N. Samuel of Tranquebar

Best known among his lyrics are "En Meetpar Uyirodirukayilay" (என் மீட்பர் உயிரோடிருக்கயிலே), "Senaigalin Kartharey" (சேனைகளின் கர்த்தரே), "Seerthiri Yegavasthey" (சீர்திரி ஏகவஸ்தே நமோ நமோ), and "Gunapadu Paavi" (குணப்படு பாவி).

Vedanayagam Sastriar of Tanjore, Krishnapillai of Palyamkottai, and N. Samuel of Tranquebar were known as the triumvirate of Tamil Christian poets.

He is remembered as a translator who put German hymns into Tamil meter,[2] including the following: Rev.

Most of his life was spent in Tranquebar, the little port town that welcomed missionaries Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (and Heinrich Plütschau), sent by King Frederick IV of Denmark in 1706, and Christian Friedrich Schwarz, sponsored at the time by the Danish Missionary Society in Copenhagen.

The towns and cities where he served are: Tranquebar (1880–1891 and 1897–1919), Karaikal (1897–1919), Manikramam (1919), Porayar (1917–1919), Bangalore (1921), and Madras.

Samuel was known as Tamil Spurgeon, although it is not clear if he was known for his strictness in doctrinal matters or for his homiletic gifts.

When he realised that change was inevitable, in the middle of 1921, he left the T.E.L.C that he had served all his life, and joined the Missouri Mission.