* Lutheran Church observes 'Mission Thanksgiving day'

Nagapattinam (TN),Jul9- The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) observed the 'Mission Thanksgiving Day' at Tarangambadi near here today to commemorate the visit of Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant Missionary, to India.

It was on this day 304 years ago Ziegenbalg landed at Tarangambadi.

Floral tributes were paid to the life size statue of Ziegenbalg at Tarangambadi beach. Special prayers were held at the New Jerusalem Church.

Ziegenbalg, the German-born Danish Missionary, set up the first ever printing press in India at Tarangambadi and published studies of Tamil language and Indian religion and culture. His translation of the New Testament into Tamil in 1715, and the New Jerusalem church that he and his associates had constructed in 1718, are still in use today.

Ziegenbalg died at Tarangambadi in 1719 at the age of 34.

He was the first priest of the New Jerusalem Church, Asia's first protestant church at Tarangambadi.