II
BRIEF LIFE SKETCHES OF THE EUROPEAN SCHOLARS

To trace the biography of the Indian scholars is very difficult because the sources are very meagre and moreover they are not readily available. So, it is needless to say that in order to gather adequate and authentic materials in India so as to probe the life history of the European scholars is a very formidable task. However, in this chapter I try to trace their life history just to show that they were really Europeans and not Eurasians as suggested by their names. Similarly there were a few who assumed Tamil names which misled the readers to think that they were Tamils by origin. For example the name Henry Bower led us to think that it was a name of a European. But he was a Eurasian Tamil Scholar and not a European. Therefore my aim in probing into their biographies was just to confirm whether they were Europeans or not and hence the life sketches given below are neither exhaustive nor complete. It is learnt that some details of these people are available in other European languages such as German, French etc. But I must confess that I was unable to consult them since they were not available in India either in original or through translations. So with the help of whatever materials were available to me in India, I was able to briefly sketch the life history of the following European Tamil scholars, mainly with a view to establishing their identity in relation to their nationality.

1. ANDERSON, ROBERT.
2. BALDE, REV. PHILIP.
3. BESCHI, REV. C. J.
4. BEYTHAN, REV. HERMANN.
5. BRETHAUPT, REV. J. CH.
6. CALDWELL, REV. DR. R.
7. DREW, REV. W. H.
8. ELLIS, F. W.