Missioner's kin in Mangalore to study his feat

175 years later...

They will also be taking part in the 200th birth anniversary of Basel Evangelical Mission Seminary Founder Principal Rev Dr Herman Moegling on October 27 at 5 pm at Bishop Jathanna Auditorium in Mangalore.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, 52-year-old Monika Landgraf said that it was fascinating to witness her great grandfather’s achievements in the last century.

“We will be visiting all the places including Mangalore, Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Bellary where Rev Moegling served,” she said and added that she has been maintaining a diary of her visit, but she is not sure whether she would bring it out in a book format.
Giving details about her father, Stuart Hald (retired as an Engineer) and grandfather Albert Moegling (a medical doctor), she said Rev Moegling was much revered in Esslingen in Germany, where his memorial is.

It may be noted here that within seven years of his arriving in Mangalore, he had mastered Kannada and launched Karnataka’s first vernacular newspaper ‘Mangaloora Samachara’ in 1843.

The last contribution to Kannada from Moegling was his interest in bringing out a Kannada – English dictionary and he suggested the name of Rev Ferdinand Kittle as the ideal person to head the project, before he passed away in 1881.

First convert’s kin
It is interesting to note that Rev Moegling married his cousin Gottfried Weigle’s wife Pauline at the age of 45 after Weigle passed away. This marriage also gave Moegling four stepchildren from Pauline's earlier marriage.

Interestingly, the team (most of them descendents of missionaries) also comprises Ursula Kaundinya and her husband Peter-Jens Kaundinya (71), the great grandson of Anand Rao Kaundinya (1825-1893), a Brahmin and the first Indian to be trained as a missionary by the Basel Mission.

Kaundinya was converted by Rev Moegling in 1843, who later on became one of Moegling’s closest friends.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Peter-Jens Kaundinya said his father Manfred Kaundinya was in the German Army and killed during World War II while his grandfather Ranga Kaundinya was a plantation manager.

Referring to his great grandfather Anand Rao Kaundinya, who was born in Anandapura (in Kodagu), he said he and his family members were proud that his great grandfather was a very determined person and committed to developing society.

Celebrations in M’lore
As a part of 200th birth anniversary of Moegling organised by Karnataka Christian Educational Society on October 27, Dr B M Hegde, former vice chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education will release the book by Albhert Franz ‘Eine Reise In Die Religionen’ (German) and its English version ‘A journey into religions’.

The first convert
Anand Rao Kaundinya, son of a Brahmin lawyer, was the first Indian to be trained as a missionary by the Basel Mission. He was orphaned at the age of nine and sent by his uncles to an English language school founded by the mission.

According to records, his wife remained a Brahmin and refused to live with him after he embraced Christianity. Kaundinya was accepted as a missionary student, trained at the Basel Seminary (1846-1851) and was ordained at the Stadtkirche Leoberg in Wurttemberg, before returning to India.

His wife then joined him and died in 1853. He translated school books into Kannada and worked with Moegling on translating the Bible dictionary, a popular reference work among priests in Germany. When called by the Basel Mission (BM) to work at the Mangalore Catechist Training Centre as a teacher and house father, he applied to the Basel Mission home board to find him a life partner from Germany.

Marie Reinhardt, the daughter of the Mayor of Schoemberg, near Stuttgart, was then asked by Moegling’s mother if she was willing to become Kaundinya’s wife.

After their marriage in 1860, the couple had 11 children, five of whom are said to have died early. Two daughters became missionaries’ wives, and one son worked in Ghana as a BM missionary trader.