Johann Ernst Hanxleden

Johann Ernst Hanxleden Biography

Johann Ernst Hanxleden was a Grammarian, lexicographer and philologist Jesuit missionary associated with Kerala and Malayalam and Sanskrit literature. He is best known as the first European to write a book on Sanskrit grammar. The book was titled Grammatica grandonica, and completed around 300 years ago and is considered one of the earliest missionary grammars in Sanskrit. Hanxleden was the first to compile a Malayalam Dictionary and its lexicon used both Sanskrit and Portuguese languages. He is also the author of celebrated Malayalam Mahakavyam, Puthen Pana – on the life of Jesus Christ. He spent his last days in Kerala. He was fondly called Arnos Paathiri by Malayalis. Paathiri literally means ‘Priest’.

Hanxleden was born at Ostercappeln of Germany in 1681. He reached India as a part of missionary work to preach Christianity. He reached Surat in 1700 a member of the Society of Jesus. He started his journey with his friends Jesuits Wilhelm Weber and Wilhelm Meyr though both couldn’t reach India and died before. He reached Goa where there were a lot Christianity believers. After Novitiate, he reached Thrissur, Kerala. He was sent to Seminary at Sampaloor where he completed his studies. He also started learning the regional language Malayalam and gave significant contribution to Malayalam literature. He was also proficient in Latin, Syriac, Portuguese, Sanskrit, and Tamil, apart from German.

Apart from his mission to preach Christianity across Kerala, he also served as the vicar of the main church in Malabar. In 1712 he settled at a small village Velur of Thrissur after building a church there. It was during this time when he completed his major works. He died on 20 March 1732 at Pazhuvil of a snake-bite and a memorial was built outside the church, and his burials got shifted to that place to form a historical museum.

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Updated: June 16, 2014