translated by Arno Lehman mention these works. Letters dated 22 September of 1707 and 22 December of 1710 note that Ziegenbalg had access to certain Tamil prose works by Roman Catholic Missionaries. Five such books are mentioned, they are : | (i) | Questions of Christian Teaching | | (ii) | Catechisms | | (iii) | Twenty five Sermons | | (iv) | Christian Wreath of Pearls and | | (v) | Short Prayers on The Sufferings of Christ. |
Another work entitled “Flossanctorum” in Tamil and also “Doctrina Christiana” written by Anriquez were printed, it appears before Robert de-Nobili’s time.4 Vincent Cronin in his book “A Pearl to India”, attributes seven books to Robert-de-Nobili and about six others, he is rather doubtful. They are : | (i) | Ñāṉopatēcam -Five parts. First and Second parts were printed in 1775. The second edition came out in 1891. The third part was printed at Trichinopoly in 1907. The fourth part called the Mantira Viyākkyāṉam was also printed. The fifth part has not been indentified. | | | | (ii) | Ᾱtma Niruṇayam was printed in Madras in 1899. | | (iii) | Aññaṉanivāraṇam was printed in 1891 at Tricinopoly | | (iv) | Tivviyamaṅtirikai was printed at Pondichery in 1870. |
The remaining three books are still to be found in the archieves. of the Shenbaganur (near Koadaikanal) Library. They are : | (i) | Tūcaṇatikkāram | | (ii) | Puṉar ceṉma Ᾱṭcēpam | | (iii) | Ñāṉacañcivi. |
Father S. Rajamanickam has in a pamphlet reputed Robert-de-Nobili of writing 40 prose books and three poetry books. He is definite about 15 of these. Since only few printed works are available, we may not wholly accept this list.
4. Mayilai Seeni Venkadaswamy, Ibid. P. 23 |