Hannibal Richard Cabral

Studies Cabral had his spiritual formation at the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore, when he enrolled for a graduate course in 1971, receiving a Bachelor of Theology degree and worked out a dissertation entitled An evaluation of the effectiveness of selected Christian dramas in Kannada in communication of the Gospel during the Principalship of Gnana Robinson leading to the award of Master of Theology. Cabral also studied at the Princeton Theological Seminary for a year in 1993. Cabral pursued all his theological degrees from the University, with the exception of a postgraduation course from Princeton, and was awarded degrees in successive Convocations by the Senate of Serampore College (University).

Initiatives In 2010, Karnataka Theological College, under the Principalship of Cabral, announced the start of a two-year postgraduate programme leading to the award of Master of Arts in association with the George August University of Göttingen.

Writings

Christian Hymns in vernacular languages were composed and sung to Indian classical music by the early Missionaries and the early Christians in India. P. Solomon Raj in the context of the Christian Hymnal in Telugu writes that it has been of high literary standard consisting of hymns in Telugu set in music patterns of Carnatic music and Hindustani classical music. Similarly, in 2000, Roger E. Hedlund (who taught at the Serampore College and is the Editor of the missiological journal, Dharma Deepika ), the missiologist wrote that, along with the Bible, the Christian Hymnal in Telugu also formed the main bulwark of Christian spiritual life for the Telugu folk and of equal use to both the non-literates and the literates as well. Cabral in his article Missionaries and Carnatic Music wrote that the early missionaries with special reference to Ferdinand Kittel were bemused by the Hindustani classical music and began composing songs in the local tradition.

Lyricist Cabral composed more than 500 songs in Kannada, English, Tulu and Hindi and had a stint at radio with the State-run All India Radio and the Far East Broadcasting Associates.