Among the numerous writers who have produced quite a mass of literature on the ancient Church of Malabar, a few, mostly Protestants, are found who deny St. Thomas the Apostle to be its founder. When the unanimous Christian tradition believes that St. Thomas preached and died a martyr in India, these writers try to identify India with Parthia, Persia or any country other than India. While admitting the fact of St. Thomas coming to S. India, others deny the Orthodoxy of the Christians before the Synod of Diamper. We find nothing novel in this, as few facts of history (those connected with dogmas not excluded) have not been called into question by somebody or other. Hence this thesis has three parts:-(1) St. Thomas did come to S. India, (2) the St. Thomas' Christians were Catholics before the synod of Diamper; (3) a third part will deal with the Church in Malabar at present.

PART I

APOSTOLIC ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA

A preliminary question might be put: "How could St. Thomas come to India?"-J. N. Farquhar, writing in 1927, in the "Bulletin of the John Rylands Library" (Manchester) says, "Thirty years ago the balance of probability stood absolutely against the story of the Apostolate of St. Thomas in India. We suggest that the balance of probability to-day is distinctly on the side of its historicity" J.F. Fleet, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, (London 1905) distinctly excludes Persia, Arabia and Ethiopia from the limits of ancient India. This is confirmed by the Bible itself. In the book of Esther (1/1), we read: "King Assuerus reigned from India to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces." This shows clearly that a wide tract of country lay between India and Ethiopia. Persia is mentioned as a separate kingdom in Esther 16/14; and Arabia is spoken of as a quite distinct country (3 Kings 10/15; Jer. 25/24; Gal. 1/17; 4/25.) Pliny in his "Natural History" (50-60 a.d.) (6 vol. 26 ch.) speaks of the way to India and of the Monsoon or Trade winds of July which had been discovered under Claudius in 45 a.d. by a captain named Hippalus. "From Osseliss, the southern point of Arabia, after forty days of journey, the ship reaches Mussirissi (i.e. Kodungalloor) the chief town of commerce." Then he speaks of other places of commerce such as Bakarai (= Vaikarai) the haven of Kottayam in Travancore and Puhar (= Pukar) also called Kaveripadhinam, then at the mouth of the Kaveri River.

An anonymous writer in his book "Periplus Maris Erithrae" writes in 60 a.d. : "Near the river Indus, lies the kingdom of `Scythia' (=Sithia) with its headquarters Minnagaram, ruled by Parthian kings. On the other side of the Bay of Baracea, lie Bariyagasa (Broach) and the coasts of Ariyaka, which is the boundary of India. The west of this is not called India. On the east of Scythia, lies the territory of Abira (the land of Abhiras) and the coast is called Syrastrene" (=Saurashtram). Macrindle says that Ariyaka was on the south of Larick (which is the present Gujarat); "Syrastrene is the present Kathiavar," according to Schoof. Hence, we see that in the "India" of the ancient westerners, not even Sindu was included.—

Pliny says that Indian clothes, pepper, china-silks etc. existed in Italy. When Alaric conquered Rome, he took away 5000 lbs. of pepper.-Sewell in "Pentingers Table" says there were Egyptian merchants in Kodungalloor; a temple in honour of Augustus was built and 1200 Roman soldiers lived there to protect commerce.

The two Indian systems of Astronomy, Polisa and Romaka, and the various terms used in Astronomy, show the connection of India with Greece. Some European terms of trade articles are taken from Tamil and Malayalam (see Caldwell's Comparative Grammar).

H.C. Rawlinson, in his "Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome," says that after the civil war, Augustus settled down to organize his vast possessions and that the effect of "Pax Romana" upon trade was very marked. Roman and Indian emperors sent their representatives to each other. In 20 b.c. "King Pandion," the Pandya King of Madura, sent a mission to Augustus (+ 14 a.d.) (Journal R. A. S. Vol. 18/309) Roman coins of Augustus and Nero, were found in S. India. Professor Vincent Smith says that in S. India, the Roman Aureus (gold coin) circulated as currency. Pliny deplored the extravagance of the Romans, instancing the enormous drain of gold to the East. This is confirmed by the large hoards of Roman coins dug up in Central and South India.

Dio Chrysostom, who lived in the reign of Trajan and died C. 117 a.d., mentions Indians among the cosmopolitan crowds to be found in the bazaars of Alexandria and he says, they came "by way of trade." A Greek story written in Alexandria in the 1st century A.D., represents one member speaking a foreign language, which seems to be Canarese (J. R. A. S. 104/399). This suggests that the foreign merchants learned our Indian languages.

Clement of Alexandria, who derived much of his knowledge of India from his master Pantaenus who visited India about the end of the 2nd century, tells us that the Brahmin sects abstain from wine and fleshmeat; that they despise death and set no value on life because they believe in Transmigration, also that the Budhists worship a kind of pyramid beneath which they imagine that the bones of a divinity of some kind lie buried. This remarkable allusion to the Budhist "Stupa," says Rawlinson, is the earliest reference in western literature to a unique feature of Budhism, and must have been derived from some informant intimately acquainted with the doctrines of Gautama. Clement distinguishes clearly between Budhists and Brahmins, while earlier writers confuse them.

Rev. W.J. Richards, for thirty-five years C.M.S. missionary in Travancore shows that there were Jews as well as Brahmins in the Apostolic age in Malabar. (The Indian Christians of St. Thomas 1908), and Vincent Smith (Oxford History of India 1923), holds that the Brahmins penetrated into the South many centuries before the Christian Era. According to the Cochin Census Report, 1901, as quoted by Thurston in "Castes and Tribes of South India," 1909, the Jews are supposed to have first come in contact with a Dravidian people as early as the time of Solomon about 1000 b.c. for `Philology proves that the precious cargoes of Solomon's merchant ships came from the ancient coast of Malabar.' Mr. Logan, in the "Manual of Malabar," writes that the Jews have traditions which carry back their arrival on the coast to the time of their escape from servitude under Cyrus in the 6th century B.C. The same fact is referred to by Sir William Hunter in his "History of British India."

Ptolemy's Geography (C. 150 a.d.) gives the boundary lines of India thus :-"On the West Paropanisaley (i.e. Syrastrene according to Periplus), Arachosia, Gedrosia; on the North, Imaos (=Himalaya mountains); on the East, the Ganges; South and West, the Indian Ocean." -"Cosmas Indicopleustes in his Topographia Christiana" (C. 522-545 a.d.) says:-"Sindu is where India begins. India and Persia are separated by Sindu." He speaks of R. Kaberis, Baiscara, Mussirissi and several towns of commerce in Malabar.

There were in fact four great trade routes between India and the West:-(1) The easiest and oldest was from Malabar to the River Indus, the Persian Gulf, the Euphrates, then by road to Antioch and Levantine Ports.....

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