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Daniel PulleyDaniel Pulley was born in 1740. He is also referred to as Christian Daniel. His grandfather, Johann d’Almeida (Heike Liebau) had converted from Catholicism to Protestantism and was a catechist at Tranquebar between 1707 and 1744. We know little about Daniel’s parents, except that they were Protestants. Daniel’s father died early and he was brought up by his grandfather on mother’s side. Johann d’ Almeida died in 1746. As a young man, Daniel learnt German and used every opportunity to learn more of it. From 1755, he taught Tamil to the missionaries David Poltzenhagen (1726-1756), Petrus Dame (1731-1766) and Ole Maderup (1711-1776). Besides German, he also learnt Danish. He undertook the post of the second translator (dubash) at the instigation of H. J. Forck. Daniel’s brother, Peter Rajappan was employed in the Danish Halle Mission, and later in the Moravian Brothers (Herrnhuter)A large number of the letters in the Archives are addressed to Piragasam Pulley, a personal dubash to the Governor. The letters cover the period 1782-1785? Most of the letters are dated only with the Tamil month and the Tamil date, and no year. The letters reflect his respect and affection to Piragasam Pulley. However, this situation changed in 1788, and in 1792 Daniel Pulley was decidedly unfriendly to Piragasam Pulley, and to the new governor, Peter Anker. One of the reasons quoted is that Daniel himself wanted the powerful position of the over-dubash, and thus more power. The life-story of Daniel Pulley may never have been known, but for the fact that he had narrated his autobiography to C. S. John, a missionary. C. S. John had sent this information to the Frankesche Stiftungen at Halle, where they are preserved. C. S. John reported that Daniel Pulley died during 1802. However, the proceedings of the Black Court (see 2185b_42under Black Court) seems to have recorded during 1805 that a case was adjourned as Daniel Pulley did not turn up. This probably was Johan Daniel Pulley, the son of Christian Daniel Pulley. . |
