First Catholic priest awarded for promoting Tamil language

By Robancy A Helen

Chennai, Feb 24, 2024: An octogenarian Catholic priest says an award he received from the Tamil Nadu government is the recognition of what Christians have contributed to the growth of Tamil language in the past five centuries.

“I am glad the Christian contribution to Tamil language is being recognized. The larger society has not recognized properly the contribution of Christians in various fields in Tamil Nadu,” Father D Amudhan, the recipient of the 2022 George Uglow Pope (G.U. Pope) Award, told Matters India February 24.

The Tamil Nadu’s Department of Tamil Development awarded Father Amudhan, a well-known academic from Tanjore diocese, at a function on February 22 at the Raja Rathnam Auditorium in Adayar, Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

Father Amudhan is the first Catholic priest and the second Christian to receive this award, named after a 19th century British Anglican missionary who had served in Tamil Nadu for 40 years.

The priest, who would turn 81 on April 18, was among 25 people who received the award for their contributions to Tamil language and literature from M P Swaminathan, minister for Tamil Development and Tourism.

Father Amudhan, former president of the Indian Catholic Press Association and executive director of South Asian News (SAR News), has presented several research papers at national and global levels. He has also published 17 research articles in Tamil and eight in English, concentrating on Christian contributions to the Tamil language and culture.

He also served as the executive secretary of the Commission for Media under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India from 1979 to 1982.

He has visited more than 25 countries for research purposes. He has learned English, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, French, Greek, Hebrew, German, and Malayalam to contribute to the Tamil language. He has a doctorate in Tamil.

“If I am born in a country, in my case, Tamil Nadu, I must serve the language and the people. To serve, I must learn the language well; only then can I contribute. This I have tried to do to the best of my ability,” Father Amudhan explained.

At present, Father Amudhan, who founded the Thaninayagam Institute in Trichy, guides research students.

Antony Cruz, the former Head of the Department of Tamil at Trichy’s at St. Joseph’s College, hailed Father Amudhan as “a vivid reader who analyzes the global, national, and state-level work on the Tamil language.”

He said he was proud of Father Amudhan and thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin for conferring him “the prestigious award.”

Father Amudhan was born Manuel Joseph Destonis on April 18, 1943, in Punnaikayal, a Catholic village in the coastal area of the Tuticorin diocese. He renamed himself Amudhan (Elixir) for his love of the Tamil language.

He has authored nine books, including one about Christianity in the coastal villages of Tuticorin, including his native place.

“I am the disciple of Father Thaninayagam Adikal, who modernized and carried the glory that the language has across the world through his writings and speeches,” Father Amudhan said.

The Amudhan Adikal Silver Jubilee Charitable Trust, set up to mark the silver jubilee of his priestly ordination, honors annually contributors to Tamil language and literature.

Amuthath Tamil, a book written by another Tamil scholar M. Alphonse and published on his 75th birthday in 2017, speaks of Father Amudhan’s life and works.

Bishop Emeritus Soosai Manikam of Sivagangai, Father Amudhan’s friend from the seminary days, recalled the priest helping him proofread the translation of the Bible in Tamil in 1986. “He translated the Book of Esther from Greek to Tamil,” the prelate told Matters India.

The award is named after George Uglow Pope (1820–1908), an Anglican missionary and Tamil scholar, who learned Tamil and translated many Tamil texts into English.

They included the Tirukkural (sacred verses), a Tamil classic, considered one of the greatest works written on ethics and morality, and Thiruvasagam, (sacred utterance), a volume of Tamil hymns composed by the ninth century Shaivite bhakti poet Manikkavasagar.