Syrian Malabar Nasrani - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article deals with the Nasrani People as an ethnic community, for a detailed article on the religious tradition of the Nasrani people; see: Saint Thomas Christians
Saint Thomas Christians
The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" because they are followers of "Jesus of Nazareth". The term "Nasrani" is still used by St...

.

The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, "'Nasrani Mappila'" and Nasranis, are an ethnoreligious

Ethnoreligious

An ethnoreligious group is an ethnic group of people whose members are also unified by a common religious background...

group from Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition. They are also known as Syrian-Malabar Christians, Suriyani Christiaanikal, Mar Thoma Nasrani, or more popularly as Syrian Christians, since they have been using a Syriac(classical form of Aramaic) liturgy since the early days of Christianity in India.

The Syrian Malabar Nasranis are the descendants of the local people and Jewish diaspora in Kerala

Cochin Jews

Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews , are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots claimed to date to the time of King Solomon, though historically attested migration dates from the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Historically, they lived in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the...

who became Christians in the earliest days of Christianity in the Malabar Coast

Malabar Coast

The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...

. They own a unique liturgical system basically formed from the religious patronage extended from the Church of Persia which consists of many East Syrian and Hebrew Syriac Christian

Syriac Christianity

Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....

traditions blended with indigenous customs. Their liturgical heritage is Syriac-Keralite, their culture South Indian with Semitic and local influences, their faith St. Thomas Christian

Saint Thomas Christians

The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" because they are followers of "Jesus of Nazareth". The term "Nasrani" is still used by St...

, and their language Malayalam. Much of their East Syrian, indigenous and Jewish traditions have undergone latinization during the oppression by the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

in the early 16th century. The persecution of the Malabar Nasranis by the Portuguese in the analogue of the Spanish inquisition

Spanish Inquisition

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...

known today as the Portuguese Inquisition

Portuguese Inquisition

The Portuguese Inquisition was formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of Portugal, João III. Manuel I had asked for the installation of the Inquisition in 1515 to fulfill the commitment of marriage with Maria of Aragon, but it was only after his death that the Pope...

Portuguese period

During the Portuguese power in Malabar (1679–1728) there were four distinctive sections of Christians in Kerala.

Syrian Christians. The Portuguese called them The Christians of St. Thomas.
Syrian Christian Roman Catholics.
The non-Syrian Roman Catholics converted to Catholicism by the Portuguese; known as Inland Christians by the Van Rheede and New Christians by Moens. They were grouped into seven parish churches under the bishop of Cochin.
Topass Christians. (Thuppai). They were the descendents of Indian mothers or fathers belonging to the diverse European nations, e.g. Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...

s.

Only the first two are Syrian Malabar Nasranis; the other two are not.

Nasrani

The term Nasrani derives from the name Nazarene

Nazarene

Nazarene may refer to:* Nazarene , a title applied to Jesus of Nazareth* Nazarene , a sect of 4th century Christianity described by Epiphanius* Church of the Nazarene, modern Christian Pentecostal denomination...

, means "Man from Nazareth". Tertullian

Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...

(c.160–c.220, Against Marcion 4:8) records that the Jews called Christians "Nazarenes" from Jesus being a man of Nazareth (Acts 24:5). This name could be seen in Quran also as nasara (plural of nasrani "Christians"). The Arabic word nasara (نَصارى) comes from the Arabic root "n s r" (ن ص ر). It is suggested that the term Nasrani was used essentially to denote Jewish followers of Jesus from Nazareth, while the term Khristianos "Christian" was initially used largely to refer to non-Jewish peoples ("gentile

Gentile

The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....

s") who followed the Christ (Acts 11:26).

In some localities, Syrian Malabar Nasranis are also called Nasrani Mappilas. But some historians believe that the title "Mappila" was honorarily given by the King to Thomas of Cana and after his arrival only, the Nasranis were started being called "Nasrani Mappilas". There's a difference of opinion on the exact origin of the word Mappila
Mappila
Mappila or Moplah refers to a Muslim community of Kerala, primarily in the northern region called Malabar, which arose in Malabar as a result of the pre and post Islamic Arab contacts. Significant numbers of the community are also present in the southern districts of Karnataka and western parts of...

(Moplah), but by and large it is considered to be derived from a combination of ancient Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

/Malayalam Maha (great) or Ma (mother) and Pillai ("Son-in-law" or "Bridegroom"). According to Hermann Gundert

Hermann Gundert

Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert was a German missionary and scholar, who compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam , the first Malayalam-English dictionary , and translated the Bible into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India...

(who wrote the first Malayalam dictionary), the term 'mappila' was a title used to denote Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...

immigrants from West Asia. The term "Mappila" represents miscegenation

Miscegenation

Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....

or Racial Admixture

Admixture

Admixture can refer to:* Genetic admixture, the result of interbreeding between two or more previously isolated populations within a species.* Racial admixture, admixture between humans, also referred to as Miscegenation* Hybrid...

among Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...

people and indigenous people in the ancient coastal cities of Malabar

Malabar Coast

. It was used to specify like Jonaka Mappila or Nasrani Mappila to distinguish between Muslims and Syrian Christians, since racial admixture of the native people took place among Muslims with Arabs and Syrian Christian with Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

. Cochin Jews

Cochin Jews

were no exception and were called "Juda Mappilas".

Origins

Syrian Christians in Kerala believe that St. Thomas

Thomas the Apostle

Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...

had implanted Christian belief in their ancestors along with the Christian community in Edessa

Edessa

Edessa may refer to:*Edessa, Greece*Edessa, Mesopotamia, now Şanlıurfa, Turkey*County of Edessa, a crusader state*Osroene, an ancient kingdom and province of the Roman Empire...

.

In the 1st century AD, Kerala was predominantly ruled by Chera

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

Dynasty and hence called Cherarajyam at that time. Muziris

Muziris

Muziris is an ancient sea-port in Southwestern India on the Periyar River 3.2 km from its mouth. The derivation of the name Muziris is said to be from "Mucciripattanam," "mucciri" means "cleft palate" and "pattanam" means "city". Near Muziris, Periyar River was branched into two like a...

(now known as Pattanam

Pattanam

Pattanam , presently a land locked rural hamlet located in the Periyar Delta, 2 km north of North Paravur, 9 km south of Kodungallur and 25 km north of Kochi in Ernakulam District in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Pattanam that means coastal town has ancient origins...

near Cochin) was the important entry port. Around the early days of Christianity a multilingual and multi-cultural society was existent in Muziris in which indigenous as well as migrated West Asian Semitic people lived a harmonious life under the rule of Cheran Kings.

Semitic settlements in Muziris

In the Bible, there are inferences suggesting trade links of Semitic people with Malabar, especially for spices and luxury articles with Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

as early as the period of King Solomon. Excavations carried out at Pattanam

Pattanam

in 2008 provided evidence that the maritime trade between Kerala and the Mediterranean ports existed back in 500 BC or earlier. It is possible that some of those traders who arrived from the west, including some Jews, remained in Kerala. While Augustus Caesar (31 BC- 14 AD) was the Emperor of Rome and Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

(37–4 BC) was King of Judea, ambassadors from Malabar visited the Emperor Augustus. There is a hypothesis that these ambassadors were The Wise Men From the East, of the Bible. In the first century map Tabula Peutingeriana

Tabula Peutingeriana

The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...

(see the map) a temple of Augustus is clearly visible near Muziris shows the close relation between Rome and Malabar in the first century BC.

The community also comprises several ancient Aramaic Christian settlements in Kerala. The Knanaya

Knanaya

The Knanaya also known as Q'nanaya, Q'nai, Kanai, or Thekkumbagar, are endogamous Jews who settled in Kerala, India. Their origins are unclear and are hotly disputed by academic scholars...

Nasranis claim to be the descendants of one such group of 4th century immigrants.

The southern coast of the Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

(hypothesized by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

to be the place mentioned as Ophir

Ophir

Ophir is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon is supposed to have received a cargo of gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir, every three years.- Citations :...

in the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

) inevitably became a gateway from the Mediterranean world to Kerala. The people there traded in teak

Teak

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

, ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

, spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...

s and peacocks, and the area was endowed with a magnificent coastline with numerous ports from Mangalapuram to Kodungallur

Kodungallur

Kodungallur is a municipality in Thrissur District, in the state of Kerala, India on the Malabar Coast. Kodungallur is located about 29 km northwest of Kochi city and 38 km Southwest of Thrissur, on National Highway 17 . Muziris the ancient seaport at the mouth of the Periyar River was...

, also known as Cranganore. In the ancient times it was called as Muziris in Latin and Muchiri in Malayalam.

The trade routes brought with them not just riches but also stateless nations and nascent worldviews. Cranganore became one of the earliest settlements of the Jewish diaspora

Diaspora

A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

from the later Old Testament period. They continued trade with the Mediterranean world, thus establishing a strong link between the southern coast of the Indian peninsula and the Judeo-Roman world. Laying the links or foundations for what would later be the early 'Judeo-Nazaraean' diaspora.

The Tamil

Tamil language

epic

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

of Manimekkalai written between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD of the Sangam Literature

Sangam literature

Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...

era mentions the Nasrani people by the name Essanuvadikal or Essanis referring to one of the early sects within the Nasranis called Essenes. In AD 883, Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

(849–899), King of Wessex, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

reportedly sent gifts to Mar Thoma Christians of India through Sighelm, bishop of Sherborne. Around 1292 AD, Marco Polo

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...

(1254–1324) on his return journey from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

visited Kerala, mentions that, "The people are idolaters, though there are some Christians and Jews among them".

Thus the Semitic settlements as suggested above led the way to the ministry of disciples of Christ in Malabar as early as 1st century AD.

St. Thomas's Ministry in Kerala

Acts of Thomas hints that St. Thomas came to India with a Jewish trader. British researcher William Dalrymple travelled across the Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...

to Kerala in a boat similar to those mentioned in Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

texts and showed how the traders had travelled from the Middle East to Kodungulloor. He followed the same course as mentioned in the Acts of Thomas

Acts of Thomas

The early 3rd century text called Acts of Thomas is one of the New Testament apocrypha, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly Redeemer", independent of and beyond creation, who can free souls from the darkness of the world. References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in...

, a copy of which survives in a monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

on Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...

.
During that time the area from Syria to Patria was under Roman rule and because of this traveling through this region was relatively easy. His name is mentioned as Haban and it is believed that both reached Kodungalloor(Krankanoor) in AD 52. Over here he stayed 1st with the Jewish community, preached the Gospel and evangelized them. The tradition is that ST. Thomas established the Ezharappallikal (ഏഴരപള്ളികള്‍), or "The Seven and Half Churches" in Kerala. These churches are at Kodungallur

Kodungallur

, Kollam

Kollam

Kollam , often anglicized as ', is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city lies on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake on the Arabian sea coast and is situated about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram...

, Niranam

Niranam

Niranam is a village in central Travancore region in Kerala, India. It was a port in ancient Kerala, on the confluence of the Manimala and Achankovil River. It is almost from Tiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala...

, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam

Kokkamangalam

Kokkamangalam is a village in Alappuzha district of Kerala state, south India. Tradition holds it to be one of the seven Christian communities in Kerala founded by the Apostle Thomas.Kokkamangalam is situated midway between Cochin and Kumarakom...

, Kottakkayal (Paravoor

North Paravur

North Paravur formerly known as Parur is a town, municipality in Ernakulam district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is an old and growing municipality. Paravur is the capital of Paravur Taluk in Ernakulam district...

), Palayoor

Palayoor

Palayoor or is a part of Thrissur district and is located on the west coast of Kerala, in India. By road it is 28 km from Thrissur on the Thrissur – Chavakad route via Pavaratty. It is very near to Guruvayoor, which is only 2 km away....

(Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithancode

Thiruvithancode

Thiruvithamcode is a small panchayat town located in the Kanyakumari district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Name in Tamil: திருவிதாங்கோடு....

Arappally – the half church. These communities were multi-ethnic as they were selected from an enlightened resident communities of the then Kerala including local people and migrated Jews. Thus the present Christian community of Kerala consists of people from many descents including native Indians of Aryan

Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

, Dravidian and Naga

Nair

Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...

ethnicity who could have been baptized by ST. Thomas as well as different trading diaspora of Jews and Christian settlers of successive centuries like Knanaya

Knanaya

The Knanaya also known as Q'nanaya, Q'nai, Kanai, or Thekkumbagar, are endogamous Jews who settled in Kerala, India. Their origins are unclear and are hotly disputed by academic scholars...

people.

Epigraphy

The Rulers gave the Nasranis various rights and privileges which were written on copper plates. These are known as Cheppeds, Royal Grants, Sasanam etc.

There are a number of such documents (Thazhekad Sasanam, The Quilon Plates (Tharisappalli Cheppeds), Mampally Sasanam and Iraviikothan Chepped (Copper Plate) etc.) in the possession of the Syrian Churches of the Kerala State. Some of these plates are said to be dated around 774 AD. Dr. Burnell, Burkatt F C, Sir Baily Harold, C P T Wenkwirth studied the inscriptions and produced varying translations. The language used is Tamil in Tamil letters

Vatteluttu

Vatteluttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhuttu alphabet is an abugida writing system originating from the Tamil people of Southern India...

with some Grantha script intermingled . In Quilon Copper Plates which was given to Mar Sapor and Mar Prodh who immigrated to Quilon from Persia in 823 AD include some Pahlavi, Kufic

Kufic

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...

and Hebrew signatories.http://nasrani.net/2011/03/07/nazrani-christians-and-the-social-processes-of-kerala/#more-863

The ruler of Venad (Travancore) granted Syrian Christians seventy two rights and privileges usually granted only to high dignitaries, including exemption from import duties, sales tax and the slave tax. A copper plate grant dated AD 1225 further enhanced the rights and privileges of Nasranis.

These plates detail privileges awarded to the community by the then rulers. These influenced the development of the social structure in Kerala and privileges, rules for other communities such as Jews at a later date. These are considered as some of the most important legal documents in the history of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

Socio-Cultural and religious identity

St.Thomas Christians had an identity of their own. Though their liturgy and theology remained that of East-Syrian Christians of Persia, their life-style customs and traditions were basically Indian. It is oft-quoted - "Nazranis are Keralite in culture, Christian in faith and Syrian in liturgy"

Due to the common Apostolic origin and a number of socio cultural factors, from a very early period the Church of St. Thomas Christians came in to a life long relationship with the Church of Persia. According to early Christian writings Church of Persia was also established by St. Thomas the apostle. The Primate of Persia was consecrated Metropolitan of Great India as per the attestation of the Council of Nicea in 325. Primate or Metropolitan of Persia consecrated bishops for the Indian Church of St. Thomas Christians. This relation caused to form the liturgical system of Malabar Christians, closely aligned with that of Persian Church and thus the Malabar Christians following Syrian Liturgy were called Syrian Christians of Malabar.http://nasrani.net/2008/06/21/prelates-of-nasranis-till-the-synod-of-udayamperoor/

Presence of Jews in the early Christians had significant effects on the liturgy and traditions of the entire community. The community maintained some of the original rituals of the early Jewish Christians, such as covering their heads while in worship. Their ritual services was and still is called the Qurbana

Holy Qurbana

Holy Qurbana or Qurbana Qadisha , the "Holy Offering" or "Holy Sacrifice", refers to the Eucharist as celebrated according to the East Syrian and West Syrian traditions of Syriac Christianity...

(also spelled Kurbana), which is derived from the Aramaic

Aramaic language

Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

and Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

term korban
Korban
The term offering as found in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban whether for an animal or other offering...

(קרבן), meaning "sacrifice". The Nasrani Qurbana used to be held in Syriac

Syriac language

Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

.

As far as the cultural identity of Syrian Christians is considered, they typically followed the social customs of their Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

fraternity. The vestiges of Hindu symbolism could be seen in their devotional practices too. Social sins like Untouchability

Untouchability

Untouchability is the social practice of ostracizing a minority group by segregating them from the mainstream by social custom or legal mandate. The excluded group could be one that did not accept the norms of the excluding group and historically included foreigners, nomadic tribes, law-breakers...

entered their practices and Synod of Udayamperoor abolished it vide Section IX of Decree 2. The rituals related to birth, Vidyarambham

Vidyarambham

Vidyarambham is a Hindu tradition where children between two and three years old are formally initiated into the characters of the syllabary....

, marriage, pregnancy, death etc. were also similar in both the communities. Now also, tying Thaali, a Hindu symbol of marriage is the most important rite in the Christian marriages too. They used to learn temple arts like Kathakali

Kathakali

Kathakali is a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion...

, Kooth and Thullal and their own art forms like Margam Kali

Margam Kali

Margam Kali is one of the ancient group dance of Kerala practiced by Saint Thomas Christians. It is difficult to trace the exact origin of the dance form and the compilation of the lyrics, but the dance form was practiced by the Saint Thomas Christians before the arrival of Portuguese missionaries...

and Parichmuttu Kali have resemblance to Yathra kali Pattu of Brahmins in Kerala. In 1519, a Potugese traveller Duarte Barbosa

Duarte Barbosa

Duarte Barbosa was a Portuguese writer and Portuguese India officer between 1500 and 1516–17, with the post of scrivener in Cannanore factory and sometimes interpreter of the local language...

on his visit to Malabar commented on the practice of Syrian Christian priests using Kudumi similar to that of Brahmins, in his manuscript "Book of Duarte Barbosa".

Persecution by Portuguese

The original tradition of the Syro-Malabar Nasranis was wiped out when the Portuguese invaded Kerala, and denounced the Nasrani account of Christian faith as false. They imposed their European rituals and liturgy and obliterated the Indian legacy from the Nasrani tradition. In 1578, three lay leaders of the Kerala Nasranis submitted a petition to Pope Gregory XIII, saying, “Our orations are in Syriac or Chaldeae language which our Father St. Thomas gave us. We as well as our ancestors have learned this language.”

Archbishop Menezes

Aleixo de Menezes

Aleixo de Menezes was Archbishop of Goa, Archbishop of Braga, Portugal, and Viceroy of Portugal during the Iberian Union.-Biographical sketch:Aleixo was born in 1559. It is known that he joined the Augustinians...

of Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, convened the Synod of Diamper

Synod of Diamper

The Synod of Diamper, held at Udayamperoor/Diamper, is a diocesan synod by which Latin usages were formally adopted by the Christians of Saint Thomas. It was convened on June 20, 1599, under the leadership of Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa. Archdeacon George was forced to comply with the...

in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

in 1599. There he ordered all the texts of the Syrian Nasranis to be burnt. The Portuguese burned several of these texts. The purpose stated by Menezes was to erase all legacies of antiquity

Ancient history

Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

and Jewishness. Amongst several accusations, the Nasranis were accused of not venerating images of saints and Biblical figures. They completely obliterated the records of early Nasrani life and tradition.

Books ordered to be destroyed:

General books destroyed: (1) Prammasa (2) Johannan Para Kalthon (3) Maarganisa (4) Vaappkadey Pusthakam (5) Aava Eilayya (6) Nuhara (7) Sunahadosa (8) Mar theermathay Osa (9) Njayarazhchayuday Emgartha (10) Makammasa (11) Kaamessa (12) Parapumman (13) Suryaniyile Malpanmaruday Pusthakangal (14) Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...

. Worship books destroyed: (1) Hoodara (2) Sumaday Pusthakam (3) Annadha Pusthakam.

Nasranis outside the region of Portuguese control managed to preserve some elements of their original books. It was one of these books that Mar Thoma VI

Mar Thoma VI

-See also:* Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church* Mar Thoma Church* Syrian Malabar Nasrani* Saint Thomas Christians* Christianity in India* List of Catholicoi of the East and Malankara Metropolitans* List of Syrian Malabar Nasranis* Mar Thoma V...

handed over to Dr. Buchanan

Claudius Buchanan

Claudius Buchanan was a Scottish theologian, an ordained minister of the Church of England, and an extremely 'low church' missionary for the Church Missionary Society....

in 1806.

Most of all, the Portuguese destroyed the Malabar Nasrani Syriac Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...

known today as the Lost Aramaic Bible, and whose Old Testament section included sections based on Jewish Targum

Targum

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...

(an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

). Several elements of Hebrew Syriac Christianity was lost due to Portuguese Inquisition. However, the Knanaya people preserved some elements of their Jewish heritage because of their tradition of being endogamous

Endogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...

within their own community.

Division and defiance

The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado
Padroado
The Padroado , was an arrangement between the Holy See and the kingdom of Portugal, affirmed by a series of treaties, by which the Vatican delegated to the kings of Spain and Portugal the administration of the local Churches...

provoked a violent reaction on the part of the indigenous Christian community. The first solemn protest took place in 1653, known as the Koonan Kurishu Satyam (Koonan Cross Oath). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, Saint Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that, "by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost that henceforth we would not adhere to the Franks, nor accept the faith of the Pope of Rome".
(The Missionary Register for 1822 seems to be the earliest reliable document available from within the Nasrani tradition). Four months after this event according to their ancient tradition 12 elders of the church laid their hands on Malankara Mooppen Thomas and ordained him as Mar Thoma I

Mar Thoma I

-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...

. The branch affiliated with Catholic Church was designated the Pazhayakuttukar, or "Old Party", while the branch affiliated with Mar Thoma was called the Puthankuttukar, or "New Party". These appellations have been somewhat controversial, as both groups considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other as heretical.

After the Coonan Cross Oath

Coonan Cross Oath

The Coonan Cross Oath , taken on January 3, 1653, was a public avowal by members of the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India that they would not submit to Portuguese dominance in ecclesiastical and secular life...

, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Catholics claimed eighty-four churches, and Archdeacon Mar Thoma I

Mar Thoma I

-See also:*Indian Orthodox Church*Jacobite Syrian Church*Mar Thoma Church*Malankara Church*Dutch East India Company*Syrian Malabar Nasrani-Further reading:...

with thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...

and Chaldean Syrian Church

Chaldean Syrian Church

The Chaldean Syrian Church is an Indian Christian church that is currently an archbishopric of the Assyrian Church of the East. Its members are part of the St. Thomas Christian community, who trace their origins to the evangelical activities of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are almost...

have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites

Jacobite Syrian Christian Church

The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, located in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, currently Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as its supreme head. It functions as a largely autonomous archdiocese within the church, under the authority...

& Orthodox), Thozhiyur

Malabar Independent Syrian Church

The Malabar Independent Syrian Church, also known as the Thozhiyur Sabah , is a Christian church centred in Kerala, India. It is one of the churches of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.Considered part...

(1772), Mar Thoma

Mar Thoma Church

The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church also known as the Mar Thoma Church is a Christian denomination based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It has an entirely different identity when compared with other Churches in India. Most Christian churches around the world are divided into...

(Reformed) (1874), Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...

have originated. In 1665, Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel

Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel

Mor Gregorios Abdul Jaleel Bawa was an ethnic Assyrian Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem from 1664 until his death. He is chiefly remembered for his 1665 mission to India, in which he established ties between the newly-independent Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox church. He is venerated...

, a Bishop send by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the St.Thomas Christians under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. This visit resulted in the Mar Thoma party claiming spiritual authority of the Antiochean Patriarchate and gradually introduced the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast.

The arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665 marked the beginning of a formal association of St.Thomas Christians with the West Syrian Church. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as Jacobites. Those who continued with East Syrian

East Syrian Rite

The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...

and Latin theological and liturgical tradition and stayed faithful to the Synod of Diamper and the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

are known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

in communion with the Catholic Church. They got their own Syro-Malabar Hierarchy on 21 December 1923 with the Metropolitan Mar Augustine Kandathil as the Head of their Church.

Further divisions

In 1772, the West Syrians under the leadership of Kattumangattu Abraham Mar Koorilose, Metropolitan of Malankara, formed the Malabar Independent Syrian Church

Malabar Independent Syrian Church

(Thozhiyur Sabha).

In 1836, in protest against the acknowledgment of the jurisdiction of the Jacobite Patriarch at the Synod of Mavelikara, some Syrian Orthodox families left in protest and regard themselves as Anglo-Syrians or Syrian Anglicans in the sense that they see themselves as exclusive from other members of the Church of South India to which denomination they now belong. As a result of this particular history, they are more likely to seek marriage partners from among themselves or from the Mar Thoma or Syrian Orthodox churches rather than from among non-Syrian members of their own denomination. The Syrian Anglicans within the Church of South India thus predate the emergence of the Mar Thoma Church by four decades.

In 1876, those who did not accept the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch remained with Thomas Mar Athanasious and chose the name Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. They removed a number practices introduced at The Synod of Diamper to the liturgy, practices and observances.

In 1961, there was a split with the formation of St. Thomas Evangelical Church

St. Thomas Evangelical Church

St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an Evangelical, Episcopal denomination based in Kerala, India. It derives from a schism in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1961, and traces its ancestry before then back almost 2,000 years. STECI holds that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant...

from the Marthoma Church.

However, in 1912 due to attempts by the Antiochean Patriarch to gain temporal powers over the Malankara Church, there was another split in the West Syrian community when a section declared itself an autocephalous church and announced the re-establishment of the ancient Catholicos

Catholicos

Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases is borne by the designated head of an autonomous church, in which case the holder might have other titles such as Patriarch...

ate of the East in India. This was not accepted by those who remained loyal to the Patriarch. The two sides were reconciled in 1958 but again differences developed in 1975. Today the West Syrian community is divided into Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, autocephalous), Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, under Antioch).

In 1926 a section of West Syrians under the leadership of Mar Ivanios came into communion with the Catholic Church, retaining all of the Church’s rites, Liturgy, and autonomy. They are known as Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...

Nasrani people today

Though part of the unique local tradition was lost, some of its distinct traditions and observances lived on. A surviving Jewish tradition is the tradition of Pesaha-appam or unleavened Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

bread. On passover night, the Nasrani people have Pesaha-appam along with Pesaha-pal or "Passover coconut milk". This tradition of Pesaha-appam is observed by many Nasrani people until this day.

The Nasrani Church has a separate seating arrangement for men and women. Until the 1970s the Nasrani kurbana was sung in Syriac

Syriac language

. Many of the tunes of the Syriac Christian worship in Kerala are remnants of ancient Syriac tunes of antiquity. The "Holy of Holies" is divided by a red curtain for most of the time and is opened during the central part of the Nasrani Mass or Qurbana in the hagbah

Nasrani Hagbah

Nasrani Hagbah is a religious tradition of the Syrian Malabar Nasrani people from Kerala, South India that involves the opening of the red curtain and unveiling of the holy of holies and the raising of the Bible by the priest to the congregation gathered for the Kurbana .-Background:The Malabar...

. The Nasrani Baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

is still called by the Aramaic term mamodisa and follows many of the ancient rituals of the ceremony. It is referred to in Malayalam as Njana Snanam ("Bath of Wisdom").

By and large, today's Nasrani people belong to one or the other of the various Christian denominations of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition.

Demographics

Nasrani people largely live in the districts of Pathanamthitta

Pathanamthitta

Pathanamthitta is a large town and a municipality situated in the central Travancore region in the state of Kerala, south India, spread over an area of 23.50 km2. It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The city has a population of 38,000...

, Alapuzha, Kottayam

Kottayam

Kottayam is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative capital of the Kottayam district. Kottayam Kottayam (Malayalam: കോട്ടയം) is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative...

, Idukki, Ernakulam

Ernakulam

Ernakulam refers to the downtown area or the western part of the mainland of Kochi city in Kerala, India. The city is the most urban part of Kochi and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Ernakulam is called the commercial capital of the state of Kerala and is a main nerve of business in...

and Trichur in Kerala. They have also migrated to other cities in India like Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari is a town in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is also sometimes referred to as Cape Comorin. Located at the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, it is the geographical end of the Indian mainland. The district in Tamil Nadu where the town is located is called Kanyakumari...

, Ooty, Mangalore

Mangalore

Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...

, Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

, Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, Shimoga, Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, Coimbatore

Coimbatore

Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....

, Hyderabad and Kolkota. Others have migrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

or work in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. Based on the Indian census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

report of 2004, there are presently approximately 6,000,000 Syrian-Malabar Nasranis from across the various denominations within the Nasrani community. The Syro Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See...

together constitute about 51.4%, the Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Jacobites together about 21.4%, the Mar Thoma Christians about 15.7%, the Church of South India 5.2% and others about 6.3% of Christian in the state.
Many Nasrani people own large estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

s and engage in trade of rubber, spices and cash crops. They also take a prominent role in the educational institutions of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

and throughout India

India

.

Church leaders fear that increasing migration and decreasing birth rate are endangering the Syrian Christian community in Kerala. They also fear that the situation is likely to worsen in the coming decades and the community would soon enter the zero population regime

Zero population growth

Zero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG , is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines, considered as a social aim....

Nasrani symbol

The symbol of the Nasranis is the Mar Thoma Cross, Mar Thoma Kurish, Nasrani Menorah or Mar Thoma Sleeba മാര്‍ത്തോമാ ശ്ലീബാ in Malayalam. There are several interpretations for the Nasrani Symbol. The interpretation based on Christian Jewish tradition assumes that The Mar Thoma Sleeba's design was based on Jewish menorah, an ancient symbol of the Hebrews, which consists of seven branched lamp stand (candelabra). (Exodus 25).

The interpretation based on local culture states that the Cross with out the figure of Jesus and with flowery arms symbolizing "joyfulness" points to the resurrection theology of St. Paul, the Holy Spirit on the top represents the role of Holy Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The lotus symbolizing Buddhism and the Cross over it shows that Christianity was established in the land of Buddha. The 3 steps indicate Calvary and the rivulets, channels of grace flowing from the Cross.

Note that the Christian cross

Christian cross

The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...

was not adopted as a symbol by Mediterranean and European Christianity until several centuries had passed.

Traditions, rituals and social life among Syrian Christians

Women cover their heads during worship, even outside the church.

The ritual services (liturgy) is called the Holy Qurbana
Holy Qurbana
Holy Qurbana or Qurbana Qadisha , the "Holy Offering" or "Holy Sacrifice", refers to the Eucharist as celebrated according to the East Syrian and West Syrian traditions of Syriac Christianity...

(or kurbana), which is derived from the Hebrew Korban
Korban
The term offering as found in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban whether for an animal or other offering...

(קרבן), meaning "sacrifice".

Some parts of the Nasrani Qurbana are sung in Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

.

Pesaha, the ritual supper which is the narration of the Paschal event is celebrated among Saint Thomas Christians. The observance of Pesaha at home is an unbroken tradition which is unique to the Saint Thomas Christians among Christians in India.

Immediately after a Child is born, a priest or male relative shouts in the child’s ear Maron Yesu Mishiha ( Jesus Christ is the Messiah ) and the child would be fed with three drops of honey in which a little gold had been rubbed.

Another surviving tradition is the use of muthukoda (ornamental umbrella) for church celebrations, marriages and other festivals. Traditional drums and arch decorations and ornamental umbrella are part of the church celebrations. Its use have become popular all over Kerala.

Boundaries between Christians and Hindus are blurred in some cultural sphere such us house building, astrology, birth and marriage ( use of sandalwood paste, milk, rice and areca nut)

The spiritual life of Nasranis is ordered by liturgical obligations and by its specifically Christian ethics. Death rituals express Christian canonical themes very distantly and the influence of Hindu culture is quite noticeable. Much stress is given to ideas concerning life after death and the anticipation of final judgment.

Christians were given honorific titles. Tharakan is a word derived from the word for tariff.Panikkar denotes proficiency in military training.

Syriac Christians do not marry close relatives. The rule is that bride and groom must not be related for at least five generations. Entering into marriage relationship in the Mar Thoma Church
Mar Thoma Church
The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church also known as the Mar Thoma Church is a Christian denomination based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It has an entirely different identity when compared with other Churches in India. Most Christian churches around the world are divided into...

is possible only if there are five generations, between the common ancestor and the prospective parties i.e. marriage between third cousins is permissible.

Syrian Christians didn't use any pictures, paintings or statues of Jesus or saints in their churches until the arrival of Portuguese. They considered it as idolatry.

Caste status

Syrian Malabar Nasranis or Syrian Christians are considered forward caste in India. They tend to be endogamous, and tend not to intermarry even with other Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

castes.

Syrian Christians derive status within the caste system from the tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

that they were elites, who were evangelized

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

by St. Thomas

Thomas the Apostle

.

Anthropologists have noted that the caste hierarchy among Christians in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

is much more polarized than the Hindu practices in the surrounding areas, due to a lack of jati

Jati

Jāti is the term used to denote clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities in India. It is a term used across religions. In Indian society each jāti typically has an association with a traditional job function or tribe, although religious beliefs Jāti (in Devanagari: जाति Tamil:சாதி) (the...

s. Also, the caste status is kept even if the sect

Sect

A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...

allegiance

Allegiance

An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.-Etymology:From Middle English ligeaunce . The al- prefix was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an "allegation"...

is switched (i.e. from Syrian Orthodox to Syrian Catholic)

Syrian Christians constituted the largest forward caste community in the state of Kerala, according to the 1968 Socio-Economic Survey, accounting for 16.0% of the total population against 14.5% for the Nair

Nair

Portuguese period

Nasrani

Origins

Semitic settlements in Muziris

St. Thomas's Ministry in Kerala

Epigraphy

Socio-Cultural and religious identity

Persecution by Portuguese

Division and defiance

Further divisions

Nasrani people today

Demographics

Nasrani symbol

Traditions, rituals and social life among Syrian Christians

Caste status

See also

Hardcopy

External links