Thrissur: It was utmost happiness for Otto Duisen, a retired businessman from Germany, to see the efforts taken by the natives to preserve an old church established over three centuries back.
“When people start drifting away from culture and heritage, these efforts to preserve the history of a man who came from Germany should be applauded,” said Otto Duisen at a function to welcome members of the Arnos Pathiri Academy at Velur in the district on Tuesday.
A group of 25 people from Ostercappeln, a municipality in the Osnabruck district of Germany and native village of Arnos Pathiri, visited the St Francis Xavier Forane Church established by him at Velur.
The church has been taken over by the department of museum, Kerala, but a conservation plan to maintain the centuries-old church had not been initiated yet.
Adjacent to the church, a small outhouse used by Arnos Pathiri has also been preserved.
“Though people know about Arnos Pathiri and the church here, his works like ‘Puthan Pana’, Malayalam grammatical texts etc have not been recognized much globally,” said John Kalliath, who had published a number of books on the history and literature of Arnos Pathiri.
Johann Ernst Hanxleden, known as Arnos Pathiri, was a German Jesuit priest, missionary, Sanskrit and Malayalam poet.
“When Sanskrit remained a banned language for the untouchables during the caste system prevailed in Kerala, Arnos Pathiri took efforts to learn it and even write a book on its grammar,” added John Kaliath.
Arnos Pathiri died on March 20, 1732, after a snake bite and was buried at Pazhuvilwhich was also visited by the team of Germans on Tuesday.
“It has been over three centuries since Arnos Pathiri passed away and it’s the first time people from his native place visiting this church where he spent most of his life,” said Jose Kuzhichalil, parish priest at Ostercappeln who accompanied the team on this visit.
