Whole person education as a multidimensional and dialogical process : A South Indian example

This chapter examines main aspects of Whole Person Education (WPE), which the European Lutheran missionaries and their Tamil companions tried to accomplish in Tranquebar, a Danish colony on the coromandel coast in south-eastern India. It highlights the origins of Tamil Lutheran Christianity in Tranquebar and analyses Ziegenbalg's moral principle, which tried to train Tamil Lutheran Christians in WPE. As a result, Sanskrit values dominated Tamil educational scene in successive centuries. Especially, the Sanskrit notion of four-fold human goals dominated private and public life and thus all forms of education. Additionally, Tamil poets translated and adapted Sanskrit epics, ancient legends, and dramas to demonstrate the usefulness of these fourfold goals; ultimately, Sanskrit Brahminical ideologies and practices such as varṇa and karma. The experiences of the Lutherans in Tranquebar demonstrate the fact that Whole Person Education involves the multidimensional and dialogical processes.