A letter of Commendation
Beyond Empires-The untold story of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg

I have been associated with the Tranquebar Tercentenary celebrations of this great man, and one of the organizers. We began work almost three years ahead.  Looking to the 2006 celebrations provided us with specific challenges. One being the presentation on B Ziegenbalg as a social reformer and as a pioneer in the literacy movement in India.

Our task became lighter when we focussed on a Seminar to highlight the Social, literary and communication contributions of B Ziegenbalg and the presenters prepared to go about their tasks. It was not until the day of the Seminar, as part of the celebrations, that the Church and the secular community could fully grasp what the presenters highlighted about the contributions of B Ziegenbalg. It did dawn on us that he really belonged to the Indian secular society as must to the church in India. It should also not be forgotten the B Ziegenbalg was the first protestant missionary to India. It was almost a hundred years later that Carey and others followed.

The fruits of these initiatives need to be harvested not only to continue the memory of B Ziegenbalg, but more so to participate and provide momentum to the social reform movements already taking place in India, vis-à-vis the Dalit liberation and education revolution. Not only is B Ziegenbalg hailed as a social reformer, he also has the distinction of engaging other faiths towards his dream.

The Documentary ‘Beyond Empires – the untold story of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg’, being produced by Lamp Post Media with the leadership of Mr. Christopher Gilbert primarily affirms this process. The vision falls on the lines of:

• emphasizing the timeliness of the story in light of our contemporary global challenges
• emphasizing the multi-national and multi-faith interest in the story and endorsement of the film

BEYOND EMPIRES re-tells the story of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg as the first Protestant missionary, and a person who gently transformed the culture of a huge region of India by challenging the caste system, creating a written form of the vernacular language, creating a model for public education, and supporting the freedom of women.

This production initiative is laudable as it attempts to reap the harvest by placing the challenges within the contemporary realms of the struggles of the marginalised communities. This work will be a fitting tribute to the genius as well as to the advent of the process of liberation of dalits and women in a caste-ridden society.

This multi-faith production addresses young people through the youthfulness of B Ziegenbalg as he followed his calling as well as describes the influence of B Ziegenbalg through his Tamil mentors in liberating people trapped in the caste system.

BEYOND EMPIRES literally goes beyond empires to capture and propel the dreams and visions of a true reformer, missionary and an educationist.

This initiative needs to be supported. I strongly commend this to your support.

Rev. Chandran Paul Martin
Deputy General Secretary, LWF