Devapriyaji - True History Analaysed

CHAPTER III

Traversing India

THE connection of St. Thomas with King Gundaphor, noted in the

previous chapter, gives us sufficient reason to say that the north

Indian region was one of the fields of the Apostle’s labours. We do

not, however, have today any traces of his apostolate there. This is

not difficult to understand. We know that northwestern India has

always been exposed to foreign invasions down the centuries. It is

not difficult to visualize now the Christian communities might have

been greatly disturbed, dispersed, and finally destroyed. All the

same, it is interesting to note that a certain section of the Sindhis,

and especially the ‘Tata Nagar Fakirs’ seem to venerate the Apostle

under the name ‘Thuma Bhagat’. As the renowned B. Arunananda

wrote: ‘It was at Tatta, on the Indus River in Sindh, where he is still

venerated as “Thuma Bhagat” that, according to tradition, St.

Thomas Apostle worked for some time. These devotees still seem

to practise some Christian rites and possess a book which might

well be the Gospel according to St. Matthew!’

Rev. R. A. Trotter, who had some contact with this community,

wrote about them as follows:

‘To support the contention that the Apostle St. Thomas came

to Sindh, there is a Fakir community living in Tatta, which has

occasionally revealed itself. This Fakir group, to all appearances

Hindu, calls its small community by an Aramaic name, something

like Barthomai, the sons of Thomas, and claims that it is descended

from Christians baptised by St. Thomas himself and that in their

secret society they own books and relics to support their position.

Unfortunately, no outsider, either Indian or European, has had

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access to the archives of this society, and individual members are

as hard to come by as the Indian lion.’30

Mr. Vincent Smith, the historian, says: ‘Unless Christian

mission connected by tradition with the life of St. Thomas had

visited the Indo-Parthian borderland, it is difficult to imagine how

the obscure name of Gondophares can have come into the story....

if anybody chooses to believe that St. Thomas personally visited the

Indo-Parthian kingdom his belief cannot be considered

unreasonable....’31

In South India

Strong evidence is not wanting to prove that South India, too,

was traversed by St. Thomas in his apostolic journeys. Says the

same Vincent Smith: ‘It must be admitted that a personal visit of the

Appstle to Southern India was easily feasible in the conditions of

the time, and that there is nothing incredible in the traditional belief

that he came by way of Socotra, where an ancient Christians

settlement undoubtedly existed... I am now satisfied that the

Christian Church of Southern India is extremely ancient...’ He

further States: ‘My personal impression formed, after much

examination of the evidence, is that the story of the martyrdom in

Southern India is the better supported of the two versions of the

saint’s death.’32

In the Present-day Kerala...

The Christians of Kerala have always called themselves ‘St.

Thomas’ Christians’. What is known as Kerala today was one of the

three Tamil kingdoms in those days-the Chera Kingdom – and so it

is true to say that the Apostle came to the ancient country of the

Tamils, laboured there most of the time, and laid down his life there

as well. Possibly after some years of apostolate in the North, he

travelled down to the South.

It is known that the Apostles were told by Christ to ‘go rather

to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’ (Matt. 10:6). They were

bidden to announce the ‘good news’ of salvation first to those who

had been called the chosen people of God, but had been, due to

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their sins and infidelities, twice taken captives: first, by the

Assyrian power in 721 B.C., and next, by the Babylonians in 587

B.C. In the first captivity ten Tribes of Israel were taken captives,

and in the second, the remaining two Tribes. One can easily

understand that in these captives a great many of the ‘House of

Israel’ were certainly ‘lost’. A captivity was no means of prospering

a people!... It is not difficult to see the possibility of some of the

‘lost’ children drifting away from the countries of their captivity to

the neighbouring countries and, at least, for some of them to come

into the present-day India through the north-west. Moreover, it is

known that there were trade routes between India and countries

beyond the north-west such as Persia and other countries (as we

have already shown). It is quite possible, therefore, that colonies of

Israelites or Jews were established especially along the western

coast of India. It is not, then, surprising that the Apostle came

looking for these ‘lost sheep’.

Some traces of such Jewish colonies are not altogether

wanting. In the famous centre of learning, Takshasila, Aramaic

language seems to have become current. In fact an Aramaic

inscription has been found at Takshasila.33 Aramaic was certainly

responsible for the development of a local script – Karoshthi –

which was current during the whole of the first century.

For the same reason as mentioned above, namely, that there

was a Jewish colony in Kerala, St. Thomas may be said to have

come there. It is known in fact that there had been in Cochin a

Jewish colony for many centuries.

Regarding the apostolate of St. Thomas in that part of India

(viz. Kerala) we have a very ancient narrative from a manuscript

preserved by an old family at Palayur. It treats extensively about the

journeys of St. Thomas on the Malabar coast. It is best for the

readers to go through this narrative as a whole to have an idea of

the tradition which is rife in Kerala:

‘I proceed to sing of the manner in which our holy religion

has been introduced into Kerala.

‘The Apostle Thomas landed at Maliankara (i.e. Cranganore)

with Habban the merchant. He (Thomas) worked great miracles and

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in eight months established in that town, the Church of Jesus

Christ. Then he went to Mailepuram where he preached the Gospel

of the Lord for four months and a half and embarked for China. He

remained in China for four and a half months and returned to

Mailepuram. After he had been there for a month or so, the son-inlaw

of the Rajah of Tiruvanchikulum came to him and besought

him to return to Malabar. They embarked on a ship and came to

Maliankara (Cranganore), where, in less than six months, the

Apostle converted the Rajah and his family, 40 Jews and 400

heathens.

‘He was preaching to the people and built a church

surmounted by a cross and ordained priests. One of the first that he

ordained was the son-in-law of the Rajah. He was named Andrew

and his son-in-law, Peter. Accompanied by Peter, the Apostle went

to Quilon, where he planted a cross and baptised 2,400 heathens.

From Quilon he went to Chayal in the mountains, remained there

a whole year as he had done at Quilon, and baptised 2,800 heathens

and planted a cross. At the request of the two chiefs of

Triepalesuaram he returned to that village. But seeing that the

people had desecrated the cross he had erected there, he cursed the

village (which at the present-day is a heap of ruins). Nevertheless,

he remained there for two months. He again erected the cross and

instructed the people so that they might not return to heathenism

and ordained priest Thomas, one of the chiefs who had always

remained strong in his faith. During these two months that he

remained at Triepalesuaram, he confirmed in their faith all the

Christians and converted 200 pagans. Not far from there, to the

South, he built the church of Niranam and ordained priest, his first

disciple Thomas Maliyakal, who was a native of the place. He then

repaired to Kokkamangalam, where he dwelt one year and

converted 1,500 heathens, erected a cross and taught the people

how to honour God. He visited again Kottakavu-Parur, remaining

there nearly a year and converted 2,200.

‘Thence he went by the southern road to Maliankara and was

pleased to see the flourishing state of that Christian community. He

stayed there only two weeks and started for the north, proceeding

to Palayur, where in one month he baptised 1,280 pagans, and

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according to his habit, erected a great cross. Towards the end of the

year 59 he returned to Mailapuram (Mylapore). He came back to

Malabar and the angels protected him during the journey. He

remained two months at Maleattur and converted 220 pagans. He

stayed a whole year at Niranam and was satisfied with the faith of

the people there and with the exemplary life they led, and gave

Confirmation to all those that had not yet received the sacrament.

He proceeded to Chayal, taking with him his disciple, Thomas

Rabban Maliyakal. During the year he stayed there, he built a

church and ordained priests and conferred the holy sacrament of

Confirmation on all who bad not yet received it. After that he took

leave of the Christians and told them that they would never see him

again.

And he started for the country of the Tamils. Thomas Rabban

and Peter, the son-in-law of the Rajah, accompanied him for seven

miles and a half and took leave of him. It would be impossible to

relate all the miracles worked by our patron St. Thomas by making

the sign of the cross with his hand that had touched the wounds of

the Lord. Thomas raised to life 29 dead; liberated from the demon

250 possessed; cured 330 lepers; gave sight to 250 blind persons,

the use of their limbs to 120 paralytics and speech to 20 dumb. He

restored to health 280 sick people whom the physicians had

abandoned. He converted to the faith of Christ 17,490 Brahmins,

350 Vaisyas (traders and agriculturists) and 4,280 Sudras

(Untouchables). He consecrated two bishops, ordained seven

priests, four of whom were called Rabban,.and made 21 deacons.

‘This song is an abridged version of the detailed history

written by Thomas Rabban, the second of the family of Maliyakal,

and composed for the use of the people, by the humble priest

Thomas, the forty-eight of the same family, who deposes it begging

his blessing at the feet of the Holy Apostle St. Thomas, on the 2nd

of July 1061.’34

Whatever the merits or demerits of this song, that was

formerly sung in many of the churches in Malabar, there is some

basis for this account of Maliyakal. It is interesting to note that

Maliyakal speaks of St. Thomas’s arrival by sea. The commercial

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history of the times, lends support to this assumption. He must have

either sailed from Kalyan in North India or from the island of

Socotra. St. Francis Xavier, who landed at Socotra on his way to

India about A.D. 1545, declared that the natives of this island

‘render special honours to the Apostle Thomas, claiming

themselves to be the descendants of Christians begotten to Jesus

Christ by that Apostle in these countries’.35

It is the hoary and unquestioned tradition in Malabar, which

is corroborated by the customs of the place and by ethnological

research, that the Apostle was signally successful in the conversion

of the high caste Nambhudiri Brahmins. Four of the leading

Brahmin families are believed to have been raised to the privilege

of the priesthood. They were:– Palamattam, Sankarapuri, Kalli and

Kallian Kavu. Some of them still exist in Koravalangad. The head

of the Malabar Church – the Archdeacon – had to be selected from

Palamattam. This practice was continued among the Jacobite

seceders, till a hundred years ago.

There is a strong belief throughout Malabar that St. Thomas

founded seven churches or groups of Christians, in the following

places:

1. Cranganore or Maliankara

2. Palur or Palayur

3. Parur or Kottakavu

4. Kokkamangalam

5. Niranam

6. Chayal or Nilakal

7. Quilon or Kollam

All the churches, save the one at Chayal, are on the coast or

very near it. A glance at the map facing page 39 will show that

Palur is the northernmost church while Quilon is the southernmost,

the distance between them being about 230 miles. Chayal is

situated very much in the interior on the Sabarimala Hills. The old

church is now in a dilapidated state amidst jungles.

Kokkamangalam is about 20 miles south of Parur.

Niranam, almost midway between Quilon and

Kokkamangalam is now in the hands of Jacobites, who seceded

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