Anderson, Gerald (1999). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.
- Gort, Jerald; Henry Jansen; Hendrik M. Vroom (2006). Religions View Religions. Rodopi. p. 252. ISBN 978-90-420-1858-7.
- Kaplan, Steven (1995). Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity. NYU Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8147-4649-3.
- Mukherjee, Sujit (1999). A Dictionary of Indian Literature. Orient Blackswan. p. 187. ISBN 978-81-250-1453-9.
- Rowell, Geoffrey; Kenneth Stevenson; Rowan Williams (2003). Love's Redeeming Work. Oxford University Press. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-19-107058-7.
- Satyendra, Kuśa (2000). Dictionary of Hindu Literature. Sarup & Sons. p. 102. ISBN 978-81-7625-159-4.
- Zvelebil, Kamil (1973). The Smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India. Brill. p. 265. ISBN 978-90-04-03591-1.
