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Overview

The connection of St. Thomas with king Gundaphor gives us sufficient reason to say that the Northern India which includes today's Pakistan and Afghanistan was one of the fields of Apostle St. Thomas's mission. The hereditary Christians of Punjab and central Ganges plain, witness the continuity of St. Thomas Christians of North India.

They reached the Kingdom of Gundaphorus and St. Thomas was commissioned to build a palace for the King in the shores of the River. However St. Thomas out of his pity gave away the money to the poor and could not build the palace. He was put in the prison. However that night the King’s brother Gad died and he was told the beautiful palace beside the river in the heavens was his brothers. He came back from the dead and told the story to the King. They were later converted to the Christian way.

After ordaining one Xantippus (Xenophon) as deacon to the churches in North India St. Thomas traveled throughout India and converted many to Christianity .

 

Point Of Topic !

The North Western India has always been exposed to foreign invasions down the centuries and the Christians might have been greatly disturbed to the extent of very narrow thickness. The personal visit and evangelization of St. Thomas to Indo-Paratha kingdom and central Gangues plain are historically and socially proven.

Coming of St. Bartholomew

Closely following St. Thomas, came apostle Bartholomew, another of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. He did a short ministry in Kalyan area of west coast. He lived hardly seven years in India during which time he had to face a very hostile environment. He came some time in A.D 55 shortly after Apostle St. Thomas left the area. St. Thomas sowed the seeds, Bartholomew watered and the area around Kalyan had a large Christian Population.

In the words of great Indologist, Dr. Farquahar " Apostle St. Thomas, one of the 12 desciples of Jesus sailed from Alexadria to the Indus and reached the Kings capital 'Taxila' (Presently known as Punjab) about A.D 48-49. He left Taxila when the Punjab and its capital were seized by the 'Indo-Scythian Kushans' from China about A.D 50 and went from there to "Muziri' (Presently known as Kodungallur in Kerala) on the Malabar coast via Socotra, reaching Muziri in AD 51-52.

'TATA NAGAR FAKIRS'

It is interesting to note that a certain section of 'Sindhi's and especially the 'Tata Nagar Fakirs' seem to venerate the Apostle under the name ' Thuma Bhagat'.

As B. Arunananda wrote : 'It was at 'Tatta' on the Indus river in Sindh where he is still venerated as "Thuma Bhagat" that according to tradition, St. Thomas Apostle worked for some time. These devotees still seem to practice some Christian rites and possess a book which might well be the Gospel according to St. Mathew!

Rev. R.A Trotter who had some contact with this community also writes: " This Fakir group, to all appearances Hindu, calls its small community by an Aramaic (Language which Jesus & disciples spoke) something like 'Mar St. Thomasi' which means the sons of St. Thomas, and claims that it is descended from Christians baptized by St. Thomas himself and that in their secret society they owns books and relics to support their position. Unfortunately, no outsider, either Indian or European, has had access to the archives of this society, and individual members are as hard to come by as the India Lion.

conclusion

Christianity is not a foreign religion as far as India is concerned. Vasco-Da-Gama's visit to India is in 1492, who is the first white man who showed the colonial nature and style. As Strickland and marshal estimates, there were about One Million Christians before the first white man appeared in India; about the same percentage of Christians in India as today. Christianity has a strong foundation in India which is paved by Apostle St. Thomas and it is about as encient, eastern and indigenous in India as any other faith such as Aryanism, Buddhism etc..