Dear colleagues,

The Department of Indology of the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies and the Tübingen University Library, with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG), have digitised the Hermann Gundert legacy (manuscripts, prints) kept at the University Library and prepared it for use by the scientific community.

In southwestern India, Hermann Gundert, grandfather of Hermann Hesse, still enjoys a high esteem: During his time as a missionary of the Basel Mission (1838 - 1859), he researched Malayalam, the language spoken in the region and wrote his famous Malayalam-English dictionary, which is still being reprinted today. He also promoted many translations.

Contributors in India, Israel, Poland and Germany were involved in this successful international project. The result of this project is now available digitally and to a large extent as a searchable full text. Partners from the Indian state of Kerala have been won for transcribing the Malayalam texts.

On 20th November 2018, we would like to present the result of this project, the Hermann Gundert Portal. Prof. M. Sreenathan will be representing the Malayalam University, Tirur, Kerala.
The event will take place at 4.15 pm in the Historical Reading Room of the Tübingen University Library. Afterwards we invite you to a small reception.

    Greetings

• Dr. Marianne Dörr (Chief Librarian, Tübingen University Library)

• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Leonhardt (Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tübingen)

• Dr. Albrecht Frenz (Founder of the Hermann-Gundert-Gesellschaft)

  Short lectures

• The Kerala Archives Interest Group and the importance of 19th century Malayalam works for Kerala (Shiju Alex, Coordinator Team India)

• Introduction to the project and live presentation of the portal
  (Dr. Gabriele Zeller, Subject Specialist, Tübingen University Library)

• The Hermann Gundert Portal: Its Relevance for Indology and Beyond (Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin, Department of Indology, University of Tübingen)

• The Gundert Portal: A Resource for Indian Academia
  (Prof. Dr. M. Sreenathan, Malayalam University, Tirur / Kerala)