IV. CHAP. signifies, a Manichee. According to the tradition, this man arrived in India before the churches of Malabar became subject to the patriarch of Persia; and he is said to have wrought miracles, and preached with so much success, that he drew vast multitudes after him. This narrative may serve to account for the story about St. Thomas, which in those dark and credulous ages would find too easy a reception. A. D. 780. Probably confirmed by the settlement of Mar Thomas, a rich merchant of Malabar. The tradition, that Christianity was introduced into China by this Apostle, is equally unworthy of credit; but it may be traced to a similar origin. Magalhanes and other Jesuits assert it with their usual confidence: but M. Maigrot, Bishop of Conon and vicar apostolic in that kingdom, had too much candour to lend the credit of his name in support of so unfounded a tale. He was well acquainted with the history of China, and showed that the missionaries who gave currency to this tradition, mistook for the Apostle Thomas, "One Tamo, as notorious a rogue as ever visited China, who became a chief of one of the subdivisions of the sect of Foé, which they call the sect of contemplatives." The Bishop adds, that this man did not enter China till after the year 582.1 6. About the year 780, the church in India was again under the authority of the patriarch of Seleucia, to whom its Bishops were subject, and consequently they were Nestorians. Not many years after, an Armenian merchant took up his abode in Malabar, who is said to have been the first to obtain for the Christians in 1 La Croze, pp. 41-43. Account of Syrian Christians. Asia. Res. vol. 7. 2 See the last chapter, sec. 8. Also Professor Lee's Brief History. those parts immunities of considerable importance. His name was Thomas Cana, or, as he is usually called, Mar Thomas. It appears that his commercial pursuits first led him to India. The histories of the country describe his dignity and affluence in magnificent terms, and mention that he carried on trade to a great extent. He kept also two houses, one in the South, in the kingdom of Cranganore, and the other towards the North, whose situation is not named, but it is thought to have been either at Angamale or in its environs. He is said to have had two wives, the first, who is called his lawful wife, resided in the South; the residence of the second was in the North. She was a native of the country, of the Naire, or military caste, and is described as a slave,2 who had been converted to the Christian faith. It is thought more probable that Mar Thomas espoused her after the death of his first wife, than that he followed the heathen practice of polygamy. He had a numerous family by each of these women, among whom at his death he divided his immense wealth. To the children of the former he left his possessions in the South; and those of the latter inherited his property in the North. Both families continued rapidly to increase, until, by intermarriages, they became so incorporated with the other Christians of the country, that in process of time the whole regarded Mar Thomas as their common ancestor. The two lines of his posterity remained distinct, the former being considered the more respectable; 1 Gouvea, Histoire Orientale, tournée en François, par F. Jean Baptiste de Glen. En Anvers, l'an 1609, chap. 2. 2 This is inconsistent with the present grades of society in Malabar, the Naires being the nobility, and the slaves, the lowest caste; indeed, these are literally outcasts. A. D. 780. CHAP. IV. and for many ages they were so proud of their priority, that they refused to contract marriages, or even to hold any intercourse with their northern brethren. So far did they carry this feeling, that they would not allow them even to enter their churches. There is great difficulty in pronouncing upon these and similar transactions recorded in the early history of this church. Asseman has laboured hard to throw discredit upon the story of this Armenian merchant; for it presents too strong a confirmation of the independence of the Indian Church, at that remote period, to be admitted as authentic history by one, whose great object was to maintain the pretensions of Rome to the supremacy of the universal church, from the first ages of Christianity. It is true, we cannot give much credit to certain stories related of the ancient 1 This laborious compiler is to be followed with great caution, whenever he has a Romish tradition or pretension to maintain, or a protestant innovation to depreciate. In proof of the little reliance to be placed on his impartiality, we may quote the following note from Le Bas' Life of Bishop Middleton, Vol. i. c. 9. pp. 267, 268. "It is contended by Assemann, that this Thomas Cana was not an Armenian merchant, but a Nestorian bishop, who was dispatched to India, not in the sixth century, but about the year 800, by Timotheus the Nestorian patriarch. The worthy Maronite, indeed, seems to be sadly puzzled with the odd story of Thomas and his two wives, the one at Cranganore, the other at Angamala,-the one the parent of the nobility of the land, the other of the commonalty. It was an unheard of thing, he says, that even a Nestorian bishop should have two wives, together or successively and (not knowing what else to make of this awkward and unseemly tradition), he concludes that it could be nothing more than a sort of allegory, signifying merely that Thomas had two churches to administer, namely, that of Cranganore, and that of Angamala; and that the Christians of each diocese may be traced to him, not as their carnal, but their spiritual progenitor." Assem. Biblioth. Orient., tom. iii. pars 2, p. 442. : Malabar Christians, for which there is no other authority than that of the Portuguese, a nation, as La Croze justly remarks, themselves but little enlightened, and determined enemies to these people. Nevertheless, the narrative just given derives confirmation from a tradition of the kind still preserved by the Syrian Christians in Travancore, and also from some customs that seem to prevail in consequence of these events. The most striking peculiarity that may be mentioned, as having the appearance of being derived from this origin, is, the two divisions, or castes, which they still preserve, the one in the South claiming superiority over the other in the North. And, assuming the truth of the whole account, which there is no just reason to question, we cannot but admit the probability of the historian's conjecture, that the name of this Armenian merchant, and all the circumstances relating to himself and his numerous posterity, have caused him to be confounded with the Apostle Thomas.1 A. D. 780. Malabar; 7. Though it is uncertain at what time this Origin of Mar Thomas settled in India, yet there is no rise of Ceram reason to doubt the assertion of Gouvea, who Peroumal, a dates it in the ninth century, in the reign of Ceram Peroumal, Rajah of Malabar. As this is the first mention of a native sovereign of any consequence in the country, we shall here give some account of the origin of his power. powerful that coun Rajah of try: origin Christians attain re of caste : spectability and independence under his 2 The early history of Malabar is involved in obscurity, which, like that of India generally, protection. is increased by the fabulous tales connected with it. This entire coast is believed, by the heathen, to have emerged from the sea; and 1 La Croze, pp. 46, 47. Asiatic Researches, vol. v. Article 1. Historical Remarks on the Coast of Malabar. H CHAP. its first appearance they ascribe to the piety or penitence of their god Parasram,' who, stung with remorse for the blood he had so profusely shed in overcoming the rajahs of the Khetry tribe, applied to Varoona, the god of the Ocean, to supply him with a tract of ground to bestow on the Brahmins; and Varoona having, in consequence of this petition, withdrawn his waters from the Gowkern, a hill in the vicinity of Mangalore, to Cape Comorin, this strip of territory, now called Malabar,' Parasram is believed, by its pagan inhabitants, to have parcelled out among different tribes of brahmins, and to have directed that the entire produce of the soil should be appropriated, first, to their maintenance, and, secondly, towards the erection of temples, and for the support of divine worship. From this fabulous tale, the country thus obtained still continues to be distinguished in their writings by the term of Kermbhoomy, or, The Land of Good Works for the Expiation of Sin. Though none but a Hindoo can be expected to believe this account of the origin of this country; yet, from the nature of the soil, and the quantity of sand, oyster-shells, and other fragments of marine substances, met with in making deep excavations, in all parts of the country, it is extremely probable that the sea once came up to the foot of the Ghauts. The natives have a tradition, that it was recovered from the ocean about 2300 years ago; that it 1 Or Parasoo-Rama, one of the incarnations of Vishnoo. Its original name, Mulyalum, was acquired from its situation, meaning, Skirting at the bottom of the hills. These hills are the range of mountains called, by the natives, Sukhien; by the Europeans, the Ghauts. Their proper name is Sukhien Purbut, or hills of Sukhien, pronounced with the guttural kh. |