At the Origins of European Oriental Studies: an Unknown Letter by Benjamin Schultze to Georg Jacob Kehr

Abstract

The Russian Archive of Ancient Acts funds hold an archive belonging to G. J. Kehr (1692–1740), who stood at the very origins of European Oriental studies. There is very little information about this person. His archive is very large and extremely poorly parsed. Among the letters preserved in it are messages from eminent personalities of those days. Some papers of G.J. Kehr are connected with the South of India (Tranquebar), where Lutheran priests who were part of the so-called Danish Royal Mission were working at that time. Among these papers there is a small letter from B. Schultze (1689–-1760). Schultze became the head of the mission in Tranquebar after the death of B. Ziegenbalg (1682–1719), its first organizer. Like Ziegenbalg, Schulze did a lot for the Christianization of the region and for the formation of Oriental studies as a science. He was the first among Europeans to study the Telugu language, published the grammar of this language, translated the texts of the Bible into it. He studied dakkhinī, a dialect of Hindustani. Schulze published a grammar of this language, outlining its basic rules in Latin. His letter below, addressed to Kehr, is obviously a continuation of the previous correspondence. Among other things, the message contains some rules for reading Tamil texts. In addition, valuable information is given about the work of missionaries on the translation of Christian literature into Tamil and about the activity of the Printing house established in Tranquebar. Finally, the letter mentions the names of people significant for the era (language teachers and translators), who probably formed a circle of acquaintances for both G.J.Kehr and B. Schultze.