A CHRISTIAN IN THE MALABAR ROYAL FAMILY

The Zamorin's nephew became a Christian in 1600

I never thought Udayamperoor,just seven kilometers away from my place,Tripunithura was connected to Ooty.Frederic Price,in his book,Ootacamund,a History,says that the decision to redeem Catholic faith in Ooty was taken in the Diamper Synod of 1599.Diamper is of course,Udayamperoor.A Jesuit priest,Fr Fininicio was sent to Ooty.Then comes the biggest surprise.I quote from the book:A native convert,a nephew of the Samur Rajah,accompanied him and some others.
This journey was in 1602 and Fr Fininicio wrote a report on it at Calicut on April 1,1603.This Portuguese manuscript is preserved in the British Museum.

Reception to Gama by Zamorin.Illustration by Philip Baldaeus,1672

I have seen Illustrations,fictitious,of this trip in the Sullivan's Museum in Kotagiri,Nilgiris.But there was no illustration of the nephew of the Zamorin,who had become a Christian.I had written on Prince Rama Varma of the Cochin Royal family who became a Christian in 1835.But the conversion in Calicut was 235 years earlier;before that,around 1537,the Tanur King had converted and taken the name,Dom Joao.It was the time when the Zamorin failed to evict the portuguese from Chaliyam.Soon,Vettathu Raja with his wife became Christians but went back to the Hindu fold,dejected.
We will come to the details of the nephew later.
Unless we gather the background of the Synod,we won't be able to assess the importance of the Calicut conversion.

Synod Church

The Synod of Diamper was held inspired by the inquisitions in Spain and Portugal,in the All Saints Church of Udayamperoor during June 20-26,1599,under the leadership of the Portuguese Arch Bishop of Goa, Aleixo de Menezes.153 Ecclesiastes and 660 laymen,elected/invited,participated.The Synod issued 200 decrees.It was held under threat by the Raja of Cochin;he threatened to take over the assets of the churches which stayed away from the Synod.The church was encircled by Portuguese/Cochin soldiers.The Raja himself was a slave of the Portuguese.He was consecrated as King in the Church,with a crown bearing the Cross.

The Syrian Christians of Malabar(modern Kerala)were following a lot of original Hindu beliefs.The Synod condemned all these,relating to transmigration,fate and astrology.The Hindu customs relating to matrimony,death,purification on touching lower castes were abandoned.The Christians were banned from attending traditional Hindu functions like Onam.Hindu musicians were banned from performing in Christian churches.The Christians who were doing military services to Hindu kings were asked to stop it.The formal separation of Christians from their Hindu brethren and the unification of Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala with the Roman Catholic Church was complete.

Menezes

Till the Synod,the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala were under the See of the Chaldean Patriarch or Catholicose of Babylonia(Seleucia-Ctesiphon).Menezes endeavored to eliminate the Bishops sent from Babylonia.He created the impression that the Patriarch was Nestorian, heretic and was opposed to Rome.He told the Synod so.The last Metropolitan of the Saint Thomas Christians,appointed by the Patriarch,Mar Abraham of Angamaly,who was Persian, died in 1597.His Archdeacon George (Geevarghese)took charge as Administrator of Angamaly Archdiocese.Archdeacon was All India Head of the Palliyogam or Assembly,thereby the virtual ruler.The Bishop,one from abroad,was a nominal representative.The Archbishop Menezes of Goa,taking this void as an opportunity,nominated  Jesuit priest,Fr Francis Roz as Administrator.Since Fr Goerge was very popular,Menezes had to reverse the decision.Fr George called an assembly of Saint Thomas Christians in Angamaly and took the pledge that if Rome sends George as Bishop,they will accept,but not a Latin.

The enraged but tactful Menezes toured Kerala in February,1599 to earn goodwill of the churches and priests.After winning over a sizable number of priests,he threatened George to depose.Menezes appointed Thomas Kurien,nephew of the former Arch Deacon of 1593,whose claims had been overlooked earlier,as the new Administrator.George had no other way than to yield. After deposing the influential George, Menezes began to consolidate.The consolidation had its finale at Udayamperoor.The Portuguese imposed new customs,hierarchy,law,liturgy and rites.Several manuscripts were burnt(Liturgical and Episcopal texts at the Angamaly library were systematically burnt;Menezes burnt Syriac books in 59 churches.After Angamaly,Syriac collections of Cheppad and Chengannur were burnt).All references to the childhood of Jesus and the first wife of his father Joseph were removed.

Kunjali's sword

During the Synod,the King was Keshava Rama Varma(1565-1601),who is known to have gone on a pilgrimage to Kashi and other temples for five years,fed up with slavery under Portuguese.Kunjali Mohammed Marakkar was in touch with him.In 1583,Portuguese Viceroy Francisco Mascernhas forcibly took the authority to collect commercial tax from the King.As public protest raged,the new Viceroy,Duarte Menezes came to Cochin and sorted out the issue.It was on January 26,1599,Archbishop Menezes arrived in Cochin.On the second day of arrival,he convened a meeting of officials to seek help for the war efforts at Kottakkal,without the permission of the King.The King sent his Chief Justice, Joan d Miranda to Menezes to pull him out of the Kottakkal war.Miranda told Menezes that Cochin was at war with Koratty Kaimal and could not help with forces at Kottakkal.Menezes sent Miranda back.Then two meetings between the King and Menezes followed;Menezes shouted a lot at the King for helping the Archdeacon.Menezes forced the King to help him in the Synod.Before Menezes left for Goa after the Synod,he met the King again and asked him to get converted to Christianity.A very long conversation followed.The King escaped saying he would call a meet of Brahmin scholars later.Menezes cursed the King to undergo the harshest tests on the D-Day and left.The King died on 3 May,1601.

Old Marakkar home,kottakkal

Archdeacon George (Geevarghese of the Cross),or Arkhadayakon Geevarghese died in 1640.He had surrendered and led the priests in the Synod.His protests continued afterwards and he was excommunicated by the Bishop,Francis Roz.In 1615 they reconciled.Though George was appointed Bishop of Palayur,he rejected it.His earlier position of Archdeacon was above that of a Bishop.They again fell out.He didn't jell well with the next Bishop Britto too.He is believed to be buried in the forefront of the Pakalomattam ancestral house at Kuravilangad,Kottayam.

Joseph Kathanar(Josephus Indus),who reached Europe from Crangannur in the beginning of the 16th Century had given the Europeans a brief on the Kerala Christians.From his brief,it was clear that the Christian customs were no different from that of the Hindus.With the advent of the Europeans in Kerala,this social fabric of bonhomie got shattered.The European Christians who came had both ideological and commercial scores to settle with the Muslims in Kerala.The harassment Muslims had to undergo has been described in the Tuhfat-Ul-Mujahideen of Sheikh Zainudin.The Diamper Synod virtually separated the Kerala Christians from the main stream.

Dr K N Ganesh,Historian,has opined that as far as the respective communities are concerned,the actions of the Europeans and Kunjali Marakkar are similar.Marakkar too struggled against the new forces that tried to undermine the existing strength.The last Marakkar declared freedom from the Zamorin and tried to be the King of the Muslims.

I am not sure whether we can equate Marakkar with the Europeans,like Ganesh did.For our present story the period is important.It is known that Samoothiri was Samudrathiri and was termed for the first time as Zamorin by Abdul Razzak after 15th Century.Though Vasco da Gama had arrived in 1498,the Zamorin gave permission to the Portuguese to build fort at Ponnani only in 1585.After this,Zamorin helped them to destroy several Muslim structures in Kottakkal.Zamorin allowed the Portuguese to build a factory at Calicut  in 1591,the year Menezes bacame Bishop of Goa.A Foundation for a Church was also laid in that year.It is clear that Zamorin did this because he was afraid of his former Naval Commander Kunjali Marakkar IV,or,Mohammed Marakkar.

Gama with Zamorin,steel engraving,1850s

 Kunjali was a title given by the Zamorin to the chief trader.The Kunjalis who were there in Calicut for seven decades were natives of Cochin who had escaped to Calicut after Portuguese fleets reached Cochin and threatened their commercial interests.For both Zamorin and Kunjali,the Portuguese were common enemies.It is because of this enmity,Zamorin had entered into a treaty with his arch enemy,Cochin,in 1503.But in 1598,the Portuguese were able to convince the Zamorin that Kunjali Mohammed Marakkar intended to take over his Kingdom.After he fell out with the Zamorin,Kunjali terrorized the Portuguese with his trusted lieutenant, Chinali.Chinali was a Chinese slave of the Portuguese from Malacca.The boy who was rescued by Kunjali,became a Muslim and his right hand.The forces under the Portuguese Commander,Ande Furtado de Mendoca,in 1600, attacked Kunjali and Chinali,captured them.Marakkar was executed  publicly in Goa.

Thus,in both the Diamper Synod and the execution of Kunjali Marakkar,Menezes presided over.
Aleixo de Menezes(1559-1617) was Arch Bishop of Goa,Arch Bishop of Braga in Portugal and finally,Viceroy of Portugal.He was consecrated as Bishop in Goa in 1591.He was just 35.He was leader of the Inquisition in Goa.Both the Inquisition and the Diamper Synod were condemned by Rome later.The result of the Synod was unfortunate.I quote the Catholic Encyclopedia(1913):The only case in which an ancient Eastern rite has been wilfully romanized is that of  the Malabar Christians,where it was not Roman authority but the misguided zeal of Alexius de Menezes ,Arch Bishop of Goa,and his Portuguese Advisers at the Synod of Diamper(1599),which spoilt the old Malabar rite".The Synod was invalid because it was convoked without authority,without the approval of Rome.The Saint Thomas Christians could not participate in the proceedings because the medium was not Malayalam or Syriac.The agenda was pre planned.Several decrees were incorporated after the Synod.Because of the Synod,the Church split into two.Since it was found invalid,Bishop Francis Roz ,who was appointed after the Synod,called another Synod at Angamaly in 1603.Maybe the word menace in English has its origin in Menezes.

It was this  fanatic zeal of Menezes that reigned in both Malabar and Cochin during 1591-1600.A period of upheavals.The Saint Thomas Christians had the monopoly over the spice trade and hence it was a requirement of the Portuguese to bring them under control.Zamorin was pressurized tactfully to remove Kunjali.When Zamorin finally aligned with the Portuguese,his nephew became a Christian.

Price's book

It was at the request of Governor of Madras,Lord Ampthill,in 1903,Frederick Price began writing,Ootacamund,a History.Sir John Frederick Price was Chief Secretary of Madras and Member,Madras Legislative Council,who translated the Diaries of Ananda Ranga Pillai.He researched the expeditions to Ooty and found the first was in 1602 or the early part of 1603.The details are there in The Manual of the Nilgiri District by H B Grigg.He quoted on the first expedition from JW Breeks' (First Collector of Nilgiris)work ,Thomas Whitehouse's abstract of a (Portuguese) manuscript in the British Museum.Whitehouse has used it in his book,Lingerings of Light in a Darkaland(1873),a history of the Syrian Catholic Church in Malabar.I quote it:

At the Synod of Udiamparur in the State of Cochin,held under Archbishop Menezes in 1599,information having been received that there were certain villages of Christians in a country called Todamala,who anciently belonged to the Syrian Church of Malabar ,but then had nothing of Christianity except the bare name,it was ordered that priests and preachers should be sent thither immediately to redeem them to the Catholic faith,baptise them,etc.Francisco Roy,the first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Syrian Christians(From the Synod history,the name is wrong,it should be Francis Roz),in 1602 sent a priest and Deacon of the Christians of St Thomas with a good guide to find out the place,and collect information.They reached the Todamala;but ,as the account brought back by them was not sure and complete as was desirable,Bishop Roy requested the Vice Principal of the Jesuits to depute a priest of his own order to make further inquiries.The Rev Jacome Ferreiri was selected for this mission.He started from Calicut,the place of his residence ,and was permitted to return safely,after undergoing great exposure and fatigue ,with a good deal of information about the hill tribes,their manners and customs;but with no tidings of any Christian colony,which had either become extinct or removed elsewhere,if it had ever been there at all.At Calicut,he wrote a formal report,dated April 1st,1603,from which the following particulars are gleaned-
He proceeded,via Manarecate 13 leagues inland from Tanur.A native convert,a nephew of the Samur Rajah,accompanied him and some others.....

A medal:Gama with Zamorin

I stop here;let them continue the journey.The name,Jacome Ferreiri in this description has been established wrong.Frederick Price has referred to a re translation of the document in the British Museum,which appears in Cambridge Anthroplogist Dr WHR Rivers' book,The Todas(1906)in which the priest is Fininicio.In present documents he is Jacome Fininicio,a Jesuit priest from Portugal.
What about the nephew of Zamorin ,the new Christian,who was with Fininicio?He is not mentioned again in the document.

Reference:
Ootacamund:A History/Frederick Price/Rupa,2012
Kerala Samooha Padanangal/Dr K N Ganesh/Prasakthi Book House,2002
Calicut:The City of Truth/MGS Narayanan
The History of Christianity in India/James Hough,Vol 4.
Cochi Rajya Charithram/K P Padmanabha Menon/Mathrubhumi,1989
Eastern Christians in India/Cardinal Tisserant
India and the Apostle Thomas:An Inquiry,with a Critical Analysis/A E Medlycott
The History of the Church of Malabar/Michael Geddes
Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime Trade of India/Pius Malekandathil

See my post,PRINCE RAMA VARMA BECOMES JACOB RAMA VARMA