Peter Percival, aged 23, was sent to Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka in 1826 by the Wesleyan Methodist Mission, with concerns whether his appointment is risky in "an atmosphere of immoral heathenism".

[6] As a Protestant missionary, Percival favored the teaching of Christian texts in the local vernacular (Tamil) rather than English or Portuguese.

[11][12] In 1851, he returned to England with the intention of coming back to Sri Lanka but due to differences with the Methodist hierarchy in London, he renounced Methodism.

In 1856 after becoming the Registrar of Madras University and Professor of Sanskrit and Vernacular Literature in Presidency College, he severed his relationship with the missionary society.

[15] After having published the Tamil translation of the Bible, he wrote the book Land of the Veda: India Briefly Described in some of its Aspects, Physical, Social, Intellectual and Moral.

Peter Percival and Robert Bruce Foote were lifelong friends and shared their interest in Indian culture, history and linguistics.

[15] Graves of both Peter Percival and Robert Bruce Foote were found in the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud in 2009.