Karl Graul
Portrait of Karl Graul
Born	(1814-02-06)6 February 1814 Wörlitz,Anhalt-Dessau,Germany
Died	(1864-11-10)10 November 1864 Erlangen
Occupation(s)	Leader ofLeipzigLutheranmission and aTamil scholar

Karl Graul (6 February 1814 – 10 November 1864)^[1][2] was a leader ofLeipzigLutheranmission and aTamil scholar. He was born in a poor weaver family inGermany. He moved toIndia as the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1849 and there he mastered Tamil.

Graul was one of the foremost figures inmissiology. His approach towardscaste system was considered to be too lenient by his critics since he considered that caste system would fade on its own accord and Christian organizations need not interfere with local traditions. He also advocated the supremacy ofLutheranism over other Christian denominations and found it hard to cooperate withAnglicans in India.

Karl Graul was born inWörlitz, in the Duchy ofAnhalt-Dessau, into a poorweaver's family. In spite of his poor background he received good education inclassical andmodern languages as well as in theology. However, as for as mission and missiology is concerned he was entirely self-taught.^[1]

Karl Graul was appointed the director of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission in 1844. The Lutheran mission had succeeded the Danish-Hale mission inSouth India. During his stay in India, Graul mastered the Tamil language.^[1] After returning to Leipzig in 1853 he taught Tamil language and literature at the mission house.^[3] Later Graul wroteBibilotheca Tamulica seu Opera Praecipua Tamuliensium (1854–1865). A work in 4 volumes, it contains in its third and fourth volumes the first complete translation of theTirukkural inLatin,German,^[4] and the standard spoken Tamil with notes and glossaries. It was published by his studentWilhelm Germann the year after Graul's death inErlangen. Graul also wrote aTamil Grammar in German (1855).^[1]

Graul being one of the foremost figures in missiology, insisted that other missionaries should go through academic training both in mission as well in theology. He insisted that the knowledge of locals with contextual approach towards indigenous churches.^[1]

Graul's views oncaste system was considered by his critics as "too lenient".^[1] This was in light thatMadras Missionary Conference resolved that no one should be admitted tobaptism until he had shed off the caste identity and breaks the caste by eating food prepared by a person from the lower caste. According toStephen Neill allProtestant missionary societies agreed to these terms except for Graul's Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission. This was since Graul, who took a “middle” standpoint and regarded the caste as “a natural kingdom lying between the divine and the demonic”,^[5] believed that caste system can be removed only as a slow process^[6][7] and making it mandatory is not needed.^[7] It was his view that missionaries should not interfere with indigenous social orders unless they are wholly incompatible with theGospel.^[8]

Graul believed in supremacy of Lutheranism over other Christian denominations.^[1] Thus he found it hard on mutual cooperation withAnglicans in India especially on communion.^[9]

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Key figures Missionaries John Campanius Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg Hans Egede Johann Heinrich Callenberg Johann Phillip Fabricius Paul Henkel John Christian Frederick Heyer Karl Graul Martti Rautanen Wilhelm Sihler F. C. D. Wyneken Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder Lars Olsen Skrefsrud Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen Onesimos Nesib Paul Olaf Bodding Johann Flierl Christian Keyser Jens Christensen Bible Translators Martin Luther Casiodoro de Reina Kjell Magne Yri Onesimos Nesib Aster Ganno Kristian Osvald Viderø Jákup Dahl Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg Johann Phillip Fabricius William Tyndale John Rogers George Constantine Jozef Roháček Johannes Avetaranian Guðbrandur Þorláksson Ludvig Olsen Fossum Hans Egede / Paul Egede Otto Fabricius Nils Vibe Stockfleth Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri Martti Rautanen Primož Trubar Jurij Dalmatin Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen Sebastian Krelj Mikael Agricola Norwegian Bible Society Swedish Bible Society Samuel Ludwik Zasadius Stanislovas Rapolionis Laurentius Andreae Hans Tausen Olaf M. Norlie Jonas Bretkūnas Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder Antonio Brucioli Mikołaj Jakubica Matthias Bel Johann Ernst Glück William F. Beck Theologians Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora Philip Melanchthon Johannes Bugenhagen Johannes Brenz Justus Jonas Hans Tausen Laurentius Petri Olaus Petri Mikael Agricola Matthias Flacius Martin Chemnitz Johann Gerhard Abraham Calovius Johannes Andreas Quenstedt Johann Wilhelm Baier Philipp Spener David Hollaz August Hermann Francke Henry Muhlenberg Lars Levi Laestadius Charles Porterfield Krauth C. F. W. Walther Søren Kierkegaard Albrecht Ritschl Wilhelm Herrmann F. W. Stellhorn Rudolf Otto Ernst Troeltsch Rudolf Bultmann Paul Tillich Hermann Sasse Dietrich Bonhoeffer Wolfhart Pannenberg Robert Jenson
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Graul in 1864 qualified himself as a university lecturer in missiology atErlangen. However, he died the same year even before taking up the position.^[1]

• Übersetzung von Dante Allghieri'sGöttlicher Komödie; 1843. (Elektronischer Text auf www.dantealighieri.dk)
• Unterscheidungslehren der verschiedenen christlichen Bekenntnisse; 1845
• Die Ev.-Luth. Mission an die ev-luth. Kirche aller Lande; 1845
• Explanations concerning the principles of the Leipzig Society with regard to the Caste-Question; Madras 1851
• Reise nach Ostindien, 5 volumes; 1854–56
• Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium, 4 volumes
  • Volume 1:Tamulische Schriften zur Erläuterung des Vedanta-Systems oder der rechtgläubigen Philosophie der Hindus. Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1854. (Digitalisat)
  • Volume 2:Kaivaljanavanīta. A Vedanta Poem. The Tamil Text with a Translation and Glossary and Grammatical Notes. Leipzig/London 1855. (Digitalisat)
  • Volume 3:Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen. Übersetzung und Erklärung von Karl Graul. Leipzig 1856. (Digitalisat)
  • Volume 4:Kural of Tiruvalluver. High-Tamil Text with Translation into Common Tamil and Latin, Notes and Glossary. Leipzig 1865. (Digitalisat)
• Outline of Tamil Grammar; 1855
• Die christliche Kirche an der Schwelle des irenäischen Zeitalters; 1860
• Die Stellung der evangelisch-lutherischen Mission in Leipzig zur ostindischen Kastenfrage; 1861
• Über Stellung und Bedeutung der christlichen Missionen im Ganzen der Universitätswissentschaften; 1864
• Indische Sinnpflanzen und Blumen zur Kennzeichnung des indischen, vornehmlich tamulischen Geistes; 1864

• Tirukkural translations into German
• List of translators

• Werner Raupp (Ed.): Mission in Quellentexten. Geschichte der Deutschen Evangelischen Mission von der Reformation bis zur Weltmissionskonferenz Edinburgh 1910, Erlangen/Bad Liebenzell 1990 (ISBN 3-87214-238-0 / 3-88002-424-3), p. 336-343 (a) Stellung der evanglisch-lutherischen Mission in Leipzig zur ostindischen Kastenfrage, 1861, p. 1-22; b) Über Stellung und Bedeutung der christlichen Missionen im Ganzen der Universitätswissentschaften, 1864, p. 4-14).

• Anderson, Gerald (1999).Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 257.ISBN 978-0-8028-4680-8.

• Fiedler, Klaus (1996).Christianity and African Culture. Brill. pp. 23–24.ISBN 978-90-04-10497-6.

• Neill, Stephen (2002).A History of Christianity in India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 396 and 407.ISBN 978-0-521-89332-9.

• Scherer, James. A. (1993)."The Triumph of Confessionalism in Nineteenth-Century German Lutheran Missions"(PDF).Missio Apostolica.2:71–78. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 12 January 2006. Retrieved26 January 2009.

• 1814 births
• 1864 deaths
• People from Wörlitz
• People from Anhalt-Dessau
• German Lutheran missionaries
• Lutheran missionaries in India
• German expatriates in India
• Tamil–German translators
• Tamil–Latin translators
• 19th-century German linguists
• Translators of the Tirukkural into German
• Translators of the Tirukkural into Latin
• 19th-century German translators
• Translators of Dante Alighieri
• Tirukkural translators
• 19th-century Lutherans
• Missionary linguists

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