Hermann Mögling

Hermann Friedrich Mögling (1811–1881), also spelt Herrmann Friedrich Moegling, was a German missionary from the Basel Mission who spent most of his career in the western regions of the state of Karnataka, India. He is credited as the publisher of the first ever newspaper in the Kannada language called as Mangalooru Samachara in 1843. He was awarded a doctorate for his literary work in Kannada called as Bibliotheca Carnataca. He also translated Kannada literature into German. Mögling is acknowledged by Kannada writers and linguists as the first modern Kannada writer, as he produced nearly 36 literary works, considered to be ground-breaking and exceptional Kannada literature, in a short period of 20 years.

He was the founder-principal of BEM Theological Seminary, later renamed as Karnataka Theological College. He and his wife Pauline(Nee Bacmeister) laid the foundations for the Evangelical parish and Anandapur, a village made out of jungle in the interior of Karnataka.

Early life

Hermann Mögling was born in 1811 in the town of Brackenheim in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany. He studied theology at the University of Tübingen and joined the Basel Mission. He came to the city of Mangalore in Karnataka as a missionary of Basel Mission in 1836. In 7 years, in 1843, Mögling had mastered Kannada, and went on to start the first Kannada newspaper - Mangalura Samachara.

Career Mögling, being a Christian missionary, was involved in missionary related work in Mangalore but he also learnt the native Kannada language and contributed significantly to Kannada literature. One of his pioneering works was the publication of the first Kannada newspaper, Mangalooru Samachara (meaning Mangalore News).

Newspaper publishing In the days of Mögling's career at Mangalore, there was no simple way of communicating news and other items to the general public because of non-existence of a medium like radio and of a newspaper in the native language. He decided to publish a Kannada newspaper with the intention of spreading news items to the public. He decided to name it as Mangaluura samaachaara and its first issue rolled out on 1 July 1843. Some of the news items covered were local Mangalore-related news, Indian population, news related to the East India Company and its laws and regulations. Even songs of Purandaradasa and moral stories were also printed.

BEM Theological Seminary Hermann Moegling was the founder-principal of the BEM Theological Seminary, established in 1847 by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society. This seminary was established to train Pastors for the Protestant churches in Karnataka and Malabar areas. In 1965, BEM Theological Seminary was merged with Union Kanarese Seminary at Tumkur and renamed as present Karnataka Theological College.

Late years When his cousin Gottfried Weigle died in 1855, Mögling (at a late age of 45) married Weigle's wife Pauline. This marriage also gave Mögling four stepchildren from Pauline's earlier marriage. One last contribution to Kannada from him was his interest in coming up with a Kannada – English dictionary. He motivated the British in this project and also suggested the name of Ferdinand Kittel as the ideal person to head the project. Mögling died in 1881 and his memorial is in Esslingen. 1 July (the day when the first issue of Mangalooru Samachara was released) is celebrated as Kannada Press Day in Karnataka. Mögling's 200th birthday was celebrated in 2011, by unveiling his bust at the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore