Ancient
Musiris or Kodungallur where St. Thomas Arrived
The
schematic map of the region around Kodungallur gives only a faint
suggestion of the landscapes of the area, which is hardly above
sea level and abounding in canals and lagoons and prone to flooding
in the rainy season. The landstrip, 5 to
10 Km. broad near the sea shore, shows every sign of being newly
formed by the sea receding in recent times.It
is now not possible to locate the ancient site of Musiris
harbour, nor that of Mahodayapuram of the Chera Kings precisely
at any of the present sites of the environs of Kodungallur.
No structure or building existing today in the area can
be dated back to more than 6 centuries.
Kodungallur
of today is not even a shadow of its glorious secular past. We
have sufficient historical testimonies to Muziris as a magnificent
harbour and the seat of the Chera Kings under the name of Thiruvanchikulam,
which bring us down to about 8th century AD but the data are too
scanty to enable us to reconstruct a continuous story of the city
even upto that period. After that we experience a long period
of darkness. We only know that Kodungallur continued to be a city
of considerable importance, so that the Portuguese and the Dutch
and later the English thought it worthwhile to make it one of
their main bastions of power.
The
Hindu compiler of the Travancore State Manual
has no doubt about the Malabar tradition: "There
is no doubt as to the tradition that St. Thomas came to Malabar
and converted a few families of Nambudiris, some of whom were
ordained by him as priests such as those of Sankarapuri and pakalomattam.
For, in consonance with this long-standing traditional belief
in the minds of the people of the Apostle’s mission and labours
among high caste Hindus, we have it before us today the fact that
certain Syrian Christian women particularly of a Desam (place)
called Kunnamkulam wear clothes as Nambudiri women do, move about
screening themselves with huge umbrellas from the gaze of profane
eyes as those women do, and will not marry except perhaps in exceptional
cases, and those only recently, but from among dignified families
of similar aristocratic descent."
"Upto
the fall of the Chera Kingdom the St. Thomas Christians were
under the Chera Kings...In the early centuries, Cranganore was
the centre of Christians. But the situation changed with the invasion
of Arabs. The St. Thomas Christians and the Jews moved to other places.
Angamale rose up in importance during this period". (STCEI,
II, p. 31, "The Pre-Portuguese Period", by Xavier Koodapuzha).
Archaeology & Roman Coins in The Area
The Church of Ollur, Thrissur was founded only in 1718. Before
that they used to go for Mass to Pazhuvil church which was founded
in 960. Before that, the tradition goes, they used to go to Enammavu
founded in 500. The Enammavu church recognises the unimportant
Noth Pudukad church as its mother church (400 A.D). This
church in its turn originated from the Mattam church (Ca. 140
A.D), which traces its origin to the Palayur church founded
by St. Thomas. What is important is that the people of all these
places unanimously subscribed to the truth of the chronology,
although time has brought about great changes in the status of
each place, and yet the traditions concerning the origin of each
church is recognised by all the churches unanimously. Similarly
almost all the churches of Kerala trace their beginnings to one
or other of the St. Thomas Churches or to churches which derive from
one of those churches. Thus these traditions have no less value
than documents written on paper or stone.
Large
numbers of Roman coins have been discovered on the Malabar coast
(e.g. from Eyyal between Cranganore and Palayur, and from Kottayam
in North Kerala). Just two years back more than a thousand Roman
gold coins were found buried in Parur, also not very distant from
Cranganore. What is interesting is that the majority of these
coins belong to a period of some 80 years from Augustus to Nero
(B.C. 27 to A.D. 68).
The
Periplus has this remark, "There are imported here (the Malabar
Ports), in the first place a great quantity of coin, ...."
The Kodungallur Connection of St. Thomas
(Reason, History and Necessity)
Overview
During Apostolic times there were well frequented
trade routes, by land and / or water, connecting North-West India
(today Pakistan), the West Coast and the East Coast, with North
Africa and West Asia. Thus Alexandria, Aden, Socotra, Ormuz,
Ctesiphon, Caesarea, Taxila, Broach, Kodungallur (Muziris) and
even Rome were inter-linked.
Kodungallur
-The Cradle of Christianity in india:The growth of Christianity
in Kerala along the sea-coast and its geographical dispersion
indicate the importance of Kodungallur in the spread of the gospel
message in Kerala and India. According to the strong Kerala tradition
as found embedded in the Ramban Song and
in the collective consciousness of the whole land and people
irrespective of creed or denomination Kodungallur (Maliamkara)
was the headquarters of Apostle St.St. Thomas from where he
organised and operated his various mission projects and apostolic
journeys to the various mission centres.
Kodungallur-Mission
Headquarters: There were a number of factors that must have
prompted the saint to make Kodungallur his mission headquarters.
For example he himself had first landed in the land of Kerala
in Chera country and our India at Kodungallur. Even if he had
gone to the land of King Gondophares earlier, as far as present
day India is concerned it was Kodungallur that first came into
contact with the Apostle and his message. And the possibility
that the Apostle might have first come to Kodungallur itself,
the port most accessible to foreign ships, and primum emporium
Indiae, before embarking for Taxila or Gandhara along the coastal
route could not be totally rejected.
In fact something quite similar happens
in the Song of St. Thomas Ramban:
"St.St. Thomas,
my namesake, the great teacher of the religion of grace,
(He) in company with Avan, the agent of King Cholan,
Embarked in Arabia and arrived at Maliamkara
..........................................................................
Thereafter he made haste and soon reached Mylapore."
We
see him constantly running to and fro between
Kodungallur and his far flung mission stations. Perhaps
he had to come to the great port city to get information, instructions
and / or funds from abroad via the captains of the many ships
that arrived at Kodungallur. (Both in the writings of foreign
travellers and historians and in the Sangham literature there
are innumerable references to the flourishing international trade
that went on at Kodungallur and about the thriving flow of aliens
into the land.)
Even
as late as 849 A.D. "the Pahlavi, Kufic, and Hebrew signatures
at the end of the second set of the Tharisapalli Christian copper
plates show that merchants of different races and nationalities
were members of the trade-centre. These three sets of signatures
represent the Persian, Arabic, and Israelite groups respectively
and it is possible that they included Jews, Christians, and even
Muslims(?) as indicated by the personal names."
"In
one month’s time him to come back to the Kerala country,
The nephew of the King of Tiruvanchikkulam arrived in that land
(the Cholan’s land),
And, kissing his blessed foot, entreated. They voyaged in a
ship,
And, undoubtedly, came to Maliamkara...."
Kodungallur
- Mission Successful: Another reason why the Apostle constantly
harks back to Kodungallur was that his missionary efforts in that
cosmopolitan Gateway City of India had
proved highly rewarding from the very beginning.. During his very
first week in India,
"There
(in Kodungallur) by his miraculous deeds, in eight days he established
the religion"
Returning there from Mylapore at the invitation of the King
from Kodungallur in the company of the King’s nephew,
"Together with the King’s family, three thousand heathens,
unbelievers,
As well as forty Jews who had settled in the country,
Received baptism in a year and a half."
Thus the capital of the Chera empire receives the Apostle and
his message with an open heart, and thereafter becomes the fountainhead
of faith for the whole country. Therefore:
"There for worship (St.St. Thomas) erected a church and a cross."
Not
only that. Now that the King of Tiruvanchikkulam and the whole
royal family had accepted the message St. Thomas forthwith consecrates
the King’s nephew a bishop:
"Grace
to become priests and bishops of the religion
And knowledge of the mysteries of it (the religion) he gave
in public.
The reigning King Anthrayos’ (Andrew’s)
Nephew Keppa (Cephas) he consecrated a bishop."8
And now with Bishop Keppa, the King’s nephew he starts
his journeys to various parts of the Kingdom and is very successful
in his mission all over the Kingdom.
After successfully preaching the Gospel in Quilon, Trikkapeleswaram,
Chayal, Gokkamangalam, and Kottakkayal,
"Travelling southwards he arived at Maliamkara,
And was glad to find everything in proper order there."
After another trip to Mylapur he is in Kodungallur again on
his way to Parur from Palayur and Malayattur.
"
His first desciple Keppa,(Cephas) [the King of Tiruvanchikkulam’s
nephew, ] who never had parted from him,
He dressed (him) in his garment, and on his head he placed his
hand.
As the governance of his believers he entrusted to him.
He quickly enjoined on them to accept (Cephas) as they (accepted)
him.
Thus
, as in many other places and continents, it was royal patronage
that made things easy for the spread of the Christian religion
in Kerala. This would also explain how the Christians in Kerala
came to enjoy all those royal privileges and rights like the seventy
two privileges mentioned in the various copper-plate grants and
other trading rights granted by the 'Tazhekkattu Sasanam' etc.
it
was there that the Apostle established the first bishopric with
Xanthipus as Bishop. In remembrance of the ancient tradition of
Cranganore, His Holiness Leo XIII allowed in 1886, the Bishop
of Damao (the now extinct diocese in the Bombay Presidency) the
use of the title 'Archbishop of Cranganore'.
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