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". At his arrival the missionary society and its efforts had not produced results expected by their original expectations and goals. A number of previous missionaries had returned to Europe after short stints due to illness. Percival spent most of his early adult life in Jaffna peninsula until 1851, with a short stint in Bengal. Percival's views and style brought him conflict with fellow missionaries such as Joseph Roberts. After Roberts left, Percival led the missionary efforts in Jaffna district. Percival, states Findlay's records of the mission, then had conflicts with Ralph Stott. Percival favored Christian schools rather than the direct evangelization approach of Stott. Between 1834 and 1836, his efforts led to the opening of religious schools – including those for girls – and the building of St. Paul's chapel in Jaffna. Some of these schools were later upgraded to colleges. As a Protestant missionary, Percival favored the teaching of Christian texts in the local vernacular rather than English or Portuguese. During his tenure as the principal of Jaffna Central College, he hired his former student Arumuka Navalar as a teacher. They worked together between 1841 and 1848, and collaborated with him to translate the Bible into Tamil. Percival's preference of education over evangelism created friction with other Wesleyan missionaries but it also influenced the educational practices of all those who were trying to improve the literary levels of 19th-century Sri Lankan Tamil society.
England
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 1852, he was ordained deacon by the Anglican Bishop of London. During the next two years, he worked as a lecturer at St Augustine's College, Canterbury, teaching a course about India and its religions.
In India he was known a scholar in Tamil and Telugu. 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. His other publications include, a book on Tamil proverbs in English, English-Tamil and English-Telugu dictionaries, and a bilingual Tamil and Telugu journal Dinavartamani. He also translated into English, Tamil proverbs and the literary work of Avvaiyar, a Tamil poet. His daughter married pioneering geologist and archaeologist Robert Bruce Foote. Peter Percival and Robert Bruce Foote were lifelong friends and shared their interest in Indian culture, history and linguistics. He retired to the hill station town of Yercaud and died in 1882. Graves of both Peter Percival and Robert Bruce Foote were found in the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud in 2009.
