G.U.POPE
George
Uglow Pope was born on 24 April 1820 in Prince Edward Island in Nova
Scotia. His family migrated to England when he was an infant. Even as a
child he cultivated many languages. He left for South India in 1839. It
was at Sawyerpuram near Tuticorin.
Sawyerpuram
is a town panchayat in Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu, India. Since
missionary Dr. G. U. Pope ministered in this place the population is
predominantly Christian. This place is an historical and religious
place. It was first a settlement of persecuted Christians on land
provided by Mr. Sawyer, an Anglo-Indian layman in the employ of the East
India Company. The village thus formed in 1814 was gratefully named
after him as Sawyerpuram. The Christian settlers quickly organized
themselves, and by 1838 had built for themselves a small church and a
school attended by 10 children. However, it was with the advent of
intrepid young Dr. G. U. Pope in 1842 that Sawyerpuram shot into
prominence in the annals of missionary history. He established in 1844
the renowned “Sawyerpuram Seminary”, which for a long time was the
nursery of hundreds of Indian clergymen, teachers and catechists. The
esteem in which this reputable centre of learning was held can be seen
from the fact that the Oxford University contributed to the formation of
a suitable library within its walls. Dr.G.U Pope is a Tamil Patron.
"The
Student of Tamil" bloomed into a scholar of Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu.
Pope setup several schools and taught Latin, English, Hebrew,
Mathematics and Philosophy. As he was a martinet he was always in
trouble. Of him Bishop Caldwell said: "The chief drawback to his success
was the severity of his discipline which led, after a succession of
petty rebellions, to his withdrawal". Pope believed in the theory:
"Things have tears". He worked with the motto: "Conscience within and
God above". He completed his translation of Tirukkural on September 1,
1886. His "Sacred Kural" contains introduction, grammar, translation,
notes, lexicon and concordance. It also includes the English translation
of F.W.Ellis and the Latin Translation of Fr. Beschi. It is a tome of
436 pages. He had, by February 1893, translated Naaladiyaar. His magnum
opus, the translation of Tiruvachakam appeared in 1900. Of this he says:
"I date this on my eightieth birthday. I find, by reference, that my
first Tamil lesson was in 1837. This ends, as I suppose a long life of
devotion to Tamil studies. It is not without deep emotion that I thus
bring to a close my life's literary work". The much coveted Gold Medal
of the Royal Asiatic Society was awarded to him in 1906. He passed away
on 12 February 1908. The services of this great soul to Tamil and
Saivism defy reckoning by weights and measures. In his last days he was a
mature Saiva Siddhanti, with his faith as ever rooted in Chiristianity.
He delivered his last sermon on May 26, 1907.
Dr.
G U Pope’s efforts were equally directed to the extension of the
Church. He built the All Saints Church at nearby Subramaniapuram
enduring extreme hostility and insult. The lovely red-brick Holy Trinity
Church at Sawyerpuram was built by Rev. Huxtable and Rev. Sharrock and
dedicated on 11 November 1877 by the Most Rev. Johnson, Metropolitan of
India.
The Tamils are eternally indebted to Dr. Pope.
ReplyDelete