Nambudiris

[N. Ganesan]

Hi Sujatha,

I am highly skeptical that Thomas ever visited India.
Quickly browsed thru' the web page given; Erected by a pious
Christian, Is he from the Syrian church. Highly religious
in contents.

It has some problems, I believe.
Eg.,
a) He talks of *Pandya empire (Andhra Pradesh)*!!!. At another place,
Pandhyas!
b) About Manikka Vachakar, a sorceror visiting Kollam
and saying they do not know who this is.
(It may be a reference to 9th century(?) Tamil Saint)
c) About Thomas visiting Daughter of Cheraman Perumal, the King.
(Perumal dynasty rises much later; We have tamil brahmi
inscriptions and sangam texts for the list of Kerala Kings;
Recently, I. Mahadevan has discovered two Tamil brahmi inscriptions,
the earliest inscriptions of Kerala. No Perumals then)
d) In 300+AD, a copper plate grant to Syrians is talked about;
(72 honors given to Christians; The names of honors, this
system - belongs to Nayak era, Definitely not to 300+ A.D)
(Would love to see the Copperplates or the text from it;
It will be highly important because it comes from Kalabhra interrugnam
era)
e) and so on.

I understand that I am not comprehensive enough;
It must take an amount of time which I can't afford.
But a) the myth of Thomas getting killed in Madras
is modern, post 16th century AD. Portugse?
Any earlier source reference?
b) Christians might have visited Kerala pre-10th century;
We have grants to Jews from Chera Ay kings in 9th century.

Tamil texts, inscriptions, - nothing about Thomas.
Nambudiris, acc. to historians, arrive in Kerala
from 5th century AD. Very anachronostic for Thomas
to make Nambudiris into Syrian Christians.

Regards,
N. Ganesan
PS: I can't write more on this since I do not have access to
books on the history of Nestorian church. So, excuse me.

From: Stephens <jpstephen at HOME.COM>
Please refer to Prof. Ninan's page on the History of Christianity in Kerala
at
www.acns.com/~mm9n/Malankara/0.htm

Sujatha

----- Original Message -----

 > Vishal asks:
 > >Are the claims of the St Thomas Christians false?
 >
 > Yes. There is no ancient corroborating material
 > from the Christendom to say that Thomas landed
 > on the West coast or he was martyred in St. Thomas mount;
 > Largely Portugese era stories.



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