A discovery to my Ancestors
A critical view of the origin of Christianity in Kerala 2000 years ago
I was not bothered about my ancestors. I could barely remember the name of my great grandparents. I was just not bothered until I casually started building a family tree in early 2000 in Genie. I built mine, travelled backward, added more members, their relations and theirs and it continued till I got struck with details like date or birth or death and their pictures and full names. So when I visited my relatives back in Kerala, I ensured they give me their family album to take pictures and also the details I wanted to enter into the family tree. It went on for more than a decade and today there are around thousand members I could add. But here I could hardly scratch the surface of my ancestry.
To get a keen interest in ancestry, you need to generate interest in history. India’s history teaching in schools makes sure the students never learn the subject. My love for history began after I started reading the new age historians. It was a nightmare at the school and college to decipher history as it was more of academic, stressing more on dates, than the importance of events. Manu Pillai, William Dalrymple etc portrays history into a compelling story telling removing the academic lens and putting bare the stories in it.
I realised there was never any need to read any fiction as the Indian history was more fascinating than anything else.
Now when I say ancestors here, the context is the original root. Thousands of years back. Not my immediate great grand parental line. I was always fed with a theory about our ancestors that was stereotype and devoid of any proof but never questioned it. After all, questioning your religion is nothing short of blasphemy. And so I never did any research too. It is widely believed that the first Christians originated in India from few Brahmin families — Sankarathil and Palamkunnoth family (Nedumpallil, Pakalomattam and a few other families also claim this). Is this true? Why are the Christians in India not proud of the fact that the religion came to India much before it came to Europe or elsewhere?
I tried reading a lot of materials and what you are about to read is the result of that. None of them are my creation and I claim no copyright to it. Since I continue to read more and more articles on it, I thought, I should put whatever I could gather. It is absolutely not necessary to agree with this.
Most of the Christians in Kerala write that their ancestry belongs to one of these families. It means we are direct descendants of the Brahmins who got converted by Saint Thomas. It did not hold water for me for so long because there is a problem here. Saint Thomas came to India not looking to convert these families. He was in search for Jews who were forced to migrate to these parts of the world. When Saint Thomas set foot in Kerala, there were no Brahmins. The advent of Brahmins in Kerala have different theories and folk lore. Mythological texts say they were brought to the southwest coast of India by the sage-warrior Parasurama. Kerala’s brahmins were called Namboodiris. Historians differ on the origin. Some say it is the tenth century while some say they came to Kerala in the 18th century. But none say they were there in the first century when Saint Thomas arrived. So, if there were no Brahmins, where did these families come from?
I am not the only or the first one to dispute this. Even the clergy have made strong reservation to this claim. Historians like M.G.S. Narayanan believes Saint Thomas is a fiction and adds there were no Brahmins in Kerala during the time of Christ. According to him Christians in Syria started trade relations with Kerala in late second or early third century and Brahmins came to Kerala in 8th century. The basis of the Brahmin theory lies in the mention of St. Jerome.
Saint Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, landed in Muziris (Malabar Coast) in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore, near Madras in AD 72. He was around the Indian sub- continent for twenty long years. He is instrumental in origin of Christianity in Malabar coast (then not a country but princely states).
So if not for Brahmins, whom did Saint Thomas convert? Certainly, the Jews who were in the Malabar coast at that time. One of the sects of old Syrian Christians believe in what I think is a logical conclusion. Known as Knanaya, they believe they are from Jewish descent. They still follow many Jewish customs and strictly excommunicate anyone who marry outside their community. Their belief has more reasons to believe than the Brahmin version because there are reasons to believe that there were Jews in Kerala from the time of King Solomon.
1 Kings 10 mentions “the queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones.” Where did these spices and other items come from?
In the 11th verse it says, “the fleet of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones.” Ophir is presumably in Saudi Arabia and Fleet of Hiram refers to Sailors from a region.
“By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish.” Psalm 48:7. The word “Ships of Tarshish” means large ships (sort of Cruise ships we see now) meant for trading and intended for long voyages.
These ships were manned by sailors from Phoenicia. If you see the pattern, we realise how the bunch of cruise workers across the world are either from Philippines or from Indian state of Goa. They are said to be natural sailors. There is some sort of lineage in this. Phoenicia is an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, now the modern Lebanon.
The Phoenicians and Israelites are said to have joined hands in sailing to southern seas in search of materials to trade. They are said to have landed then into Arabia where they got a lot of trading materials. But then the Arabs themselves got it from India and so they also arrived here and returned with their ships laden with gold and silver, with ivory and precious stones, with apes and peacocks.
So it is clear that it was not only during their forced migrations, decades later, that Jews came to India. In fact, much earlier the trade routes were very active. The Arabs were already trading with India. When we say Arabs, they were not Muslims but people who worshipped deities. In the Pre-Islamic era, Arabs had ancient goddesses Lat, Uzza and Manat who were revered. If you want to know about this entire saga, read the Times of India Article here.
In AD 70 Romans destroyed Jarusalem Temple and Jews were driven out of Israel, many of them used sea to reach South Asia while a few used land route to reach Herath, now in Afghanistan. Those who reached India went on to settle in the Nilgiris. St Thomas went to Ooty and on the way he is said to have built a church which exists even today on the way to Sabarimala. St. Thomas even went to Herath and then returned only to be martyred a few years later.
St. Thomas is said to have got the information of the migration of Jews to Afghanistan from Gondophares, an Indo-Parthian king in the areas of Arachosia, Kabul, and Gandhara (the current Afghanistan and Pakistan regions). Experts in History and Archaeology have confirmed that Gondophares probably would have gotten converted by Saint Thomas the Apostle. The very purpose of St. Thomas taking pain to reach these region was because there were Jewish settlements.
Syrian Christians have a lot of common traits to Jews as compared to Latin Christians. One is observance of Pesaha at home which is a little different from the Passover that western world’s Christians observe. The Pesaha appam (or unleavened bread) is from the ancient Jewish tradition bread. Syrian Christians in India also name their children after their paternal grandparents. So is the tradition of Mamodisa (baptism). Even the names they once used to give to the children were from Hebrew tradition. (The modern Jiju, Binu, Biju, Titu, Ritu, Tiji, Biji, Siji, Saji, Regi etc. got into the system much later and now these names are nothing but an aberration) They also used to hang photographs of a long list of their ancestors and family members. The undivided Orthodox Christians in Kerala face east while praying. That is where Israel is. Many Christian songs used in mass and otherwise are praising the God of Israel and a hope to be in Israel as the ultimate objective.
Covering the head while worshipping is only practiced among the Kerala Christians. This is a Jewish tradition. Separate seating for men and women and red, the colour of altar curtain is also inherited from Jewish tradition. In fact, Qurbana, the name for liturgy service in Malayalam, is derived from Korban in Hebrew. Both means sacrifice or in Malayalam, Bali.
The traits of most of Syrian Christians resemble that of Jews. Many have mercantile gene with the biggest money lenders in Kerala being among them. They also dominate real estate and also some of the best farmers in the state. Kaimuthu after the mass is also in line with Jewish temple tradition. Both the Jews and Nasranis had their social life in and around their temple of worship. Both taught catechism after the service. Schools or commonly called Pallikkoodam was also in similar lines.
The partiarchal nature of the family, bride standing on right side of the bridegroom, manthrakodi, property inheritance and the list is endless of we compare Syrian Christian tradition and customs to that of Jews. Nasranis also observe food habbits developed over centuries from Jewish tradition. For example, Pork is something that Syrian Christians doesn’t like much in most parts of Kerala. One of the food laws that Nasranis followed in accordance with Jewish Kosher laws. Portuguese rule brought pork to the dining table after fifteenth century. Fish, instead, is the most sought after item for all Nasranis. Early Nasranis used to offer their first produce to the Church (which is still followed in many parts) which is an Israel tradition.
I continued my life with this dual perception. One that is made to believe and the other I did not believe in. It did not harm anyone and so there was no need to prove any theory was my reason for not following it up. A few months back, I shared this with Santosh George Kulangara, while we were travelling together in Madhya Pradesh for his travel show Sancharam. He turned to me and said, you must read the Book Jutha Bharatham by Abraham Benhur. He offered to connect me to the author. I said I haven’t done research on it yet. Let me buy the book and read. And so, I bought it the day I arrived back home from the trip. However, I must tell that I have not yet completed the book yet. There will be lot more coming after I finish it. And I plan to meet the author next time I am in Kochi.
In one of the discussions I had with a friend Binoy Samuel, he also made a passing mention about this possibility. He gave me a number of customs Syrian Christians follow which was similar to Jews. I had already thought of it. But then why is the official Church retaining this Brahminical theory? May be Brahmin conversion theory permits us to be part of the indigenous population. Jewish theory opens up the risk of being occupants. That they think on this line is because history is nothing without context and they are unaware of it. 2000 years back there was nothing called a unified India. But there was a prosperous Malabar.
So I started looking at the matter with a lay man’s perspective and not as a historian(which I am not). I am not here to prove anything. I am not here to submit a dissertation. I am here to satisfy who I am. Modern day science allows us to determine our ancestry. A common DNA bank could do this wonder. So I started gravitating geneologically and found a few publicly available information which I pierced through.
One of the observations found here states 30% of the Syrian Christians of Kerala are from J2 group, 25% belongs to R1a group, 20% to L group, 10% each to R2 and H group and 5% to Q group. Now let’s find out the geographical origin of these groups. J2 is mainly found in Syria, Iraq and the Levant regions, R1a in Central Asia and Eurasia, L in Baluchistan, northern Pakistan and Kerala, R2 in South Asia and Central Asia, H in South India and Q in South America, Siberia and South East Asia. This mixed race of Kerala Christians won’t throw a racial purity. Remember Gondophares, an Indo-Parthian king in the areas of Arachosia, Kabul, and Gandhara where St. Thomas ended up presumably between AD 46 to AD 48?
Well before the Cholas ruled in the coastal regions of Kerala, it was the Pallavas who ruled here. They were the migrants from Indo Parthian regions. Here comes the Iranian origin Prophet Mani founder of Manichaeism, a religion of late antiquity influenced by Gnosticism. It is extinct now. He was born in Babylonia, then a part of the Parthian Empire. He is said to have converted Aramaic speakers to Manichaeism. These Pallavas were then defeated in the Malabar coast by Cholas who forcibly converted the Manichaeism followers to local customs. Those against are said to have gone further south to Travancore.
Not only that. Jews were facing persecution across the world for long with many parts witnessing ethnic cleansing. Syrian Christians in Kerala were called Sabbath keeping Judaisers by the Portuguese during the inquisition. It was around this time that Christians in Kerala started to divide into different groups or sects. The word Nasrani, which is still being used in Kerala, also has a connection. Early followers of Christ were called Nazarenes in Jerusalem. (Acts 24:5 We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes). The name “Christians” was coined by the gentiles in Antioch (Acts 11: 26: “…..and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”). Jesus spoke Aramaic and Syriac forms part of this language.
The next part of this will follow soon. How soon? Well, I don’t know. Keep looking.
