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The introduction and early development of printing in South India is attributed to missionary propaganda and the endeavours of the British East India Company. Among the pioneers in this arena, maximum attention is claimed by the Jesuit missionaries,followed by the Protestant Fathers and Hindu pundits. Once the immigrants realized the importance of the local language, they began to disseminate their religious teachings in the local language, in effect ushering in the vernacular print culture in India. The first Tamil booklet was printed in 1554 (February 11) in Lisbon - ''Carthila e lingoa Tamul e. Portugues'' in Romanized Tamil script by Vincente de Nazareth, Jorge Carvalho and Thoma da Cruz, all from Paravas community of Tuticorin. it is also the first non-European language to find space in the modern printing culture in the world. These developments took place at a time when other locations such as Madurai were still confined to the use of copper plates and stone inscriptions. This book was printed earlier than the first printed and dated books of Russia (1563), Africa (1624) and Greece (1821).〔''(Karka...Nirka... )'' Blog on Tamil Literature〕 == Henriques and the sixteenth century == Tamil appearance in print, both in Roman transliteration and its script was the result of the convergence between colonial expansion and local politics, coupled with the efforts of a Portuguese Jesuit, Henrique Henriques who arrived on the Fishery Coast(Tuticorin) in 1547. During his stay Henriques produced five different books in Tamil script and language, printed at various Jesuit settlements on the west coast. He also compiled a Tamil Grammar and a Tamil Dictionary, which, though never printed, were widely used by other Europeans. Graham Shaw speaks of Henriques as, “the first great European Scholar of any Indian language" (Stuart Blackburn). Around 1575 Henriques was relieved of his missionary duties on the east coast and moved to Goa where he began to prepare his texts. Henriques there was assisted by Father Pero Luis,who entered the Jesuit order in 1562. The stage was finally set when Tamil types were cast in Goa by Joao Goncalves (perfected by Father Joao da Faria in Kollam), with the assistance of Luis. In 1577 the first of the Henriques’ five books, ''Doctrina Christam en Lingua Malauar Tamul (Thambiran Vanakkam)'' was printed in Goa. The book was the first book with Indian type. Although some scholars refuse to consider this as a historical fact, Graham Shaw seems convinced that it was printed. The second printed Tamil book was only 16 pages long, but a third Catechism of 127 pages, a Tamil translation of the popular Portuguese text by Marcos Jorge, was printed again with new type in Cochin on November 14, 1579. Three Catechisms were printed with three sets of type, at three different locations on the west coast over the following three years . Henriques’ two other books printed at Cochin were: # A Confessionary (''Confessionairo'') 1580 (214 pages) # Lives of Saints (''Flos Sanctorum''), 1586 (669 pages) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Printing in Tamil language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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