ABSTRACT
The painting that decorates the crown of the 'India cupboard' in the art and natural history cabinet of the Francke Foundations in Halle/Saale depicts a Tamilian leaning over the top of the cupboard writing on a palm leaf. This chapter explores the encounter between German missionaries and the Tamilians at the micro-level and discovers how the co-operation and co-existence between representatives of different religions and cultures functioned in the eighteenth century in southeast India. It focuses on the Indian representatives of the Danish-English-Halle Mission and shows their role within the missionary intercultural encounter as well as in different spheres of work. The space for intercultural encounters and negotiations linked with missionary work was extended to many spheres of life and, in this process, existing local networks were integrated into the work of the mission, were expanded and brought in contact with European networks. The lives of most of the mission employees can be reconstructed extent from the sources.
