https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=William_Henry_Drew_%28missionary%29William Henry Drew (missionary) - Revision history2026-11-08T16:48:23ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Henry_Drew_(missionary)&diff=115900&oldid=prev>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* References */add category2021-04-22T15:58:37Z<p><span class="autocomment">References: </span>add category</p>
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'''William Henry Drew''' was a 19th-century [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionary]] to [[India]] who rendered the [[Tirukkural]] into English. However, he translated only the first 630 couplets of the Tirukkural.<br />
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==Work==<br />
William Henry Drew rendered the Tirukkural into [[English language|English]] in [[prose]] form and first published it in 1840. Of the 133 chapters of the Kural text, Drew translated only the first 63 chapters. The first edition also included the original [[Tamil language|Tamil]] text, [[Parimelazhagar]]'s commentary, [[Ramanuja Kavirayar]]'s amplification of the commentary, in addition to Drew's English prose renderings.<ref name="OnTranslatingTirukkural">{{cite book<br />
| last = Ramasamy<br />
| first = V.<br />
| title = On Translating Tirukkural<br />
| publisher = International Institute of Tamil Studies<br />
| edition = First<br />
| date = 2001<br />
| location = Chennai<br />
}}</ref> Drew's rendering closely followed the commentary of Parimelalakar and thus almost remained close to the original work of [[Valluvar]]. In 1852, [[John Lazarus (Christian missionary)|John Lazarus]] revised Drew's work (Chapters 1 through 63) and published it after completing the remaining portion of the Kural text, beginning from Chapter 64 through Chapter 133. Thus, Drew and Lazarus together made the first complete prose translation of the Tirukkural available in English.<br />
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As [[Robert Caldwell]] remarked, "Drew was a Devout man, a zealous missionary, a man of culture and devoted student of Tamil . . . His edition of the Kural, a great Tamil Classic, though he did not live to complete the work, placed him in the first rank of European Tamil scholars . . . I derived much benefit from the stimulus to Tamil studies that I received from my daily intercourse with Mr. Drew."<ref>Bishop Caldwell's ''Reminiscences'', 1894, p. 52</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
{{Portal|India|Tamils|Literature|Poetry}}<br />
* [[Tirukkural translations]]<br />
* [[Tirukkural translations into English]]<br />
* [[List of translators into English]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
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==References==<br />
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*{{cite book|last=Manavalan (Ed.)|first=A.A.|title=A Compendium of ''Tirukkural'' Translations in English|year=2010|publisher=Central Institute of Classical Tamil|isbn=978-81-908000-2-0}}<br />
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{{Tirukkural}}<br />
{{Tamil language}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, William Henry}}<br />
[[Category:Christian missionaries in India]]<br />
[[Category:Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background]]<br />
[[Category:Tamil–English translators]]<br />
[[Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into English]]<br />
[[Category:Tirukkural translators]]<br />
[[Category:Missionary linguists]]</div>>Ser Amantio di Nicolao