Lost Sanskrit Grammar Manuscript, Grammatica Grandonica found in an Italian Monastery

A sanskrit grammar manuscript of grammarian, lexicographer and philologist Arnos Padre, which had been lost for over two centuries, was found in an Italian monastery. The manuscript, Grammatica Grandonica was written by the Jesuit missionary Fr. Johann Ernst Hanxleden, popularly known as Arnos Padre three centuries ago. It is considered as one of the earliest missionary grammars in Sanskrit.

Toon Van Hal, a Belgian scholar and professor at the Centre for the History of Linguistics, Leuven University, traced the lost manuscript to the Convento di San Silvestro, a Carmelite monastery in Monte Compatri in the Province of Rome.

Grammatica Grandonica is believed to bear a considerable influence on Sidharubam — the first Sanskrit grammar ever printed in Europe (1790).

About Arnos Padre

Born at Ostercappeln near Osnabrück in Hanover, Germany, Fr. Hanxleden (Arnos Padre) had arrived in India on 13 December 13 as a Jesuit missionary. He built a church at Velur in 1712 and spent most of his remaining days there. The church and the building were declared as protected monuments by the Kerala government in 1995.

Proficient in German, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Latin, Syriac, Portuguese and Tamil, the Padre  had compiled Malayalam-Portuguese and Sanskrit-Portuguese dictionaries. Arnos Padre is remembered for his efforts to integrate the culture of the East with the West. He tried to assimilate the essence of Indian culture and literature with that of the West. His Malayalam poem, Puthenpana, based on Christian themes, is to Christian households what Ezhuthachan's Adhyatma Ramayanam is to the Hindus. He wrote several essays in Latin based on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Bhagavatam and Vedanta Saaram.