INTRODUCTION.

Probably no other branch of the Oriental section of the Catholic Church has been so sadly misunderstood by the whole of Christendom as the Syrian Church of Malabar. Its Apostolic origin, though passed on to us by the lips of twenty centuries, has been severely called in question by a band of recent Scholars. Its Catholic Communion, too, has been most unjustly denied by a group of historical writers. To attribute sinister motives to them, would, probably be unfair. But it appears to me that most of the current errors could have been corrected, if only the sons of the Malabar Church took greater pains to popularise the truth about the past events of their Community. It is this conviction, in fact, that has prompted us to publish this hand book.

It is however a matter of gratification to find that in this labour of love, the authors of this handbook do not stand alone. There have been in their own Church, such illustrious predecessors as Very Rev. Fr. Bernard C.D. of St.Thomas, and Rt.Rev. Mgr. J. C. Panjikaran. Among our foreign sympathisers we are happy to count such illustrious scholars like Rev.Fr. George Schuhrammer S.J.(of Germany), Rev.Fr. H. Heras S.J.(of Spain), and Rev.Fr. Giusseppo Beltrami (of Italy) to whom our profound thanks are due.

We are extremely thankful to Rev. Fr. Heras S.J, Director, Indian Historical Research Institute, Bombay, for having kindly favoured us with a Preface to Fr. Placid's learned Paper on the Catholic communion of the Malabar Church. The Editor does not lay claim to any original research or deep scholarship , but he feels, he is second to none in his love of his community, its Catholic faith, and its national culture. His thanks are due to Rev. Dr. Placid for permitting him to edit his paper, and to the Manager St. Joseph's Orphanage Industries Changanacherry, for the neat and speedy execution of this work.

Changanacherry

S. India. 5th June 1938 K. E. Job M. A. L. T.

PREFACE.

Mr.K.E.Job's Historical Survey of Syrian Christian Culture is a very interesting study. It presents in a short compass the salient points in the development of a great community. The light of Christ's Gospel was brought to them by the Apostle Thomas in the First Century of the Christian Era. So powerful was the impassioned eloquence of the great teacher and his followers, and so great the moral grandeur of their character that while in many other parts of the world, conversions were made from among uncivilised and illiterate people, in Malabar the well-to-do classes, living in an atmosphere of civilisation, contributed in no small measure to the growth of the Christian Church. The Syrian Christians venerate their religion, but they also respect their ancient traditions and customs. They are the oldest of the Indian Christians. They occupy a prominent place in the educational chart of Malabar and of India. They preserve "the wine of Western civilisation in the bottles of the East."

Mr. Job's estimate is a fair one and the facts have been selected with care. I am sure that literary efforts of this character will tend to show to the world that, notwithstanding the different races and religions in Kerala, its life is homogeneous and its culture undivided and indivisible.

Trivandrum (Sd.)

3rd June 1938. Sadasya Thilaka T.K.Velu Pillai B.A.B.L.

State Manual Special Officer

Travancore.

Its Cultural Contributions

(A Historical Survey)

Preliminary.

The Syrian Christians of Malabar form one of the major communities in the native States of Travancore & Cochin and British Malabar. The impression likely to be produced by these people on a fresh visitor from Europe has been vividly described by Mr. Nagom Aiyya, the compiler of the Travancore State Manual, in the following words:-

"The importance of the work of Christian evangelisation in Hindoo Malabar, may be better understood, if we reverse the situation, and picture eight million Hindus distributed over every county, district and parish of England and Wales, owning 30,000 temples, having endowments of lands and gardens attached to every one of them, and severally dedicated to Siva and Vishnu or Goddess Bhagavathi and having close by numerous tanks and rivers provided with neat and spacious bathing ghats, which only a Hindu could rightly appreciate, and wells reserved for cooking and drinking purposes, and groves of the ficus religiosa and the Nim tree or their more congenial substitutes suitable to an English climate growing luxuriantly on their banks, with stone images of Ganesa and the snake-gods planted under them, and a perennial flow of devout Hindu worshippers, men in their multi-coloured dhoties and scarves and women in their charming silk saris and velvet bodices richly embroidered with gold lace and pearls, their raven-black hair smoothed with fragrant unguents and tied into large knots covered with sweet-smelling jasmine and rose, their fore-heads beautified with the distinguished caste marks of either the ancient Tilakom or the perfumed sandal or the crimson Kumkumom, illuminating their gladsome faces, which remind you of the Milky way in the sky, "a meeting of gentle lights without a name", and carrying in their hands, on well-polished silver basins, flowers and fruit offerings to temple deities and all laden from top to toe with elegantly wrought and resplendant jewels of gold and silver, pearls, diamonds and rubies after the fashion of their fellow religionists in India, making their morning rounds of prayers and Pujah to their hearts' content or celebrating the car festival of the temple god or accompanying in thousands the procession of the idol with native music, sounding of bells and beat of drums with the usual accompaniment of torches, cadinas and pyro-technics-all unmolested and unhindered under the protection of the English police and English magistracy, and let the reader fancy that this happy state of things has been going on in Christian England since 52 A.D., what impression would this scene produce on the prosaic English mind and what a testimonial does it not offer to the wisdom and tolerance of former English administrations since the time of the Druids ?" ¹

The fanciful description given above serves its purpose very well, except for two misconceptions which it conveys, namely, that in point of culture, the Malabar Christians are poles apart from their Hindu brethren, and that their culture is entirely of a western origin. But the fact is that the Malabar Christians have assimilated many of the high caste Hindu customs of their Indian forefathers, besides what they have borrowed from Jewish, Babylonian, Persian and European communities, with whom, they, either came in contact, or mingled together in the chequered course of their cultural evolution. In the following pages, we shall briefly examine the chief ethnical and cultural contacts of the Malabar Christian Community and the permanent marks these have left on their social and economic position..................

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