ASSYRIAN MIGRATION TO KERALA
Abraham Yeshuratnam
This paper is prepared with the purpose of investigating whether at any period of time in Assyrian history there was migration of Assyrians to Kerala. This research is necessitated because there has been a steady stream of articles recent times claiming Assyrian migration to Kerala. There are also some intellectually bankrupt claims that there were Assyrian settlers in Kerala when St. Thomas visited the country. Writers who belong to a particular communal school of thought attempt to develop distorted factual beliefs to bolster their communal superiority in a caste-ridden society by using the internet and research journals. Communal and partisan writers are guilty of misleading even foreign authors with distortions, exaggerations, subjectivity, inaccuracy and fabrications to create a sense of legitimacy to their grotesque lies. This paper attempts to catalogue the views of revisionist writers who have used deceptive techniques such as manipulated and wrongly translated sources, false evidences, bogus ethnology, imaginary stories and spurious sources in order to make their arguments plausible. So who are the Assyrians? Alternatively known as Syriac, Nestorian, or Chaldean Christians, they trace their roots back more than 6,500 years to ancient Mesopotamia, predating the Abrahamic religions. For 1,800 years the Assyrian empire dominated the region, establishing one of most advanced civilizations in the ancient world. (An example of this is the city of Arbel, one of the earliest permanent agricultural settlements.)The Assyrian empire collapsed in 612 B.C. during the rise of the Persians. Then, 600 years later, they became among the earliest converts to Christianity. Most of Iraq’s Christians call themselves Assyrians, Chaldeans or Syriac, different names for a common ethnicity rooted in the Mesopotamian kingdoms that flourished between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers thousands of years before Jesus. Christianity arrived during the first century, according to Eusebius, an early church historian who claimed to have translated letters between Jesus and a Mesopotamian king. Tradition holds that Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles, sent Thaddeus, an early Jewish convert, to Mesopotamia to preach the Gospel. But Assyrian Christians believe that it was St Thomas and his cousin Addai brought Christianity to Iraq in the first century. At the Council of Nicea, where the Christian creed was thrashed out in AD325, there were more bishops from Mesopotamia than Western Europe. The region became a refuge for those persecuted by the Orthodox Byzantines, such as the Mandeans – the last Gnostics, who follow what they believe to be the teachings of John the Baptist. Then there was the Church of the East, which brought the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato, as well as Greek science and medicine, to the Islamic world – and hence, via Cordoba, to the new universities of medieval Europe. They still speak an endangered form of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, and consider themselves the last indigenous people of Syria and Iraq. Following the birth of Christianity, Assyrian missionaries spread across Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific, and built a new empire that lasted until Arab Muslims swept through the Middle East in 630. As Christianity grew, it coexisted alongside older traditions — Judaism, Zoroastrianism and the monotheism of the Druze, Yazidis and Mandeans, among others — all of which survive in the region, though in vastly diminished form. From Greece to Egypt, this was the eastern half of Christendom, a fractious community divided by doctrinal differences that persist today: various Catholic churches (those who look to Rome for guidance, and those who don’t); the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox (those who believe Jesus has two natures, human and divine, and those who believe he was solely divine); and the Assyrian Church of the East, which is neither Catholic nor Orthodox
EARLY HISTORY
The Assyrians were a Semitic people who originally spoke and wrote Akkadian before the Aramaic language became more popular. Sometime before 2300 BC, Semitic people from the Arabian Peninsula migrated north among the Mesopotamians. They founded the city of Akkad, forming the vast Akkadian Empire, which existed from 2270-2083 BC. The Akkadians were the predecessors to the Assyrians. Historians have divided the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire into three periods: The Old Kingdom, The Middle Empire, and The Late Empire (also known as the Neo-Assyrian Empire). The Assyrian Empire is considered the greatest of the Mesopotamian empires due to its expanse and the development of the bureaucracy and military strategies which allowed it to grow and flourish. Wolfram von Soden observes: “Because of a dearth of sources, very little is known of Assyria in the third millennium…Assyria did belong to the Empire of Akkad at times, as well as to the Third Dynasty of Ur. Our main sources for this period are the many thousand Assyrian letters and documents from the trade colonies in Cappadocia, foremost of which was Kanesh (modern Kultape)[i]”[1] During the Middle Empire the Assyrian kings deported the subjugated people to neighboring countries and there is no record that some were sent to Kerala. Karen Radner states: “The deportees, their labour and their abilities were extremely valuable to the Assyrian state, and their relocation was carefully planned and organized. We must not imagine treks of destitute fugitives who were easy prey for famine and disease: the deportees were meant to travel as comfortably and safely as possible in order to reach their destination in good physical shape. Whenever deportations are depicted in Assyrian imperial art, men, women and children are shown travelling in groups, often riding on vehicles or animals and never in bonds. There is no reason to doubt these depictions as Assyrian narrative art does not otherwise shy away from the graphic display of extreme violence.”[2] But we are mainly concerned about the Neo-Assyrian Empire to investigate whether there was any migration of Assyrians to India, especially to Kerala. The Late Empire (also known as the Neo-Assyrian Empire) was the period of the largest expansion of the empire. It was also the era which most decisively gives the Assyrian Empire the reputation it has for ruthlessness and cruelty. Kriwaczek says: Assyria must surely have among the worst press notices of any state in history. Babylon may be a byname for corruption, decadence and sin but the Assyrians and their famous rulers, with terrifying names like Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, rate in the popular imagination just below Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan for cruelty, violence, and sheer murderous savagery.[3] Leaving aside the earlier years of wars, conquests and violence when there was no trace of Assyrians coming to Kerala, we have to scroll quickly to jump to the period of the collapse of the Assyrian Empire in 605 B.C. Egypt sent forces to the north, defeating Judah along the way, in order to join the remaining Assyrian troops. They met at Megiddo, where they encountered the advancing Babylonian army. The Assyrian-Egyptian army was defeated by the Babylonians, extinguishing the final hope for the Assyrian Empire. There are some historians who believe that this people vanished from the face of the earth and may only be known by means of the biblical references to it. An objective researcher would never arrive at such a hasty conclusion.[4] After being completely defeated, the Assyrians remained a distinct "nation" of people in Northern Mesopotamia, but would forever exist under the rule of foreign masters.Although it should be noted that Assyrian history continued on past that point, and there are still Assyrians living in the regions of Iran and Iraq, and elsewhere, in the present day exposed to the rampaging ISIS jihadists. After their empires collapsed in the 6th and 7th Centuries BC, the Assyrians scattered across the Middle East. They embraced Christianity in the 1st Century AD, with their Ancient Church of the East believed to be the oldest in Iraq.
ST. THOMAS CONTROVERSY.
Christianity began in the Middle East, in Palestine, Syria and Egypt, and the fact that those regions were part of the Roman Empire provided opportunities for Christian expansion along the trade routes of the Roman world. The Persian Empire stretched from Syria to what is now Pakistan and deep into central Asia and this empire too offered the kind of stability that churches needed to expand. The backbone of Christian growth was the Silk Route, most of which ran through Persian territories. The great city of Antioch, where the term ‘Christian’ first arose no later than 50 A.D, was a terminus for an ancient trade connecting the Mediterranean world to Persia and Central Asia. Throughout late antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Silk Route ran from Syria into northern Persia and into what are now the nations of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Early Christian records mention that Peter and Thomas preached the Gospel to the Parthians and men such as Thaddaeus, Bartholomew, and Addeus evangelized the races of Mesopotamia and Persia.[5] According to Assyrian church history, in the first decades of the Christian era the Apostle Mar Addai (St. Addai), who is equated sometimes with the ‘Thaddeus’ of the Twelve, was sent by St. Thomas the Apostle to the city of Edessa (Osrhoene). Another early tradition of the Church attributes the evangelization of the Assyrians to the missionary activity of the apostles in the region of Adiabene, modern-day Arbil in northern Iraq. The other major missionary activity took place by the end of the first Christian century centered around the royal twin-cities of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. The city was founded by one of the generals of Alexander the Great, Seleucus Nicator in the fourth century BC. According to the document, the Acts of Mari, St. Thaddeus (Addai) had sent his disciple Mari from Edessa to preach to the inhabitants of the royal cities.[6] The official website of the Eastern Catholic Church states: “This Aramaic speaking remnant of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church came into existence immediately after the Resurrection and the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and on the Feast of Pentecost…through the missionary efforts of the Apostle Saint Thomas (Mar Toma) and the Apostle Saint Jude Thaddeus (Mar Addai), the church was brought to the city of Edessa which is located in the north-west of Mesopotamia and established in Persia in 35 A.D.”[7] Church historian Missik also confirms the view that St. Thomas was the first missionary to Syrian/Chaldean church. “The Assyrian Church of the East existed for centuries before the birth of Nestorius. According to Assyrian tradition, attested to in several ancient Syriac documents, the Church of the East was established in Assyria during the
reign of King Abgar V, a contemporary of Jesus Christ, by St. Thomas and St.
Thaddeus as well as other apostles of the original Hebrew Church founded by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”[8] Pope Benedict XVI, addressing a vast crowd at St Peter's Square, on 27 September, said: "Let us remember that an ancient tradition claims that Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia then went on to Western India from where Christianity also reached Southern India.” Although spirited protests from the Kerala Syro-Malabar Church compelled him to amend the published text of his speech, the Pope being an erudite historian and theologian, his original statement based on historical facts cannot be deprived of its legal force. Andrew Missick writes: “According to ancient records Thaddeus and Mari went to preach to the Assyrians at the bidding of Thomas. Thomas later went and ministered to the Assyrians living in Parthia and in Assyrian principalities and villages along its borders.[9]
Church historians rely on the writings of Eusebius and Ephraim to gather facts about the missionary activities of Thomas and other apostles. Herbert Christian Merillat says that the first fairly reliable evidence that mainstream churches on the Mediterranean model were gaining a foothold in the Syriac-speaking world beyond the Euphrates comes from the Edessan Chronicle, as compiled in the sixth century. It refers to a Bishop Kune, who laid the foundations of a church in Edessa in the year 313. This is the record's first mention of a bishop in the region, although, as we have seen, there were several earlier groups or sects in Edessa that considered themselves Christians. Walter Bauer, the German scholar who traced the evolution of orthodoxy from the varied Christian sects found in the early centuries of the faith, suggested an ingenious hypothesis. Bishop Kune arrived as a bishop early in the fourth century, ordained by the bishop of Antioch. He may have shown the "archive" to Eusebius (who apparently never visited Edessa) when the church historian was collecting material in nearby Palestine. To make Thomas and Addai the founders would give the first church in Edessa an apostolic succession that Marcionites and Bardesanites could not claim.”[10] Rev. Aubrey R. Vine in his book The Nestorian Churches mentions that the Church of the East had Metropolitan Sees at Nisibis and Adiabene (Arbil) and Bishoprics at Nineveh and Singara, all formerly Assyrian imperial cities.[11] Omission of Malabar or India is quite conspicuous.
Controversial views are also expressed about the relics of St. Thomas. The burial site of St. Thomas has also attracted an assortment of critical positions that individually challenge the preconceptions of earlier church historians such as Eusebius, Ephraim, Syrus, Ambrose, Paulinus and Jerome. After a detailed study and research of all available sources, Ian Hampson has put forward his own conclusion in St. Thomas Bradley Church website: “My own theory is this: Thomas left Jerusalem after the persecution of Acts Chapter 8, and travelled east along the Silk Road trade route to preach in the kingdom of Parthia, where there were established Jewish communities, including some who had witnessed the events of Pentecost recounted in Acts 2. The Parthian empire and Mesopotamia became centres of the early church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, so it may be that Thomas had success in establishing churches. At some point he moved on, probably overland, following the southern branch of the Silk Road to end up at Taxila, staying there and in surrounding kingdoms for some time. He was eventually martyred under Gundoferus (or another nearby king later called Misdaeus / Mazdai) and buried. His body may well have been taken almost immediately back to an unknown location in Mesopotamia by disciples of his who had travelled with him, before they were later translated to Edessa, and thence to Ortona with bits of him spread elsewhere across Europe. This, I think, matches both the available facts, and also the most likely chain of events.”[12] The discovery by Archbishop Mor Severious Zakka in 1964 of the relics of St. Thomas in the sanctuary wall of St. Thomas Cathedral in Mosul, Iraq, while maintenance work was carried out on the cathedral has further added fuel to the controversy. This may be considered as a solid proof that St. Thomas worked as a missionary in the Assyrian/ Chaldean belt of Mesopotamia. Ghassan Sahathaya says: “While several apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ preached in Mesopotamia e.g. St. Thomas the Apostle, between 35-37 A.D., St. Peter the Apostle in 54 A.D., the Church of the East, which the Chaldean Church is a daughter, gives much credit for its formal establishment to the efforts of St. Thaddeus (Mar Addai), one of the 72 Apostles, who preached in Mesopotamia between 37-65 A.D. After the martydom of Mar Addai, two of his disciples continued the missionary work, they were Mar Agai (65-87 A.D.) and Mar Mari (88-121 A.D.).[13] After a critical examination, evaluation, and selection of material from primary and secondary sources, I have formed the view that St. Thomas would have worked in Persia and later in Taxila where he encountered Gondophares, Indo-Parthian king, whose kingdom included Punjab. Gondophores is known from the apocryphal Acts of Thomas, the Takht-i Bahi inscription, and coin-issues in silver and copper. After the death of St. Thomas, Persian missionaries would have gone to Afghanistan, Mongolia, Tibet, China, India ( Mylapore) and Sri Lanka. As Latouretteoints out, “Christianity was introduced in Persia in the Parthian period, and several bishoprics were established there. That the Persian church was itself active in proselytizing abroad at the end of the Sasanian period (224-651) and immediately after is clear from remains in India and China.”[14] The Sunday Examiner (Hong Kong) reported on 2 February 2014 that the 2009 discovery of a Christian site in China has been verified as a historical relic dated to the missionary enterprise of the Assyrian Church of the East in China. Experts have verified that a niche in a stone wall with a cross above it, found at the Longmen Grottoes in central Henan Province was a repository for the ashes and bones of Christians. The discovery at the UNESCO World Heritage site was made in 2009 and verified by experts in mid-January 2014. The discovery is dated between the Ming and Tang dynasties, from 316 to 907AD.This latest discovery adds to the well-established historical record of the missionary enterprise of the Assyrian Church of the East in China.[15] All these historical events and a wealth of corroborative evidences from Persia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and China reveal that Christianity came to South India only after the 3rd century. It is quite intriguing that Sri Lankan tradition also claims St. Thomas’ visit to the island and conversion of people. Persian missionary work in south India and Sri Lanka would have been probably linked with the missionary activities of St. Thomas in Persia. All foreign travelers who came to Kerala spoke about the prevalence of Nestorian doctrine in Kerala churches. Nestorianism became a public issue only in 431 C.E at the Council of Ephesus and, therefore, in all probability Christianity would have come to Kerala in the later part of 3rd century or in the beginning of 4th century. The early Apostles were not Nestorians and the prevalence of Nestorianism in the early churches of Kerala as testified by foreign witnesses is a clear chronological evidence that Christianity came to Kerala only in the fourth century. On the other hand,the history of Christianity in Egypt dates back verily to the beginnings of Christianity itself. Many Christians hold that Christianity was brought to Egypt by the Apostle Saint Mark in the early part of the first century AD.. Saint Mark's first convert in Alexandria was Anianus, a shoemaker who later was consecrated a bishop and became Patriarch of Alexandria after Saint Mark's martyrdom. This succession of Patriarchs has remained unbroken down to the present day, making the Egyptian Christian, or Coptic, Church one of the oldest Christian churches in existence.
MYTH OF ASSYRIAN IMMIGRATION
T.V. Philip, church historian, says: “Apart from the ecclesiastical relationship that had been established with the Persian church, there were at least two important waves of immigration of Persian Christians to India, one in the fourth century and the other in the ninth century, which strengthened the already existing communities in India.”[16] When the Portuguese came to Kerala, they could not find a single Assyrian settlement, although there were separate colonies for Jews. Philip’s claim of “already existing communities” is devoid of any merit because the Portuguese and Dutch could not see any Assyrian colony in Kerala. A Dutch Priest, Canter Visscher, settled in Kochi and wrote a series of 25 letters in 1723 on Kerala, its society, life and culture, on seasons, on local principalities, political set up, on coins and currency, temples, agriculture, flora and fauna, calendars and almanac. He formed the first hand recorded information on Kerala. He has given a long list of castes that lived at that time, the profession of castes, their customs and manners. He even narrates about traders coming from neighborhood provinces – “people who visited Malabar for trade, who formed the floating population. Pattars, Konginis and Yogis came under this group.”[17] There is, however, absolutely no reference to Assyrian settlement, although the existence of Jews is mentioned..
The alleged arrival of Thomas of Cana has attracted a farrago of conflicting views and myths that critically challenge beliefs and theories not backed by solid evidences. Philip gives the cause for Assyrian immigration to Kerala: “The fourth century was a time of severe persecution of Christians in Persia under Shapur II. The first immigration of Christians from Persia to Malabar is believed to have taken place during this period. The tradition speaks of one Thomas of Cana, a Nestorian merchant reached Kodungallur (Cranganore) on the Malabar coast in south west India in A. D. 345, bringing with him a group of about 400 Christian families including deacons, priests and a bishop. The Indian Christians received them with great joy and all proceeded to Cheraman Perumal, the king of Malabar, and were favourably received by him. The king granted the Syrian Christians seventy-two marks of distinction enjoyed by high caste Hindus and they received land at Cranganore to build for them a settlement and a church.”[18] This belief without any historical or documentary evidence has been the basis for the claim of superior Jewish progeny for local converts. The most important way of clearing intellectual space for fake scholarship and culture is to marginalize the concept of truth. Concept of truth has been jettisoned to uphold an unverified religious belief touted through the years. Emotions run high on this issue. This is understandable considering the magnitude of the cherished belief of the thousands for years. Mar Thoma church website says: “The history of this ancient Church during 4th to 15th centuries reveals the fact that it was in friendly relations with the Church in Persia. There is a tradition that a group of 400 immigrants from Persia arrived in Malabar in AD 345 under the leadership of a merchant named Thomas of Cana, known as Knaye Thommen.”[19]. There is no documentary evidence to prove the migration of Assyrians “during 4th to 15th centuries”, although there were stray incidents of missionaries voluntarily going alone to Afghanistan, India, Tibet, Sri Lanka and China to spread the Gospel. Christianity arrived in ancient Persia not long after the death of Christ and has waxed and waned ever since. But the period cited -- 4th to 15th centuries – was a tumultuous period in Persian Church history. Apart from persecution by Shapur 11, the spread of Islam from seventh century onward and persecution of Christians by Harun Al Rashid in eight-century , the Persian church during this period remained oppressed and helpless. From the invasions of Tamerlane until the accession of Shah Abbas, the Safavid ruler (1582), a period of two hundred years was so perilous for Persian church and it was struggling for its existence. There is no relevant primary source or record in Persian church, specifically at Edessa, about the sending of Thomas of Cana or a bishop or settlers to Malabar. Even during the days of persecution, dedicated Christians remained firm in their belief, and were prepared to die as martyrs instead of migrating to other countries. Majority of the people were forcibly converted to Islam and Persia became a Muslim country during this period.
Another claim of Thomas Christians is over their genealogical link with Thomas of Cana. Even well established churches with large following worldwide have been functioning with the firm belief that Thomas of Cana was their founder and that the members have Jewish blood through him. Surprisingly, churches have been even separated over the right to be the descendants of this fictitious Thomas of Cana. Anto Akkara writes: “Themajority of church historians presume that the arrival of a Jewish Christian trader from Mesopotamia in the 4th century paved the way for domination by the East Syrians-- better known as Chaldeans-- over the Thomas Christians who had flourished in India and especially in Kerala”[20] Although Thomas of Cana is the prime character in the various branches of Syrian Christian churches, his very arrival itself is built on a solid foundation of fabrication and omission. Primary sources for Thomas of Cana are not available in the churches of the Middle East. At the end of 1stcentury, Christianity spread to Edessa. Archives of Syriac/Syrian, Assyrian/Chaldean, Armenian and Maronite churches of the Middle East do not have any record to show that Thomas of Cana was sent either as a bishop or a missionary to Kerala.After the martyrdom of Shimun or Simeon, Sadoth was chosen bishop. Persecution of Sapor continued during his time and he was also murdered. Contrary to the contention of some Thomas Christians, there is no record in the Seleucian church about the sending of Thomas of Cana, a bishop and 72 families to Kerala. The political climate in Persia was also not favorable for sending bishops and others to Kerala. Another significant factor is that the Council of Selucia-Ctesiphon, also called Council of Mar Isaac, which met in 410 AD, does not contain any reference to Thomas of Cana in its synodal documents. It was this Council that established the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon as its Catholicos, or leader. It marked a major milestone in the history of the Church of the East and of Christianity in Asia in general . In Kerala also there is no contemporary document about the arrival of Thomas of Cana either in churches or in government archives. Some churches refer to copper plates allegedly given by the local ruler. Church historian C.B.Frith says in An Introduction to Indian Church History, “This migration of Christians cannot be treated as historical fact. No deeds of copper plates in the name of Thomas of Cana are now extant. "... (and) it would be rash to insist upon all the details of the story of Thomas the merchant.” In 1806 at the suggestion of Rev. Claude Buchanan, Colonel Macauly, the British resident, ordered a careful search for the copper plates and they turned up in the record room of Cochin town. The tables then contained (1) the grant to Irani Cortton of Cranganore, and (2) the set of plates of the grant to Maruvan Sopi Iso of Quilon, but those of the grant to Thomas Cana were not among them. Thomas Christians say that the Portuguese removed the plates. It may be pertinent to ask: Then why the Portuguese did not remove the other plates? Portuguese were keen on collecting historical records, and it was only after the arrival of the Portuguese that a systematic attempt was made to write the history of their conquered territories. Alphonse Mingana, Church historian and scholar, has serious doubts about the mission of Thomas of Cana to Malabar with bishops and families. Who was the bishop in Persia or Mesopotamia who sent Thomas of Cana to Malabar? Church archives in Edessa have no documentary evidence of Thomas of Cana’s deputation to Malabar. The only evidence displayed by Syrian Christians is the manipulated copper plates. The truth of the matter is there were no such copper plates given to Thomas of Cana. The Dutch Governor, Moens, says that a Syrian Priest has confessed to him that “although he was born in Malabar, had grown up among the Syrian Christians, and even be one of their priests, nothing of the sort was known to him, so that the search for this written patent was vain.”[21] Southists Christians in Kerala believe that Thomas of Cana, who is reverently called Knanaya Thomman, came with 72 families and a bishop in 345 A.D. They are now flaunting the recently conceived name ‘Knanayas’ for their community. A study of various sources gives the clue that this Thomas was an Armenian merchant. The Portuguese writer,Penteado (1518), says that he was an Armenian merchant, and this view is fairly acceptable, although he was not his contemporary. Armenians claim that an Indian colony existed in Armenia all the way back in the first century BC. Armenians serving under Alexander the Great or Persian rulers came to India and they could also have been sources of early Armenian-Indian connections. In the AGBU News Magazine of Armenians, July 1, 2001, David Zenian says: “According to a book published by the parish priest of Senhora da Expectora Church, built on the site in 1523 in suburban Little Mount of Madras, the Portuguese were told of the burial place of the Apostle St. Thomas by the natives and were taken there by Armenian merchants in 1517.” Akbar allowed the Armenians to build a church in Agra and one of his wives, Mariam, was an Armenian. In the absence of any primary source, circumstantial political events point out that Thomas of Cana was most probably an Armenian merchant who would have come to Kerala from the nearby Armenian settlement, Madras.
After reviewing various available sources, I have a vague idea that the privileges allegedly said to have given by the local ruler were plagiarized from the privileges given to Joseph Rabban, the Jewish leader. During the 155-years Portuguese rule, local converts were elevated by them at a single stroke to the status of higher caste by appointing them as army officers, administrators, clerks, brokers and police officers. Albuquerque’s policy of making Portuguese soldiers and other employees to marry local women gave white complexion to the local converts. The Raja of Kochi was a mere puppet of the Portuguese and even his crown was made in Lisbon. Portuguese went out of the way to help Christians because they wanted loyalists in a foreign country. As woodcock says: “Wherever they went, colour bars did not exist. Portuguese soldiers and officials were encouraged to marry Keralan women and Malayalis, provided they became Christians, had equal rights with whites in the municipality which was set up in Fort Cochin. Converts were often given high military and civil posts. And some were even ennobled.”
Syrian converts who had hitherto lived in steep ignorance and illiteracy, were made literate by opening colleges by the Franciscan at Kodungalore and the Jesuits at Vaippicotta and Kochi. Economically, the Portuguese trained the Syrian converts to concentrate on cash crops instead of paddy cultivation. With the Portuguese in full power for about 155 years, Syrian converts made a monstrous leap to top echelon in society and administration. As military and police officers they could control Nambudhris and Nairs. With enormous profit from cash crops, Syrian converts as planters became wealthy landlords and business persons of great affluence and power. When the Dutch and British saw the Syrian Christians for the first time, they formed the view that Syrians were the elite in society to be ranked with the other higher castes in Kerala society. Probably it was during this period the myths that they were of Nambuthiri Brahmin or Jewish or Assyrian descent was fabricated to retain their recently won superior status in a rigid caste-ridden society. As for instance, a family diary, Niranam Granthavari, claims that St. Thomas converted their families and even today the belief is reverently cherished.[23] According to Syrian Christian tradition St. Thomas came in 52 CE, but the diary was written in 1815 and this long gap of several centuries makes the narration fickle and shockingly inaccurate. Viewed in this perspective, the story of arrival of Thomas of Cana would have also been probably contrived later to manipulate a superior Jewish or Assyrian identity for Christians in a society where people were valued for their caste and birth. This elite status for Syrian Christians was, however, limited to people who lived in urban areas where Portuguese administrative, trade, military and residential quarters were situated. In rural areas Syrian converts were treated as lower castes. Abbe J.A. Dubois, a missionary in Mysore, in his letter dated August 7, 1815, writes: “The Jesuits, on their first arrival in India, hearing of them, in one way or other converted the greatest part to the Catholic faith. Their liturgy is to this day in the Syrian language, and in the performance of their religious ceremonies they use this ancient dead tongue. There remains still among them large congregations, consisting of 70 or 80,000 Christians, of whom two-thirds are Catholics, and a third Nestorians. They are all designated under the contemptuous name of Nazarany, and held by the pagans in still greater contempt than the Christians of this part of the country. The Nairs chiefly keep them at a greatest distance, and they form a separate body in society.”[24] They had to perform compulsory service called ‘oozhiyam’ like other lower castes. Samuel Mateer, the British missionary, visited some interior rural areas where Syrian converts lived and has given a picture of their living condition and poor knowledge of religion. “The Syrians appear to be in the lowest condition in the northern and mountainous districts in Muvdttupulay direction…. Between Cottayam and Trichoor, a distance of about 70 miles, a great field for Christian labour lies open, for which the Alwaye Itineracy has been established. At Muvdttupulay and Todupulay there are large numbers of Syrians, poor, hard- working, and kind people, renting lands from the Nambiiri landlords, for which they pay four or five times the seed sown, and cultivating areca palms and the fruits, roots, and grains on which they live. They have no Scriptures or other books, and few schools. Nor is there a Sirkar District school at either of the two district towns just mentioned. The priests conduct service and go off to their houses; sometimes indeed there is no one to hold worship in the churches. The surrounding population have very little idea as to what God the Syrians worship, or how the ignorance and spiritual darkness of these poor nominal Christians is very great. On a tour in that quarter not long ago to see the country, I very carefully and cautiously examined those whom I met, or stayed with, as to their knowledge of Christian truth. It was heart-rending to learn of the criminal indifference and negligence of the priests and to find old men and young quite ignorant, not only of the Scriptures, which they never read nor hear read, but even as to who Jesus Christ was. “I know nothing of it “said an old man with whom I conversed. A youth with handsome open countenance could not tell what kind of person or character Jesus Christ was — whether a Brahman, a government officer, a carpenter, or what! He "could not say." One could hardly credit that such Ignorance was possible; but a native friend, who accompanied me, also repeated the queries in various forms to make sure that they were understood, and both of us used their Syriac terms. The old man could mumble over the creed, but did not know the meaning. “What then do you go to church for?” "To do the appointed things, and worship the cross. The priest shows us God." But he could not tell why the cross was worshipped. Another said he went to worship the Apostle Paul, but did not know who he was, or what he did. “Why are you baptized? ““For the religion and for the soul; to make me a Mapillay," were the answers. " Why do you attend the Holy Communion? “** Because it is the custom. We are told to do it, but do not know the reason why." “Is it the same as eating your rice " " Oh no, something quite different, but I do not know what." Scarcely any knew who the first man was, and such like things. I found that the Syrians were beneath the Roman Catholics of the neighbourhood, both in knowledge and in morals”[25] The Dutch were also not
satisfied with the knowledge of Christianity of the local converts who were
appointed as priests in Syrian churches.
Press List of Ancient Dutch Records dated 21st December 1781 shows:
“The Syrian priest was examined but not considered fit as a preacher, wherefore
the Church Council was asked to appoint him as a schoolmaster or catechist, or
to send him to Ceylon.” Rev. Samuel Mateer’s encounter with Syrian Christians reveals that while in Portuguese administered urban areas Christians were enjoying a high standard of living surpassing Nambudhiris and Nairs. in rural areas, however, the vast majority of Christians, by today’s standards, were low and poor. They had to work in the paddy fields of Nambudhiris and Nairs. Local castes, other than Nambudhiris and Nairs, who became Christians, got the caste name of ‘mappilais’, and this status would have probably freed them from slave labour and temple duties. Rev. Mateer could not see Assyrian settlers, and the churches were managed not by Assyrian priests or missionaries but by illiterate local converts with little knowledge of Christianity. Portuguese priests found even Hindu idols in some churches and there was a reference to it in the proceedings of the Synod of Dampier. Pre-Portuguese Christians and Christians converted by Portuguese missionaries were all local converts, mostly from backward castes since Nambudhiris and Nairs did not show any inclination to abandon their traditional religion. As the Catholic Encyclopedia says: "It may be stated here that the Syrians of Malabar are as a body natives of the land by descent, and the Syriac trait in them is that of their liturgy, which is in the Syrian language. They call themselves Syrians by way of distinction from other body of Christians on the coast, who belong to the Latin rite." Apparently it was the Syrian and Latin rite that divided them, although all were local converts. There were two categories of Syrian Christians after the Portuguse left the shores of Kerala. The Portuguese created a highly advanced Syrian Christian community in the spheres of wealth, education, military prowess, maritime trade and white complexion because of Albuquerque's policy of intermarriage. But in rural areas, Syrian Christians had to face all difficulties of lower castes. In a letter written by Punnathra Mar Dionysius, Malankara Metropolitan from 1817 to 1825, addressed to Lord Gambier, President of Church Missionary Society and Bishop Henry, in the year 1821 will give a vivid picture of the condition of Syrian Christians.[In the name of the eternal and necessary existence the Almighty. Mar Dionysius, metropolitan of the Jacobite Syrians in Malabar, subject to the authority of our father, Mar Ignatius, patriarch, who presides in the apostolic see of Antioch of Syria, beloved of the Messiah. Love from Christ and from the people of all the churches to lord Gambier, the illustrious, honourable and renowned president; and to our brother, Mar Henry, the honoured bishop of the city of Gloucester; and to the priests and deacons, and true Christians, great and small, in the church of England, who are devoted to these things, and are mindful of them, who both assist and provide that we should teach and preach the precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ. Love from God, and grace from his only begotten Son, and protection from the Holy Ghost, be with you all evermore! Amen. We now have fifty five Jacobite Syrian churches in Malabar and from the power of a kingdom filled with idols the heathen have subdued us Jacobite Syrians just as Pharoah king of Egypt subdued the children of Israel, and had no pity. And, as the Jacobite Syrians just as Pharoah king of Egypt subdued the children of Israel, and had no pity. And, as the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage of Pharoah, king of Egypt; so the Lord beheld our sorrows and afflictions; and there have been sent to us an illustrious leader, named Macaulay, and Mar Buchanan, the illustrious priest: and when they came to us, and saw our subjugation, and sorrow, and poverty, they brought us forth from the house of bondage, and consoled us with kind words, and assisted us with money.
(.This letter written in Syriac was translated by Professor Lee May and published in the 'Christian Journal and Literary Register' Volume VII, published in the year 1823.) In another incident, narrated by Thomas Whitehouse :In those days the Puthenkoor Syrian Christians, in their work of church extension, had to encounter such opposition from the heathen Hindus around them as Protestant missionaries have since experienced in that part of India. At Chenganur the Puthenkoor Syrians had some difficulty in reaching their church from the river side, in consequence of having to pass a Hindoo temple; and to obviate this a direct road was opened by authority, but a heathen Hindu party, headed by the petty Bajah of the place, tried, in every possible way, to prevent the Puthenkoor Syrians using the road when made; and it required the strong hand of the British Resident to put them down. In Mamalashery parish, at a place called Pampacuda, a new church, erected in 1823, met with the most determined opposition from the Brahmins and Nairs of the place, who made many false statements to prevent the completion of the work; these, however, were duly examined and inquired by British Resident , and eventually pronounced unreasonable objections.." (“Lingerings of Light in a Dark Land”, by Rev Thomas Whitehouse, published in 1873 : Source(: Chronicles of Malabar: Syrian church of Malabar under British rule
(.This letter written in Syriac was translated by Professor Lee May and published in the 'Christian Journal and Literary Register' Volume VII, published in the year 1823.) In another incident, narrated by Thomas Whitehouse :In those days the Puthenkoor Syrian Christians, in their work of church extension, had to encounter such opposition from the heathen Hindus around them as Protestant missionaries have since experienced in that part of India. At Chenganur the Puthenkoor Syrians had some difficulty in reaching their church from the river side, in consequence of having to pass a Hindoo temple; and to obviate this a direct road was opened by authority, but a heathen Hindu party, headed by the petty Bajah of the place, tried, in every possible way, to prevent the Puthenkoor Syrians using the road when made; and it required the strong hand of the British Resident to put them down. In Mamalashery parish, at a place called Pampacuda, a new church, erected in 1823, met with the most determined opposition from the Brahmins and Nairs of the place, who made many false statements to prevent the completion of the work; these, however, were duly examined and inquired by British Resident , and eventually pronounced unreasonable objections.." (“Lingerings of Light in a Dark Land”, by Rev Thomas Whitehouse, published in 1873 : Source(: Chronicles of Malabar: Syrian church of Malabar under British rule
http://chroniclesofmalabar.blogspot.in/2012/05/syrianchurchofmalabarunderbritish).
It is also alleged that two further groups of colonies came from Persia, one in the 8th century, and the other, led by two bishops, Mar Sarisho (Sabor) and Mar Peroz (Proth), in the early 9th century. Nagom Aiya refers to this event: “In the same year (A.D.824) King Sthanu Ravi anxious to secure the pecuniary assistance from Christian merchants in efforts to repel the invasion of Malabar by Rahakas granted the Copper Plate” In this the king gave permission to mar Sapor to transfer to the …church and community at Quilon a piece of the land with near the city with the several families of low caste attached to it…”[26]It is doubtful whether the plates were subjected to carbon dating to fix the date. But one point that emerges from the document is the grant of land with many low caste families. These low castes became Syrian converts of bishop Mar Sabor. A trusted low caste worker of the bishop was elevated by him to the rank of kathanar and he was the famous legendary Paulose kathanar with mystical powers. The appointment of Paulose is a solid proof that Mar Sabor was not accompanied by Assyrians or Persians and therefore he had to select a local convert as kathanar.
There is no valid evidence for Persian migration in the 8th century and in Persia during this period the church was expanding its activities, in spite of Muslim persecution. Bukhara was elevated to a metropolitan see city by the eighth century.[27] It was also a period of missionary activity, not migration of Assyrians to other countries. In Stewart's words, the missionaries who thus went out "evangelized and baptized many, worked miracles, and showed signs... built churches and appointed priests and deacons to care for them.[28]. There is absolutely no reference in Assyrian political or church history about the “waves of immigration” of Assyrians to Kerala even before Christianity was introduced in Persia. The Assyrian empire collapsed in 612 B.C. The Assyrian people survived the loss of their state, and they remained mostly inconspicuous for the next 600 years. This period is called ‘dark age.’ Assyrian historian Peter BetBasoo says: “Assyrians continued living in their homeland throughout this dark age, until that momentous moment in human history, when the Lord Son of God gave himself for the salvation of mankind. Very soon after the crucifixion, the bulk of the Assyrian population converted to Christianity, although there remained to be Ashurites, until 256 A.D. It was the Apostle Thomas, with Thaddeus and Bartholomew who came to the Assyrian city of Edessa and founded the Assyrian Church of the East, the first and oldest church in the world.
Armed with the word of God, and after 600 years of dormancy, the Assyrians once again set out to build an empire, not a military empire, but a religious empire founded on divine revelation and Christian brotherhood. So successful was the Assyrian missionary enterprise, by the end of the twelfth century the Assyrian Church was larger than the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches combined, and it spanned the Asian continent, from Syria to Mongolia, Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines.
When Marco Polo visited China in the thirteenth century, he was astonished to find Assyrian priests in the Chinese royal court, and tens of thousands of Chinese Christians. The Assyrian missionaries had reached China in the sixth century. With only the Bible, a cross, and a loaf of bread in hand, these messengers had walked thousands of miles along the old Silk Road to deliver the word of God. So successful were the missionaries, when Genghis Khan swept through Asia, he brought with him an army over half of which belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. So successful were the missionaries, the first Mongolian system of writing used the Assyrian alphabet.”[29] I have given BetBasoo’s views comprehensively to highlight two important points – (1) there were no “waves of immigration” in the fourth century and (2). St Thomas served as a missionary in and around Edessa. In the official website of the Assyrian Church of the East in India, it is shown, “Malankara is another name for Kerala, the cradle of Christianity in India. St. Thomas, the Apostle came to Kerala in A.D. 52 and preached the gospel with great success. Not much is known about the early history of these St. Thomas Christians, but two facts stand out clearly. Between the 3rd and the 9th centuries there were waves of immigrants from Mesopotamia to Kerala, and from the early centuries.”[30] From a research perspective, I delved into all available books and documents archived in the web database, but I could not come across any document relating to the migration of Assyrians in the third and ninth centuries to Kerala. BetBasoo says: “One of the greatest Assyrian achievements of the fourth century was the founding of the first university in the world. The School of Nisibis had three departments: theology, philosophy and medicine, and became a magnet and center of intellectual development in the Middle East. The statutes of the School of Nisibis, which have been preserved, later became the model upon which the first Italian university was based.”[31] So the Assyrian Christians were leading a normal, peaceful existence in the 3rd century. When Sapur !! came to power (309-79 A.D), Assyrian Christians had to face cruel persecution. As Barnes says: “In 337, during the reign of Shapur II, there was a rise in the persecution of Christians, partly due to the Christianization of the Roman Empire and the identification of Christians as collaborators with the enemy.”[32] . Shāpūr ordered the persecution and forcible conversion of the Christians throughout his reign. He murdered Mar Shimun, the Catholicos, along with five bishops and a hundred minor clergy. Many churches were destroyed. There were many famous martyrs during this period and the persecution lasted for many years. The significant factor during this period of persecution was the determination of the Assyrian Christians, like the martyrs, not to migrate to any other country. It is believed that some time after the defeat of Julian, “ when fear of a Roman invasion subsided, Shapur II may have issued a decree of toleration in some limited form for Christian”[33] There was no migration of Christians to Kerala or any other country, but Christians from conquered areas were brought to Persia.”Multitudes of prisoners from the recaptured border territories were uprooted and resettled farther east in Persia, especially in Isfahan and Susiana. They included almost a hundred thousand Christian families, according to Moses of Chorene, adding not only to the numbers of Christians in Persia, but also perhaps bringing liturgical manuscripts and their sacred books. Voobus believes that it was through this influx of refugees and captives that the four separate Gospels of the Western canon came into circulation in Persia and gradually replaced Tatian's harmony of the Gospels, the Diatessaron.”[34] Sapur’s persecution could not eliminate Christianity from Persia. As Massoem Price says: “The deportees were settled in Mesopotamia, Persis (Pars) and Parthia. The decision was based on economic and demographic reasons, but unintentionally promoted the spread of the new faith. New cities and settlements in fertile but sparsely populated regions such as Khuzistan and Meshan were built. Many Christians were employed in big construction projects and had a large number of skilled workers and craftsmen among them. The city soon became a significant cultural and educational center with the famous library and the University of Jundaishapour, home to scholars from all over including many Christian and Jewish scholars. It also became the center of silk production in Iran with many Christians involving in every aspect of silk production, management and marketing.[35] All these events in Assyrian political and religious history emphatically contravene the claim that there were “waves’ of Assyrian migration to Kerala at the time of Sapur’s persecution. The Persian Catholicos Mar Shimun was arrested and later murdered by Sapur. How could the Catholicos send Thomas of Cana and 400 Christian families to Kerala when he himself was not in a position to execute his authority? Samuel Hugh Moffett quotes from Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, " A second decree ordered the destruction of churches and the execution of clergy who refused to participate in the national worship of the sun. Bishop Simon was seized and brought before the shah who, it is said, had known him from his youth. He was offered rich gifts to make a token obeisance to the sun, and when he refused, as his accusers expected, they cunningly tempted him with the promise that if only he alone would apostasize his people would not be harmed, but that if he refused he would be condemning not just the church leaders but all Christians to destruction. At that, the Christians themselves rose up and refused to accept such deliverance as shameful. So on Good Friday, according to the tradition (but more likely on September 14), in the year 344, he was led outside the city of Susa along with a large number of Christian clergy. Five bishops and one hundred priests were beheaded before his eyes, and last of all he himself was put to death." It is a sheer bizarre fantasy to claim that Bishop Simon sent Thomas of Cana, a bishop and 72 families to Kerala when he himself was facing execution. But Shapur II’s persecution is repeatedly projected by Thomas Christians for the arrival of Thomas of Cana at Kodungallore. What is more, Persian church history says that Christians were proud to die as martyrs instead of fleeing persecution. Even women volunteered to die as martyrs. In most books and websites of St. Thomas Christians, the persecution of Sapur11 is highlighted to claim the arrival of Thomas of Cana and later massive Assyrian migration to Kerala and their descent through these migrants. Even after Sapur’s death, Assyrian Christians boldly faced the persecution of Muslim rulers and reorganized themselves into cohesive social groups without migrating to other countries. The conquest of Islam in seventh century put an end to freedom of religion throughout the Middle East. The situation worsened by the time of Harun Al Rashid seized power in eight-century AD. The overwhelming population of the area at the time was Christian, Zoroastrian and Jewish. Their houses of worship were destroyed, they could not build any new ones and jizya was increased substantially. But there is no evidence of Assyrian migration to Kerala. As Price says: “Iran being part of the Greater Muslim Empire was subjected to the same rules. Since non-Muslims were forced out of the government institutions, they went into trade and banking. A wealthy class of Christian merchants emerged with cash but little political influence. Christian artisans, including goldsmiths and jewelers, would find employment in the large cities. In his account of the mission of the Nestorian monks, Thomas of Marga relates that the Patriarch Timothy sent his missionary with a company of merchants who were journeying together to Mugan (the plain of Mugan?) on the River Aras (Araxes). Muslim treatment of the religious minorities varied in accordance with the policies of the caliphs and attitudes of different governors.”[36]. Christians had accepted the new political climate and there was no evidence of migration of Assyrians to Kerala during this period. Bishop Timothy was successful in maintaining good relations with the Muslims. As Bidwaid says, “ In a letter to a bishop in western Syria, Timothy praised the situation of nearly all Christians in his care because they were not politically preferred and were anything but established. Among them the great pearl of the faith had not been trampled in the mud as it had been in the West by first one emperor and then another, demanding the acceptance of what the ruler believed.”[37]
The website Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East states: “The Muslim conquest beginning in the 7th century affected the church and brought new persecutions. The Mongol khans who had been open to Christianity came under the influence of Islam and turned against the church during their invasions of the Arabian Peninsula. Many Christians were killed or forced to convert to Islam. The Church of the East withdrew into the Hakkari mountains (today's northern Iraq and eastern Turkey) which became the home of the patriarchal see, and where it remained in isolation for centuries. When the British established their rule in Iraq after World War I, the patriarch was exiled to Cyprus. Eventually he moved to the USA, when it became evident that the Iraqi authorities would not let him return to his people.”[38] It becomes transparent from all available sources that there was no mass migration of Assyrians to Kerala during the fourth and ninth centuries as claimed by Thomas Christians. Regretfully, even foreign authors and research scholars have been following the view propagated by Syrian Christian writers and websites without making proper faculty evaluation to determine whether it is fact-based, well documented or backed by authentic documentary evidence. Even the arrival of St. Thomas to Kerala is cherished by them through songs such as the Veeradian Pattu, Thomma Parvom, and Margom Kali Pattu. But these songs are not contemporary but were composed in the eighteenth century to be sung primarily in church festivals. Indian writers such as Nagam Aiya (Travancore Manual), Velu Pillai (Travancore Manual), Ananthakrishna Iyer (Anthropology) Sangunni Menon and others have not verified any primary source such as a document, image, or artifact that provides evidence about the Assyrian immigration; they have not investigated the original caste before conversion, authenticity of chepped and documents to fix the age (without carbon dating).T. K. Joseph who was in charge of Kerala Society Papers has given a completely distorted interpretation to historical events with ulterior motives. He has maneuvered with covert intentions to give Nambudhiri and Jewish progeny to Syrian Christians when there were no Nambudhiri in the 1st century and the recorded arrival of the Jews was only in 1000 C.E. Most foreign authors, including Leslie Brown, have blindly followed T.K. Joseph's papers. Whatever their motivation, many writers have published manipulated papers and many more people have unknowingly and ardently supported them. Documents such as Ramban Pattu, Margam Kali pattukal are cited to narrate the events related to St. Thomas although they are not contemporary works. Family memoir like Niranam Granthavari can hardly be expected to contain the whole truth. In a bizarre recollection of what had happened in the first century, family story tellers living in the 18th century boast of four or five "Brahmin" families when there were actually no Brahmins. Michael Tharakan, in his paper, Economic History of Keralam, submitted at the International Seminar on Kerala History, KCHR, March 16, 2006, observes, “ inevitably almost all Christian Kudumba Charithrams (family histories) claim that they made their present fortunes in a comparatively short time in the 18th century.” It may not be 18th century. The first encounter of local Christians with Vasco da Gama was in 1502. According to Portuguese writer, Sousa Faria, a Syrian Christian deputation met Vasco da Gama and requested him to take them under Portuguese control. K.M.Panikkar has pointed out in his book, A History of Kerala, “ Kerala Pazhama gives detailed information about their visit to Gama, which account is also corroborated by Faria. They surrendered their privileges and authority to Portugal and undertook to conduct the affairs only in the name of tha Portuguese king. The ancient records and insignia which the Chief possessed were also handed over to Gama. More than even this, they suggested to him that with their help he should conquer the Hindu Kingdoms and invited him to build a fortress for this purpose in Cranganore.” (pp159-60). From that day onward, Christians were declared to be under the political and judicial protection of the Portuguese. They were allowed to stay within Portuguese fortress and all non-Christians were expelled. From the time of Albuquerque the Portuguese recruited Christians in their army and they were used extensively in their campaigns. Fernandes Chale, a Nair convert, was a commander in many engagements and was created a Knight of the Order of Christ. He was killed at the battle of the river Sangulier in 1571 and was buried with honors in Goa. The Portuguese established a college at Vaipukotta in 1587 and the first principal was Antonio Morales. Their patronage to Syrian Christians could be seen from their decision to make Syriac as the medium of instruction in this college. They forced the queen of Kollam to repair a church destroyed by Muslim merchants and locals and she was asked to give all privileges to Christians. When Cabral reached Kochi after bombarding Calicut to show his dissatisfaction with the Zamorin, he sent a Syrian Christian named Michael Jogue along with an European to negotiate with the Raja of Kochi about the purchase of pepper and other spices. It was a successful negotiation and the Raja agreed to allow the Portuguese to use Kochi as a base for their trade. From this experience, the Portuguese used Syrian Christians as brokers (tharakan) to deal with kings and pepper merchants while purchasing pepper and other spices. Brokers were commercial agents and they became immensely wealthy by getting handsome commission from both parties. In another incident, two Syrian Christians, Joseph and Mathew, requested Cabral to give them a chance to go to Christian Europe since they were Christians. Cabral took them to Lisbon and they were made full fledged Catholics by removing from their minds all heretical and Nestorian ideas. Unfortunately, Mathew fell ill and died in Lisbon. Joseph, however, got the privilege of going to Venice, Rome and other places. After reaching Kerala in a Portuguese ship, he wrote about his travel experiences in European countries in a book entitled “The Travels of Joseph the Indian.” Contrary to the views expressed by some Syrian Christian writers, the Synod of Diamper (Udayamperur) convened by Alexis de Menezes in 1599 was a success in the sense that he removed all heretical and Nestorian ideas and regularized the structure and administration of the Catholic Church. Syrian Christians remained loyal to Catholic Church. It is a gross distortion of history that Archbishop Alexis de Menezes forced Christian priests to attend the Synod and that he sought the help of Kochi Raja to punish Christians who did not attend the Synod. The Portuguese were in full power and Christian priests were craving the Archbishop for favour and privileges. So there was no need for force or the assistance of Kochi Raja. It was a bald-faced aberration of historical facts by later communal writers to claim pseudo national spirit against colonial Portuguese. It was Antonio de Gouvera who first published in Portuguese an account of the Synod of Diamper. All later editions published by various authors after the exit of the Portuguese are completely distorted and fabricated to satisfy communal and sectarian interests. Menezes can be rightly proud of the fact that the Synod of Diamper laid a strong and stable foundation for the future of the Catholic Church in Kerala. Magnificent churches were built and managed by the Portuguese and priests were appointed by them, mostly former Syrian converts. There were convents and monasteries built by Franciscans and Jesuits. The inmates were Syrian converts. Although the Dutch destroyed many churches, there are even today many churches with baroque facades in villages along the backwaters and on the sea shore. Revisionist and communal historians of 19th and 20th centuries have suppressed all these concrete evidences to bolster their fake claim to Brahmin and Assyrian pedigree to local caste Christians of the pre-Coonen Cross pledge. Menezes was a dynamic and sincere Christian who can be rightly called the architect of Catholic church in Kerala, but maligned by Syrian Christian writers claiming false heredity to mask their lower caste parentage. Even Buchanan, Michael Geddes, Leslie Brown .and many foreign authors were misled by them. Menezes was later appointed viceroy of Portugal during the Iberian Union in 1612 and he died in 1617. He was buried with great honor at the Populo Church in Braga. All Christians in Kerala( former local Syrian converts and Portuguese converts) remained loyal to Catholic church. But early in 1661 a Dutch expedition under Van Der Meyden landed near Cranganore, concluded an agreement with the Zamorin, and seized the Portuguese fort of Pallipuram. Taking advantage of the declining power of the Portuguese and also to have financial and property control , some disgruntled elements under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas rebelled against the Catholic Church in 1653 by taking a pledge called “Coonen Cross.” The Coonen Cross revolt was also not a success because the majority (84) congregations remained loyal to the Catholic Church. The claim of some Syrian Christian writers is that the Coonen Cross revolt was the immediate sequel to the Synod of Diamper convened by Menezes and that incident is being used by them to demonstrate their pseudo- patriotism in opposing colonial Portuguese Christianity and their superior caste status over low caste converts by CMS missionaries. But in reality it had happened about 54 years (over half a century) after the Synod when the Dutch were winning in some wars against the Portuguese. So the Coonen Cross pledge was not a patriotic struggle as portrayed by communal writers but a sectarian opposition to an emerging monolithic Catholic Church.The Portuguese rule lasted for about 155 years and during this long period Syrian Christians were elevated to a status superior to Nambudhiris and Nairs and were also given administrative and military powers. As has been observed earlier, the Kochi Raja was merely a tool in the hands of the Portuguese. To show their sovereignty over Kochi, even the Raja's crown was made in Lisbon and the Portuguese constructed a large stone palace for him at Mattancherry. It was the springtime for the Christians and some wealthy families would have earned aristocratic status in society to claim at a later period Nambudhiri or Jewish or Assyrian genealogy. Family histories written after several centuries gloat about foreign bloodline for their ancestors because of their immense wealth as planters, traders and military men in a caste ridden society. It is obvious that memories are faulty and the authors, of course, are presenting their own personal view of their ancestors without any contemporary evidence. But faulty memories, omission, and slight exaggeration are far different than completely warping the truth or creating an entirely imaginary life. In the current cultural climate, it is inevitable that memoirs have a tendency to stretch the boundary between fact and fiction.
In my view, the concept of migration of Assyrians or Persians that has been etched for centuries in the minds of Thomas Christians may be due to the poignant reminiscence of two migrations Christians faced in the past. One was the migration from Mylapore to Kodungalloor when there was persecution of original Thomas Christians by the Hindus. Even after their arrival in Kerala, they were pursued by one Monickavasagar who came to Kodungalloor to attack them. Fleeing Christians had to make perilous journeys through unchartered dense forests to reach such places as Kuravilangad, Angamaly, Niranam, Mundakkayam, Kothamangalam and other places. The second migration was not a single movement, but a phased one spreading over many years. This migration was due to large scale conversion of lower castes by the British missionaries. Before the Portuguese came to Kerala, all converts to Christianity were commonly called Mappillais (like the Moplahs of Malabar) and later Nazaranes, a contemptuous name given by the Muslims, as Christians are called in Arab countries. The credit goes to the Portuguese and the Franciscan fathers for giving the name ‘Syrian Christians,’ because of the Syriac liturgy used by them. When missionaries belonging to colonial powers came to Kerala, castes of the converts were retained and different denominations also sprang up. During the Portuguese period, all Christians enjoyed social freedom. After the exit of the Portuguese the converts by the British and Roman Catholics were forced to do compulsory work known as oozhiyam and they were also subjected to many hardships and in some places persecution. So CMS missionaries themselves urged them to migrate to forest areas and to start a new living. The migrated converts joined the mainstream of Christians and the forest areas where they took refuge gradually became important towns. As Susan Bayly says: “Using all the publicity skills at their command, the missionaries broadcast the claim that all converts, whatever their caste origins, possessed the same status as Syrians and indeed all Keralan Christians were effectively Syrians. In appeals, petitions and pamphlets, the missionaries insisted that once a low-caste pulaya or Ezhava became a Christian, he was entitled to all the marks of social and ritual standing held by Syrians, including the right to enter Hindu temple streets and all the other privileged precincts from which they had previously been banned.”[39]
Portuguese rule and later British administration gave a new social position to Syrian Christians in a caste ridden, repressive society. CMS missionaries wanted to free Christians from compulsory free service called oozhiyam which was mandatory for all backward castes. They used their clout on the British Resident and in the Census Report of 1898 Syrian Christians were removed from the backward classes list. Till 1898 Syrian Christian community was treated by the Maharajah’s government as backward caste. Removal from backward caste list was a significant event in Syrian Christian history and this made them casteless at one stroke. Social position in society based on their income, wealth, property ownership, job status, education, skills, or power in the economic and political sphere gave Syrian Christians a distinctive place in Kerala society, far superior than Nambudhiri Brahmins and Nairs. Another factor that made the community unique was the diaspora to Colombo ( Sri Lanka), Malaya (Malaysia), Singapore, Burma (Myanmar), Persia (Iran) Africa in the early 19th century, then to the USA, Canada, Australia, the Gulf counties, England and Europe in the later 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. This migration has created a distinctive elite, whose sheer economic, educational and cultural achievements have set it apart from all other castes in Kerala.
Portuguese rule and later British administration gave a new social position to Syrian Christians in a caste ridden, repressive society. CMS missionaries wanted to free Christians from compulsory free service called oozhiyam which was mandatory for all backward castes. They used their clout on the British Resident and in the Census Report of 1898 Syrian Christians were removed from the backward classes list. Till 1898 Syrian Christian community was treated by the Maharajah’s government as backward caste. Removal from backward caste list was a significant event in Syrian Christian history and this made them casteless at one stroke. Social position in society based on their income, wealth, property ownership, job status, education, skills, or power in the economic and political sphere gave Syrian Christians a distinctive place in Kerala society, far superior than Nambudhiri Brahmins and Nairs. Another factor that made the community unique was the diaspora to Colombo ( Sri Lanka), Malaya (Malaysia), Singapore, Burma (Myanmar), Persia (Iran) Africa in the early 19th century, then to the USA, Canada, Australia, the Gulf counties, England and Europe in the later 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. This migration has created a distinctive elite, whose sheer economic, educational and cultural achievements have set it apart from all other castes in Kerala.
The Assyrian Diaspora is often erroneously linked with Assyrian migration to Kerala. The Assyrian Diaspora has nothing to do with Kerala Christians. The Assyrian Church of the East gained official recognition in the 4th century AD. It faced repression under the Ottoman Turks and shuffled around the region as a diaspora for much of the 20th century: moving between Iran and Iraq, while a large contingent found refuge in America. During this period of Muslim rule proselytization was punishable by death under Sharia law and, therefore, Assyrian missionaries (not settlers or refugees) went to Transoxania, Central Asia, India, Mongolia and China where they established numerous churches. The Church of the East was considered to be one of the major Christian powerhouses in the world, alongside Latin Christianity in Europe and the Byzantine Empire. Since World War I, the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians/Chaldeans/Syriacs living in western and eastern Europe, North America and Australia, than in the Middle East. Eden Naby, an Assyrian researcher and Middle East historian, says "their modern history has been marred by violence and persecution. Between 1914 and 1918, more than 500,000 Assyrians were killed during the Armenian genocide in present-day Turkey. More recently, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a secular dictator, has exposed Assyrians and other minorities to sectarian strife. Emigration has shrunk the community of Assyrians from about 1.4 million living in Iraq in 1987 to 400,000 at last count , according to Al Jazeera. Others live in Turkey and Iran.About 40, 000 Assyrians remain in Syria according to an estimate from the BBC, a number that experts say is likely in decline. Christians are estimated to have constituted about 10 percent of Syria's 22 million people before civil war erupted in 2011. Many Assyrians have since fled to escape the ongoing conflict and violent attacks by Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS. A majority of Assyrians now live among the diaspora in the United States and Europe, including sizable populations in Germany and Sweden." (Christian Science Monitor, February 25, 2015). Since the Assyrian Genocide, many Assyrians have fled their homelands for a more safe and comfortable life in the West. The Civil War in Lebanon, the coming into power of the Islamic republic of Iran, the Ba'thist dictatorship in Iraq, and the present-day unrest in Iraq pushed even more Assyrians/Chaldeans/Syriacs on the roads of exile. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Assyrian population in the Middle East has decreased dramatically. . Even before this latest exodus, at least two-thirds of Iraqi Christians had fled since the fall of Saddam. Christians were concentrated in Mosul, Basra and, especially, Baghdad – which before the US invasion had the largest Christian population in the Middle East. Although Iraq's 750,000 Christians made up only 7% of the pre-war population, they were a prosperous minority under the Ba'athists, as symbolized by the high profile of Tariq Aziz, Saddam's foreign minister, who used to disarm visiting foreign dignitaries by breaking into Onward, Christian Soldiers in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Despite sizable Christian populations holding on in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, there is likely to be little place for Christian Arabs (Syrian Christians) in a Middle East rebuilt on intolerant ideologies like those of ISIS terrorists. If the Islamic state proclaimed by ISIS turns into a permanent, Christian-free zone, it could signal the demise not just of an important part of the Arab Christian (Syrian Christian) realm but also of the secular Arab nationalism Christians helped create in the Middle East. Now almost everywhere Syrian Christians are leaving. In the past decade maybe a quarter have made new lives in Europe, Australia and America. According to Professor Kamal Salibi, they are simply exhausted: "There is a feeling of fin de race among Christians all over the Middle East." As of today there are more Assyrians in Europe, North America, and Australia than in their former homeland. If Assyrians had not come to Kerala when there was genocide in 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in spite of faster means of travel and communications , it is indeed a mere fantasy to think that there were waves of Assyrian immigrants in the 4th and 9th centuries centuries when travel was difficult, facilities were rare and the handicap of cultural divides was enormous.
[2] Karen Radner, 'Mass deportation: the Assyrian resettlement policy', Assyrian empire builders, University College London, 2012 [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/governors/massdeportation/.
Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954),
283-284: “Nineveh was laid to waste . . . , the population was slaughtered or enslaved, . .
. At one blow Assyria disappeared from history. Nothing remained of her except certain
tactics and weapons of war, . . . Not a stone remained visible of all the temples . . . ”
[6] Rev. David Royel, S.T.L., The Assyrian Church of the East: A Panoramic View of a Glorious History, http://assyrianchurch.org.au/about-us/history/ancient/
[7] The Eastern Catholic Archdiocese (Chaldean-Syrian, http://www.easterncatholicchurch.org/about.html
[8] Stephen Andrew Missick, Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church and the Christians of St. Thomas in India , http://www.aina.org/articles/missick.pdf
[10] The Gnostic Apostle Thomas (c) 1997 Herbert Christian Merillat. http://gnosis.org/thomasbook/ch14.html
[11] Rev. Aubrey R. Vine (1937), The Nestorian Churches: a Concise History of Nestorian Christianity in Asia from the Persian Schism to the Modern Assyrians, London. P.57
[13] Ghassan Hanna Shathaya, History of the Chaldean Catholic Church, http://www.chaldeansonline.org/church.html.
[14] K. S. Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vols. New York, 1937-45, II, pp. 263ff
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1553&C=1366
[23]“Marthoma sleeha malayalathil vannu margam aruvichappol pattamanaparaurenna kottakkayal gramathil mukhyapetta illakkar Chankarapuriyennum Pakalonmattam ennum Palliyennum Kaliyakum Karayennum. Ivaru naalu tharavaattukaru ee vedam anusarichu. Marthoma Sleeha Chankarapuriyilum Pakalonmattathilum pattavum Koduthu.”(o4.03).
[24] Dubois, Abbe J.A., Letters On The State of Christianity in India, New Delhi:Associated Publishing House, 1977,p.12.
[25] Samuel Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, 1883 Book digitized by Google from the library of New York Public Library
[27] The first mosque in Bukhara (later to become one of the holiest cities in the Muslim world) was not built until 712, the second one not until 771. It is unclear exactly when Bukhara received its first bishop.
[32] T. D. Barnes, “Constantine and the Christians of Persia,” The Journal of Roman Studies 75, 1985, pp. 131-32.
[33] M. J. Higgins, "Chronology of the Fourth-Century Metropolitans of Seleucia-Ctesiphon," Traditio 9 (1953): 45-92f.
[34] Moses of Chorene, cited by J. Neusner, History of the lezos in Babylonia, 5 vols. (Leiden: 1966-70), 4:16ff (Excerpts from: A History of Christianity in Asia”. By: Samuel Hugh Moffett. (http://www.syriacstudies.com/) Diatessaron, the four New Testament Gospels compiled as a single narrative by Tatian about ad 150. It was the standard Gospel text in the Syrian Middle East until about ad 400, when it was replaced by the four separated Gospels.
[37] Raphael Bidawid, Les lettres du Patriarche Nestorian Timothde I (Vatican City: Vatican Apostolic Library, 1956), p. 41.
[38] http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/holy-apostolic-catholic-assyrian-church-of-the-east
