HINDU SCRIPTURES WERE REVEALED TO WOMEN

Sankara had a Debate with Ubhaya Bharathi

I am reading Nochur Venkataraman's scholarly biography of Sankaracharya,Athma Threetham and I just finished the part where in Ubhaya Bharati challenged Sankara after his debate with her husband Mandana Misra.

It was after rescuing Kumarila Bhatta in Prayag,Sankaracharya travelled to Mahishmathi to have a debate with Mandana Misra,who was a Poorva Meemamsa scholar.He was married to Bharathi.Mandana Misra was the son of Hima Mithra,the Advisor to the King of Kashmir.Hima Mithra is said to be the brother in law of Kumarila Bhatta.Bharathi was the daughter of Vishnu Mithra,who resided on the banks of Sona river.

One day, when Ubhaya Bharati was going to the river for a bath with her women disciples, she saw an ascetic, who had renounced everything in life, sleeping on the wayside, resting his head on a hollow water jug, using it as a pillow and at the same time ensuring that nobody took it away. As long as you have attachment and ego, you can never understand the Atma or experience atmic bliss.

In order to convey a lesson to the ascetic, Ubhaya Bharati spoke within his hearing the following words to one of her disciples: "Look at that ascetic, who has ostensibly renounced every kind of attachment, but he has not given up his attachment to his water jug!" On hearing these words, the ascetic got enraged. He thought: "Is a mere woman entitled to teach me as to how I should behave." While Ubhaya Bharati was returning from the river, the ascetic threw the jug at her feet and said: "Now, see what my renunciation is?" Ubhaya Bharati remarked: "Alas! You are not only filled with attachment (abhimana) but you are also filled with ego (ahamkara)." On hearing these words, the ascetic ran up to her, fell at her feet and pleaded for forgiveness of his faults.

Bharati is the only woman arbiter in a debate, mentioned in Hinduism.

In Modern India,there is an over emphasis on the law book of first century CE,Manusmrithi.This emphasis is a legacy of British Colonial sadministrators,who expounded Eurocentrism,to win over the vulnerable sections of the Hindu religion,to Christianity.This legacy was later on inherited by the pseudo secular Marxist historians who suffer from red myopia.Ancient vedic literature beats modern day feminists,when it comes to the debate on gender inequality.

Only in Hinduidsm,-and in no other World Religion -the Scriptures say, GOD “Revealed” VEDAM to Women and Men Scholars ,almost in Equal Number.

Dr.Ananth Sadhashiv Altekar in his Book , “Position of Women in Hindu Civilization” ( Motilal Banarasi Das,Delhi ,1959 & 1987) states that he quotes this information from a Sanskrit Text “Sarvaanukkraamaanika”. Those Women,who did not marry -for whom God “Revealed” the authoritative Hindu Scripture, VEDAM and doing religious service,were called “Brahma Vaadhins”.The last names for them are their father’s names. Those who were married to whom “Vedam” was “revealed” and were doing religious Srevice were called “Saadhya Vadhus “.

When it comes to talking about significant female figures of the Vedic period, five names -Ubhaya Bharati, Ghosha, Lopamudra, Sulabha Maitreyi, and Gargi - come to mind.

Dr.Altekar says that according to another Sanskrit Text, Kaasakritsanaas ( Maha Bhaashya),“ Poorva Meemamsa is more Abstruse than Mathematics “.A very large number of Ladies were Adept in Poorva meemaamsa “. Gaargi Vaachana Kavi,daughter of Sage Garg, Sulabha Maithreyi (daughter of Sage Mithra) and wife of Sage Yaagjnavalkya, Vaadhavi Praathatheyi are examples.Poorva Meemamsa is one that doesn't recognize Vedanta,with emphasis on Karma or action.

Vedam was “revealed” to women scholars -women taught Vedam to men Scholars.In Kerala,Manorama Thampuratti of Kottakkal Palace,a Sanskrit scholar,taught men during the time of Travancore King,Dharmaraja.

Ubhaya Bharathi was appointed as “Adjudicator” (Judge/Arbiter) in the Religious debate between  Sankara and  Mandana Misra, two Intellecual giants,and in the debate she was the third  intellectual giant in Hindu Scripures (788 to 820 A.D.).My short story,Parakaya Pravesam is based on that debate,where in Bharati is said to have belittled Sankara for absence of sexual experience.Bharathi got the sobriquet Ubhaya,since she was expert in both Meemamsa a nd Brahma Vidya.

Maṇḍana and Sankara agreed that Maṇḍana's wife Ubhaya Bharati, who is considered to be an incarnation of the goddess Saraswati in the folklore of Mithila, would be the arbiter for the debate, and that the vanquished would become a disciple of the victor and accept his school of thought. The debate spanned many days and ranged across many different subjects within the Vedas, and the arguments of both competitors were compelling and forceful. Sankara finally emerged victorious. But Maṇḍana's wife, who was the judge, would not accept an ascetic as having complete knowledge since he did not have any knowledge about Kama sastras (rules about marital life). Sankara was then given six months to research certain aspects of sex-love sciences and then resume the debate. According to legend, he entered into the body of Amaruka, king of Kashmir who had just died to learn these sciences. Later, after obtaining the necessary knowledge, the debate resumed. There is a poetic work,Amaruka Sathaka.After a long debate, Maṇḍana accepted defeat.There is a legend that the place of debate between Sankaracharya and Mandanmisra, was the town Mandleshwar near Maheshwar in Bihar. The ancient temple Chhapan Deo of this town is considered to be this place.But Mahishmati, is at the confluence of the Narmada and Mahishmati rivers, near Omkareshwar,Madhya Pradesh.

Scholars usually doesn't accept the kamasasthra aspect of Sankara-Bharati debate,and Nochur Venkataraman too has avoided it in his biography of Sankara.From his book,one learns that Ubhaya Bharati,who became a disciple of Sankara,accompanied him to Sringeri,and stayed there forever after Acharya consecrated the Sarada temple there.

Vedic wisdom is encapsulated in myriad hymns and 27 women-seers emerge from them. But most of them are mere abstractions except for a few, such as Ghosha, who has a definite human form. Granddaughter of Dirghatamas and daughter of Kakshivat, both composers of hymns in praise of Ashwins, Ghosha has two entire hymns of the tenth book, each containing 14 verses, assigned to her name. The first eulogizes the Ashwins, the heavenly twins who are also physicians; the second is a personal wish expressing her intimate feelings and desires for married life. Ghosha suffered from an incurable disfiguring disease, probably leprosy, and remained a spinster at her father's house. Her implorations with the Ashwins and the devotion of her forefathers towards them made them cure her disease and allow her to experience wedded bliss.

The Rig Veda  has long conversations between the sage Agasthya and his wife Lopamudra that testifies to the great intelligence and goodness of the latter. As the legend goes, Lopamudra was created by sage Agasthya and was given as a daughter of the King of Vidarbha. The royal couple gave her the best possible education and brought her up amidst luxury. When she attained a marriageable age, Agasthya, the sage who was under vows of celibacy and poverty, wanted to own her. Lopa agreed to marry him and left her palace for Agasthya's hermitage. After serving her husband faithfully for a long period, Lopa grew tired of his austere practices. She wrote a hymn of two stanzas making an impassioned plea for his attention and love. Soon afterward, the sage realized his duties towards his wife and performed both his domestic and ascetic life with equal zeal, reaching a wholeness of spiritual and physical powers. A son was born to them. He was named Dridhasyu, who later became a great poet.

Gargi Vachaknavi (born about c. 7th century BCE) was an ancient Indian philosopher. In Vedic literature, she is honored as a great natural philosopher,renowned expounder of the Vedas, and known as Brahmavadini, a person with knowledge of Brahma Vidya.In the Sixth and the eighth Brahmana of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, her name is prominent as she participates in the brahmayajna, a philosophic debate organized by King Janaka of Videha and challenges the sage Yajnavalkya with perplexing questions on the issue of atman (soul). She is also said to have written many hymns in the Rigveda. She remained a celibate all her life and was held in veneration by the conventional Hindus.

Gargi, the daughter of sage Vachaknu in the lineage of sage Garga (c. 800-500 BCE) was named after her father as Gargi Vachaknavi. From a young age she evinced keen interest in Vedic scriptures and became very proficient in fields of philosophy. She became highly knowledgeable in the Vedas and Upanishads in the Vedic times and held intellectual debates with other philosophers.

Gargi, along with Vadava Pratitheyi and Sulabha Maitreyi are among the prominent females who figure in the Upanishads. She was as knowledgeable in Vedas and Upanishads as men of the Vedic times and could very well contest the male-philosophers in debates.Her name appears in the Grihya Sutras of Asvalayana. She had even awakened her Kundalini (indwelling spiritual energy). A realized soul.She was a leading scholar who also made rich contributions to propagate education.

According to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, King Janaka of Videha Kingdom held a Rajasuya Yagna and invited all the learned sages, kings and princess of India to participate. The yagna lasted for many days. Large quantities of sandalwood, ghee (clarified butter) and barley (cereal grain) were offered to the Yagna fire creating an atmosphere of spiritual sanctity and aroma. Janaka himself being a scholar was impressed with the large gathering of learned sages. He thought of selecting a scholar from the assembled group of elite scholars, the most accomplished of them all who had maximum knowledge about Brahman. For this purpose, he evolved a plan and offered a prize of 1,000 cows with each cow dangled with 10 grams of gold on its horns. The galaxy of scholars, apart from others, included the renowned sage Yajnavalkya and Gargi Vachaknavi. Yajnavalkya, who was aware that he was the most spiritually knowledgeable among the assembled gathering, as he had mastered the art of Kundalini Yoga, ordered his disciple Samsrava to drive away the cow herd to his house. This infuriated the scholars as they felt that he was taking way the prize without contesting in a debate. Some of the local pundits (scholars) did not volunteer for debate with him as they were not sure of their knowledge. However, there were eight renowned sages who challenged him for a debate, which included Gargi, the only lady in the assembled gathering of the learned.

Sages like Asvala, the priest in Janaka's court, Artabhaga, Bhujyu, Ushasta, and Uddalaka debated with him and asked questions philosophical subjects to which Yajnavalkya provided convincing replies and they lost the debate. It was then the turn of Gargi to take up the challenge. Gargi, as one of the disputants in the debate, questioned Yajnavalkya on his claim of superiority among the scholars. She held repeated arguments with him. Gargi and Yajnavalkya's exchange centered on the ultimate "warp" of reality ("warp" means "the basic foundation or material of a structure or entity). Her initial dialogue with Yajnavalkya tended to be too metaphysical, such as unending status of the soul, away from practical situations. She then changed her approach and asked him pointed questions related to the environment existing in the world, the question of the very origin of all existence. Her question was specific when she asked him "since this whole world is woven back and forth on water, on what then is woven back and forth", a question that related to the commonly known cosmological metaphor that expressed the unity of the world, its essential interconnectedness. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.6), the sequence of her posing a bevy of questions to Yajnavalkya and his replies is narrated as

On air, Gargi.
On What, then, is air woven back and forth? On the intermediate regions, Gargi.
On what, then, are the worlds of the intermediate regions woven back and forth.
On the worlds of the Gandharvas, Gargi

She continued with an array of questions such as what was the universe of the suns, what were the moon, the stars, the gods, Indra, and Prajapati. Gargi then pressed on with two more questions. Gargi urged Yajnavalkya to enlighten her on the weave of reality and asked:

That, O Yajnavalkya, which is above the sky, that which is beneath the earth, that which is between these two, sky and earth, that which people call the past and the present and the future - across what is woven, warp and woof?"
Yagnavalakaya answered "Space"

Gargi was not satisfied and then posed the next question:

Across what then pray, is space woven, warp and woof?
Yajnavalkya answered: Verily, O Gargi, if one performs sacrifices and worship and undergoes austerity in this world for many thousands of years, but without knowing that Imperishable, limited indeed is that [work] of his. Across this Imperishable is the unseen, O Gargi, is space woven, warp and woof.

Then she asked a final question, on what was Brahman (world of the imperishable)? Yagnavalakya put an end to the debate by telling Gargi not to proceed further as other wise she would lose her mental balance. This riposte put an end to their further dialogue at the conference of the learned. However, at the end of the debate she conceded to the superior knowledge of Yajnavalkya by saying: "venerable Brahmins, you may consider it a great thing if you get off bowing before him. No one, I believe, will defeat him in any argument concerning Brahman."

Her philosophical views also find mention in the Chandogya Upanishad.Gargi, as Brahmavadini, composed several hymns in Rigveda (in X 39. V.28) that questioned the origin of all existence. The Yoga Yajnavalkya, a classical text on Yoga is a dialogue between Gargi and sage Yajnavalkya. Gargi was honoured as one of the Navaratnas (nine gems) in the court of King Janaka of Mithila.

Maitreyi ("friendly one"was an Indian philosopher who lived during the later Vedic period in ancient India. She is mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as one of two wives of the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya; he is estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata and the Gṛhyasūtras, however, Maitreyi is described as an Advaita philosopher who never married. In ancient Sanskrit literature, she is known as a brahmavadini (an expounder of the Veda).She is Sulabha in Mahabharata.

Maitreyi appears in ancient Indian texts, such as in a dialogue where she explores the Hindu concept of Atman (soul or self) in a dialogue with Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. According to this dialogue, love is driven by a person's soul, and Maitreyi discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and their unity, the core of Advaita philosophy. This Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue is the topic of Sureshvara's varttika, a commentary.

Maitreyi is cited as an example of the educational opportunities available to women in Vedic India, and their philosophical achievements.

In the Asvalayana Gṛhyasūtra, the daughter of the sage Maitri is referred to as Sulabha Maitreyi and is mentioned in the Gṛhyasūtras with several other women scholars of the Vedic era.Her father, who lived in the Kingdom of the Videhas, Mithila, was a minister in the court of King Janaka.

Although Maitreyi of ancient India, described as an Advaita philosopher, is said to be a wife of the sage Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in the time of Janaka, the Hindu epic Mahabharata states Sulabha Maitreyi is a young beauty who never marries. In the latter, Maitreyi explains Advaita philosophy (monism) to Janaka and is described as a lifelong ascetic.

In her debate with Janaka,Sulabha establishes that there is essentially no difference between a man and woman;she demonstrates by her own example,that a woman may achieve liberation by the same means as a man.Modern scholars of Mahabharata have not paid much attention to this episode.,nor feminist studies in ancient India given it the important it deserves.

She is called as a brahmavadini (a female expounder of the Veda) in ancient Sanskrit literature. 

Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya are estimated to have lived around the 8th century BCE.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Maitreyi is described as Yajnavalkya's scholarly wife; his other wife, Katyayani, was a housewife.While Yajnavalkya and Katyayani lived in contented domesticity, Maitreyi studied metaphysics and engaged in theological dialogues with her husband in addition to "making self-inquiries of introspection".

In the Rigveda about ten hymns are attributed to Maitreyi.She explores the Hindu concept of Atman (soul or self) in a dialogue contained in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The dialogue, also called the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue, states that love is driven by a person's soul, and it discusses the nature of Atman and Brahman and their unity, the core of Advaita philosophy.

This dialogue appears in several Hindu texts; the earliest is in chapter 2.4 – and modified in chapter 4.5 – of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, one of the principal and oldest Upanishads, dating from approximately 700 BCE. The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue has survived in two manuscript recensions from the Madhyamdina and Kanva Vedic schools; although they have significant literary differences, they share the same philosophical theme.

After Yajnavalkya achieved success in the first three stages of his life – brahmacharya (as a student), grihastha (with his family) and vanaprastha (in retirement) – he wished to become a sannyasi (a renunciant) in his old age. He asked Maitreyi for permission, telling her that he wanted to divide his assets between her and Katyayani. Maitreyi said that she was not interested in wealth, since it would not make her "immortal", but wanted to learn about immortality:

Then said Maitreyi: "If now, Sir, this whole earth filled with wealth were mine, would I be immortal thereby?"
"No", said Yajnavalkya. "As the life of the rich, even so would your life be. Of immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth."
Then said Maitreyi: "What should I do with that through which I may not be immortal? What you know, Sir – that, indeed, tell me!"
Yajnavalkya replied to Maitreyi: "Ah! Lo, dear as you are to us, dear is what you say! Come sit down. I will explain to you. But while I am expounding, do seek to ponder thereon."

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.2–4

In the dialogue which follows, Yajnavalkya explains his views on immortality in Atman (soul), Brahman (ultimate reality) and their equivalence. Maitreyi objects to parts of Yajnavalkya's explanation, and requests clarification.

Scholars have differing views on whether this dialogue is evidence that in ancient Vedic tradition women were accepted as active participants in spiritual discussions and as scholars of Brahman. Wendy Doniger, an American Indologist and a professor of History of Religions, states that in this dialogue Maitreyi is not portrayed as an author, but is part of an Upanishadic story of a Brahmin with two wives who are distinguished by their intellect. Karen Pechelis, another American Indologist and a professor of Comparative Religion, in contrast, states that Maitreyi is portrayed as theologically minded, as she challenges Yajnavalkya in this dialogue and asks the right questions.

First-millennium Indian scholars, such as Sureshvara (Suresvaracharya, c. 750 CE), have viewed this male-female dialogue as profound on both sides; Maitreyi refuses wealth, wishing to share her husband's spiritual knowledge, and in the four known versions of the Upanishadic story she challenges Yajnavalkya's theory of Atman. Yajnavalkya acknowledges her motivations, and that her questions are evidence she is a seeker of ultimate knowledge and a lover of the Atman.

The Maitreyi dialogue in the Upanishad is significant beyond being a gage of gender relations. Adi Shankara, a scholar of the influential Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, wrote in his Brihadaranyakopanishad bhashya that the purpose of the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue in chapter 2.4 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is to highlight the importance of the knowledge of Atman and Brahman, and to understand their oneness. According to Sankara, the dialogue suggests renunciation is prescribed in the Sruti (vedic texts of Hinduism), as a means to knowledge of the Brahman and Atman. He adds, that the pursuit of self-knowledge is considered important in the Sruti because the Maitreyi dialogue is repeated in chapter 4.5 as a "logical finale" to the discussion of Brahman in the Upanishad.

The Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue includes a discussion of love and the essence of whom one loves, suggesting that love is a connection of the soul and the universal self (related to an individual):

Lo, verily, not for love of a husband is a husband dear, but for the love of the Self a husband is dear.
Not for the love of the wife is a wife dear, but for love of the Self a wife is dear.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.2–4

 German Indologist and Oxford University professor Max Müller says that the love described in the Maitreyi-Yajnavalkya dialogue of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad extends to all aspects of one's life and beyond; in verse 2.4.5, "The Devas (gods) are not dear to one out of love for gods, but because one may love the Self (Atman) that the gods are dear". In the dialogue "the Brahman-class, the Kshatra-class, these worlds, these gods, these beings, everything that is what this Soul is", and when "we see, hear, perceive and know the Self, then all is known".

Concluding his dialogue on the "inner self", or soul, Yajnavalkaya tells Maitreyi:

One should indeed see, hear, understand and meditate over the Self, O Maitreyi;
indeed, he who has seen, heard, reflected and understood the Self – by him alone the whole world comes to be known.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5b

After Yajnavalkya leaves and becomes a sannyasi, Maitreyi becomes a sannyassini – she too wanders and leads a renunciate's life.
Apart from these five following names of women scholars are mentioned in the Vedas:

Ghosa: Name of the authoress of RV 5.39 and RV 5.40
Godha: Name of the authoress of a Sāman Source
Visvavara: Name of the authoress of the hymn RV 5.28
Apala: Name of the authoress of the hymn RV 8.91
Upanisat
Nisat
Juhu Brahmajaya: Name of the authoress of the hymn RV 10.109
Agastyasya
Aditi: Name of the authoress of the hymn RV 4.18
Indrani: Name of the authoress of the hymn RV 10.86
Indramata
Sarama: Name of the reputed authoress of RV 10.108
Romasa: Name of the reputed authoress of RV 1.126,7
Oorvasi
Nadya
Yami
Sasvati: Name of the authoress of RV 8.1
Sri Lakshaa
Sarparajni
Vak
Sraddha
Medha
Daksina: Name of the authoress of RV 10.107
Ratri
Surya Savitri: Name of the authoress of RV 10.85
Vasukrapatni: Name of the authoress of the verse RV 10.28.1

 R. L. Kashyap in Essentials of Rig Veda lists about 30 ṛṣhikās (women seers of Rigveda) along with the verse numbers. The author also notes the list is not exhaustive.Appendix Women Ṛṣhis (ṛṣhikā) in the Rig Veda Samhitā Aditi 4.18 Aditirdākshāyaṇī 10.72 Agastyasvasā 10.60.6 Apālā Ātreyī 8.91 Dakshiṇā Prājapatyā 10.107 Godhā 10.134 Goṣhā Kākshīvatī 10.39, 10.40 Indrāṇī 10.86, 10.145 Indra-mātaraḥ 10.153 Jaritā Sharṇgā 10.142 Juhūrbrahmajāyā 10.109 Kāshyapī 9.104 Lopāmudrā 1.179 Rātrīrbhāradvājī 10.127 Romashā 1.126 Suryā Sāvitrī 10.85 Saramā Devashunī 10.108.Sārparājnī 10.189 Sashvatyāṇgīrasī 8.1 Shachī Paulomī 10.159 Shradhdā Kāmāyānī 10.151 Sikatā Nivāvarī 9.86 Sudītīrangirasā 8.71 Tvaṣhṭa Garbhakartā 10.184 Urvashī 10.95 Vāgambhṛṇī 10.125 Vasukrapatnī 10.28 Vishvavārā Ātreyī 5.28 Yamī Vaivasvatī 10.10 Yamī 10.154.

© Ramachandran 

BURNING OF LIBRARIES IN KERALA BY JESUITS & TIPU

But a Syriac Bible Manuscript Survived

We the Keralites,who love books and letters know many rich libraries of the world, like Alexandria have been burnt; but we don't know a rich libray in Angamaly in Kerala, South India was burnt in 1599, immediately after the Synod at Udayamperur, Kochi.  Also, Tipu Sultan burnt the Christian libraries.

The Synod held  on 20-26 June 1599, was a turning point in the history of Syrian Christians in Kerala and in the history of the State as a whole. It created a huge fissure in communal harmony. Out of 18 priests from Angamaly, nobody attended this Synod. After this,the furious Arch Bishop of Goa, Dom Aleixo de Menezes (1559-1617), who convened the Diamper Synod, destroyed the library at Angamaly.

Aleixo de Mrenezes

On 14 December, 1806, Dr. Claudius Buchanan, Chaplain and Vice Pricipal of the College at Fort William, Calcutta visited Angamaly and in his letters, described the incident: 

“Angamale was formerly the seat of the Archbishop of the Syrian churches in the Mountains of Malabar. In the town of Angamale there are three churches within a quarter of a mile from each other, in all of which service is still performed. The cathedral church is the largest, and contains the tombs of Bishops and Archbishops for many centuries. As I approached the town of Angamale in the evening, I heard the “sullen roar” of the great bell reverberating through the mountains. When the Romish Archbishop Menezes visited this place in 1599, the Christians strewed the way up the hill with the flowers as he advanced. And yet he came to burn the ancient libraries and Archives of Angamale. As the flame ascended, the old priests wept; but they were obliged to hide their tears, dreading the inquisition at Goa.”

Gouvea in Jornada (1603) also reports, that there was an archive attached to the Bishopric of Angamaly where the most important ecclesiastical documents were preserved. In Portuguese Christian documents, it could be seen that frequent usage of the word ‘serra’, meaning mountain region, which indicates the location of Angamaly.

As per folklore, Angamaly is considered to be the origin and main centre of Syrian Christians and from there it flourished entire Malabar (Kerala).There were Archdecons (head of community) and bishops residing at Angamaly. 

The three ancient big Christian churches within a kilometere, located in a straight street, are unique and marvellous in the history of churches. It is recorded that the first church of Angamaly, dedicated to St. George, was used both by the catholics and Jacobites till 1750. In this church there was a chapel, which was dedicated to St. George, where both the Catholics and the Jacobites conducted their services in cordial manner, emerges the ecumenism between these two communities. The second church was the church of Hormisdas, the Cathedral church,which was either built or renovated by Mar Abraham, exclusively used by the Catholics.

It was in 1570s, that Mar Abraham started the construction work of this church of St.Hormisdas. Its earlier name Homusio was transformed to Hormisdas by Alexis Menezes. St.Hormisdas or St.Hormis Abbot was a Chaldean saint of the 7th century. He was a monk in the monastery of Robban Bar-Etha. At Angamaly, the Eastern Church (Cathedral church) was dedicated to his name. But the name of St. Hormis Abbot was replaced by St. Hormis, in the Udaympeur Synod (1599), Xth decree, by attributing St Hormis Abbot as Nestorian. The third church was dedicated to St. Mary, under Jacobite community.

In 9th century, when the old Crangannore town (Kodungalloor) was attacked by Mohammedans, the Christian inhabitants left Kodugallur and approached the Alangad King to inform their grievances. Tradition says that sometimes after the 9th century the Arabs set fire to Makodi and that the Christians fled to Angamaly which then became their Headquarters. 

The King offered protection to them by developing a town and church exclusively for the colonial Syrian Christians concentrated at Angamaly. This church in the name of St Mary was handed over to Jacobite community which formed after Koonen Cross oath (1653) by splitting the Syrian Christian community in Malabar. It is believed that Angamaly was the main town or part of Makothavirapatnam. An  argument is that, there was a community of Syrian Christians and the Archdeacons governed the civil matters of this community from 3rd century onwards, at Angamaly. 

Even though Angamaly was the origin of Syrian Christian community and the first seat of Bishop House, there is no authentic evidence available about its generation period. In an account of a foreign missionary Fr. M.Karniarro who visited Angamaly in 1557, there is a narration about the establishments of a University for priests ( Malpan training) and a Christian church at Angamaly.

Fr. Karniarro recorded:

‘In the region of Angamale the Christians have their university; a Cassanar who is like a father among the Thomas Christians in whom they had great confidence on account of his great age and learning; it is fifty years since he began teaching sacred scriptures and he has many disciples from all parts of Malabar’.

In 1563, when Mar Abraham was ordained as the bishop of Angamaly diocese, St. Hormis East church was the cathedral church where Mar Abraham resided.

 

St George Basilica, Angamaly

When in 1503 the Catholicos Elias V consecrated three Bishops for Christians in India, he conferred upon Mar Yahballaha the title, "The Metropolitan of India and China." The initialy good relationship of the East Syriac Christians to the Portuguese had gradually deteriorated, and the Portuguese sought to hinder the arrival of the new Bishops from Mesopotamia. Bishop Mar Dinkha had to flee inland in 1534. In 1558 the Latin Diocese of Goa was elevated to an Arch Diocese. At this time, basing his claim on a papal bull, John (Yuhannan) Sulaqa extended his jurisdiction over India. The East Syriac Catholicos Shimun VIII Dinkha finally opposed this action, consecrated Mar Abraham Bishop in 1557, and sent him to India. The influence of the Catholicos was still in force, though there were in India at this time East Syrian, Chaldean and Latin hierarchies operating in parallel. Since the colonial power Portugal had sponsored first the Latin and then the Chaldean Church, the direction of development during this time was clear. After the Haldean Bishop Mar Joseph was handed over to the Inquisition, Patriarch Abdisho IV named a new Metropolitan, who tried to come to an arrangement with Rome. He was,however recalled by the Pope.

Regarding this matter, the Arch Bishop of Goa declared that in the future the Syrian Christians would come under the authority not of the Patriarch of the "Chaldeans" but rather the King of Portugal. It is difficult to say whether this political decree took effect at the grass roots.A prayer book written in 1562 in Angamaly-the seat of an East Syriac Archdiocese-indicates that the East Syriac liturgy was still in use there. In 1585/86 the Jesuit F Roz who knew Malayalam and Syriac, examined several liturgical books and determined that the "heterodoxies"  of Nestorius, Diodore of Tarsus,and Theodore of Mopsuestia could be found within. A 1585 Synod tried to cut off the Syrian Christians' contact with the Chaldeans. 

Menezes, one of the preachers at the court of King Philip II at Madrid, was appointed Archbishop of Goa in the year 1594, being then only 35 years of age, and in the following year, 1595, he landed at Goa. He held a brief from Pope Clement VIII, dated 27 February 1595, empowering him to enquire into the teaching and conduct of Mar Abraham, to visit that diocese, to appoint a Vicar Apostolic to take charge of the diocese and to bring the Syrian Christians into conformity with Rome. Before the Archbishop took any action on these powers, he received intelligence that the aged Mar Abraham had applied to the Nestorian Patriarch for a successor and he at once issued orders to all the Portuguese ports to stop any such bishop.

These orders were in time and a Nestorian bishop and priest on their way to the Malabar coast were intercepted at Ormuz and were sent back to their own country. The Archbishop was on tour in the north of the Portuguese territory when, through an express from the Viceroy of Goa, Francisco da Gama,he received the news of the death of Mar Abraham. He at once appointed Father Francis Roz, the Rector of the Seminary at Vaipicotta as Administrator of the vacant 'Angamale' diocese, but this appointment was kept back by the Council at Goa as unwise and the Archbishop, hearing their views, cancelled the appointment of Francis Roz and appointed the Syrian Archdeacon George as Administrator, directing him to make the usual profession of Faith.

For some time the Archdeacon gave no sign but at last he plucked up courage to be openly hostile and to show his hand. At Angamaly he assembled a Synod in which solemn resolutions were passed to acknowledge no bishops but those sent by the Nestorian Patriarch. The Latin priests and the pupils of the Vaipicotta Seminary were refused entrance into the Syrian churches and the rupture between the Syrian Christians and the Portuguese was complete. 

Hearing this news Archbishop Menezes at Goa resolved to go in person to the Angamale diocese and on the spot to endeavour to bring the Syrian Christians into conformity with Rome. When the Archdeacon George heard that the Archbishop was on his way to Cochin, he yielded so far as to go through the form of giving a verbal assent to a profession of faith which the Franciscan Fathers read aloud to him in the Church at Vypin. The Archbishop landed at Cochin on 1 February 1599, and accompanied by Archdeacon George, went on tour to the various Syrian Churches. The narrative of his journey, told at length in Gouvea's Jornada, is reproduced by Hough in his Christianity in India.

In 1599,in order to avoid Schism, the so called Synod of Diamper was held under the leadership of Archbishop Menezes of Goa. There the decrees of the Council of Trent were declared binding,the Roman calendar introduced,and the liturgy revised on the Roman model. Nestorius was condemned as a heretic, and allegedly Hindu customs were forbidden.Under duress,150 priests and 660 laymen signed decrees stating that the Church of East India should be entirely subjected to Roman central authority.

The Portuguese gathered the manuscripts of Syrian Christians ans systematically burned them. Thus the Syriac medieval Christian literature of India was almost completely lost. A notable exception is MS 64 from the library of the Metropolitan of Thrissur in Kerala, which contains the Nomacanon of Abdisho bar Brika from from 1290, that is, from within the lifetime of its writer. This is therefore the earliest known East Syriac manuscript from India. The decree XVI ordered that all the Syriac MSS should be handed over to the Archbishop or his deputy on a visit to the Churches. Due to the lack of printed books, the Qurbana MSS were excluded from this.

Buchanan Bible at Cambridge

The Synod prohibited the use of many heretic books. These books are listed below.

The Infancy of our Saviour (The History of our Lady/Language: Syriac)

This book contained the following concepts, which are against Catholic creed:

1. The annunciation of the angel was made in the Temple of Jerusalem, which contradicts the Gospel of St. Luke, which says it was made in Nazareth.
2. Joseph had another wife and children when he was betrothed to Mary.
3. Child Jesus was reproved for his naughty tricks.
4. Child Jesus went to school and learned from them.
5. St. Joseph, suspecting Mary of adultery, took her to priests, who gave her the water of jealousy to drink; that Mary brought forth with pain, and parting from her company, not being able to go farther, she retired to a stable at Bethlehem.
6. None of the saints are in heaven but are all in a terrestrial paradise, where they should remain till the Day of Judgement.

Book of John Barialdan (Language: Syriac)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. In Christ, there were two persons: divine and human.
2. The names Christ and Emmanuel are that of only the human person, so the name Jesus should not be adored.
3. The union of incarnation is common to all the three divine persons, who were all incarnated.
4. The union of the incarnation is only an accidental union of love.

The Procession of the Holy Spirit (Language: Persian)

This book contained the following concept which is against Catholic creed:

1. The Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, and not from the Son.

Margarita Fidei (The Jewel)

This is written by Abed Isho, a Nestorian prelate. This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. Mary is not ought to be called the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ.
2. In Christ there are two persons, the one of the Word, and the other of Jesus.
3. The union of the incarnation is only an accidental union of love and power and not a substantial union.
4. Out of three distinct faiths Nestorian, Jacobite, and Roman, only the Nestorian faith is the true one taught by the Apostle, and the Roman faith is false and heretical.
5. Matrimony is not a sacrament.
6. The fire of hell is metaphorical, not real.
7. Roman Church is fallen from the faith as they do not celebrate in leavened bread.

Fathers (Language: Unknown)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. Mary ought not to be called the mother of God.
2. The Patriarch of Nestorians is the universal head of the Church immediately under Christ.
3. The fire of hell is not real, but spiritual.
4. It is heresy to say God was born, or died.
5. There are two persons in Christ.

Life of Abed Isho (Language: Arabic)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. The whole Trinity was incarnated.
2. St. Cyril of Alexandria, who condemned Nestorius, was a heretic and is now in hell, for having taught, that there is only one person in Christ.
3. Nestorius, Theodoras and Diodorus are saints and are blessed.
4. None of the saints are in heaven but are all in a terrestrial paradise, where they should remain till the Day of Judgement.
5. God dwelt in Christ as in a rational temple, giving him the power to do all the good things he did.
6. The souls of the just will be in a terrestrial paradise till the Day of Judgement.

Book of Synods (Language: Syriac)

It contains a forged letter of Pope Caius, with false subscriptions of many other Western Bishops, directed to Nestorian Bishops, wherein it is acknowledged that the Church of Rome ought to be subject to Nestorian church.

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. The Roman Church is fallen from the faith, having perverted the canons of the Apostles, by the force of heretical emperors' arms.
2. The Romans are heretics, for not celebrating in leavened bread.
3. All Bishops who followed Nestorius ought to be much esteemed and styled saints and their relics must be revered.
4. Matrimony is not a sacrament. It may be dissolved for the bad conditions of the parties.
5. Usury is lawful, and there is no sin in it.

Book of 'Timothy the Patriarch' (Language: Persian)

This book contained the following concept which is against Catholic creed:

1. That the true body of our Lord Christ is not there in the sacrament of the altar, but only its figure.

Domingo or Letter of the Lord's-day (Language: Malayalam)

A letter believed to have come from heaven, in which the Roman Church is accused of having fallen from the faith.

Maclamatas (Language: Syriac)

It claims the distinction of two persons in Christ, and the accidental union of the incarnation is proved.

Uguarda or Rose (Language: Greek)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. There are two persons in Christ.
2. The union of the incarnation was accidental.
3. When Mary brought forth with pain, the sons of Joseph, which he had by his other wife, went for a midwife to her.

Camiz (Language: Syriac)

This book contained the following concept which is against Catholic creed:

1. The Divine Word and the Son of the Virgin Mary are not the same.

Menra (Language: Hebrew)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. Christ is only the image of the Word.
2. The substance of God dwelt in Christ as in a temple.
3. Christ is next to the divinity and was made the companion of God.

Book of Orders (Language: Tamil)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. The form, and not the matter, is necessary to orders.
2. There are only two orders: diaconate and priesthood.
3. Altars of wood, and not of stone, are to be consecrated.

It also contains prayers for those converted to Nestorianism from any other sect.

Book of Homilies (Language: Arabic)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. The Eucharist is only the image of Christ and is distinguished from him, as an image is from a true man.
2. The body of Jesus Christ is not there in Eucharist, nor anywhere else but in heaven.
3. The whole Trinity was incarnate.
4. Christ is only the temple of the Divinity, and God only by representation.
5. The soul of Christ descended not into hell but was carried to the paradise of Eden.

It also contains:

1. Letters from some Nestorian synods, in which it is said that the Nestorian Patriarch is not subject to the Roman Bishop.
2. An oath to be taken to the Nestorian Patriarch, as the head of the church, wherein people swear to obey him, and him only, and not the Bishop of Rome.

An Exposition of the Gospels (Language: Syriac)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. There are two persons in Christ.
2. Christ is a pure creature.
3. He was obliged to adore God, and stood in need of prayer.
4. He was the temple of the holiest Trinity.
5. Christ's soul, when he died, descended not into hell, but was carried to the paradise of Eden.
6. Mary deserved to be reproved as well as the rest of the Jews for having vainly imagined that she was mother to one that was to be a great King; looking upon Christ as no other than a pure man and presuming that he was to have a temporal empire.
7. Evangelists did not record all Christ's actions in truth as they were not present at many of them.
8. The wise men that came from the East received no favor from God for their journey, neither did they believe in Christ.
9. Christ was the adopted Son of God, and not God's natural Son.
10. Christ received new grace in baptism, which he had not before.
11. Christ is only the image of the Word and the pure temple of the Holy Spirit.
12. Eucharist is only the image of the body of Christ, which is only in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and not here on earth.
13. Christ, as pure man, did not know when the Day of Judgement was to be.
14. When St. Thomas put his hand into Christ's side, and said, "My Lord and my God!" he was not speaking to Christ as God, but it was only an exclamation made to God on such a miracle.
15. The authority that Christ gave to St. Peter over the church was the same that he gave to other priests, so his successors have no more power or jurisdiction than other bishops.
16. Mary is not the mother of God.
17. The First Epistle of St. John, and that of St. James, are not the writings of those Apostles, but of some other persons of the same name, and therefore are not canonical.

Book of Hormisda Raban (Language: Greek)

This book contained the following concepts which are against Catholic creed:

1. Nestorius was a saint and martyr and suffered for the truth.
2. St. Cyril, who persecuted him, was the priest and minister of the devil and is now in hell.
3. Images are filthy and abominable idols, and ought not to be adored.
4. St. Cyril, as a heretic, invented and introduced them.

Book of Lots (Language: Aramaic)

It contains many non-Christian rituals and practices such as:

1. Ring of Solomon
2. Choice of good days to marry upon, and for several other uses.

A book of unknown title which is a Nestorian version of Flos Sanctorum (Language: Syriac)

Describes the lives of many Nestorian saints.

Parisman or Persian Medicine (Language: Persian)

It contains:

1. Many sorceries.
2. Certain methods whereby one may do mischief to their enemies and may gain women.
3. The strange names of devils, that whosoever shall carry the names of seven of them about him writ in a paper shall be in no danger of any evil.
4. Many exorcisms for the casting out of devils, mixing some Christian words with others that are not intelligible.
5. The invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, often desiring the doing of lewd things and enormous sins, joining the merits of Nestorius and his followers, many times, in the same prayer with those of the Blessed Virgin, and those of their devils with those of the holy angels.

The decree XVI ordered that all the Syriac MSS should be handed over to the Archbishop or his deputy on a visit to the Churches. Due to the lack of printed books, the Qurbana MSS were excluded from this.Some of the other books which are said to have been burnt at the Synod of Diamper are:

1. The book of the infancy of the savior (history of our Lord)
2. Book of John Brandon
3. The Pearl of Faith
4. The Book of the Fathers
5. The Life of the Abbot Isaias
6. The Book of Sunday
7. Maclamatas
8. Uganda or the Rose
9. Comiz
10. The Epistle of Mernaceal
11. Menra
12. Of orders
13. Homilies (in which the Eucharist is said to be the image of Christ)
14. Exposition of Gospels
15. The Book of Rubban Hormisda
16. The Flowers of the Saints
17. The Book of Lots
18. The Parsimony or Persian Medicines.

In the vaults of the Cambridge University library in England lies one of the most important relics of the Christianity in India. It is the only surviving copy of the Buchanan Bible. First ever book to be translated and printed in Malayalam. Sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries, in the remote region of Tur Abdin, on the border of Turkey and Syria, someone prepared a copy of the Syriac Bible and dispatched it to India. It came into the posession of the Jacobite Church.

After the Synod of 1599, clerics of the Syrian Church were advised to bring their religious texts to correct the errors in their Bible. All the copies of the Syrian Bible were declared heretical and ordered to be burnt. Before the Church had time to react,they were destroyed. This was followed by the destruction of the huge library of the Syrian Church at Angamaly. Only a single copy of the Syriac Bible survived in a remote church in central Malabar. In 1807 when Buchanan was in Kerala,Mar Dionysius showed this copy to him. The Church gifted it to Buchanan. He donated it to the University of Cambridge in 1809.

Syrian Orthodox Church,which follows the Patriarch of Antioch in Syria,follows its own version of the Bible known as the Peshitta Bible which was compiled at the end of the 3rd century CE.Peshitta means, straight or simple. It was written in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of Jesus.

It is believed that, by a quirk of fate, only a single manuscript of the Syriac Bible survived. K R N Swamy in his book, Mughals, Maharajas and Mahatma, writes how the invitation to the Synod had not reached one of the remote mountain churches in Central Malabar, where this Bible was kept.

F Ros monument,St Thomas Church,N Parur

Buchanan donated this original Syriac Bible with 25 other Syriac manuscripts. It would have been the oldest Bible in India, if it remained here. It was from this manuscript, Philipose Ramban of Kayamkulam, with Thimmayya Pillai, made an incomplete translation and printed it in the Courier Press, Bambay in 1811. 

After the Synod, the Syrian Christians became a filial church of the Latin Church, and their connection with the Catholicos was severed. 1599 is portrayed as the darkest year of Indian church history. It is nevertheless typical that the Jesuit F Roz, who eventually became the Latin hierarch of the Syrian Christians from 1599 to 1624, reached the conclusion: "These Christians are certainly the earliest in this part of the Orient...Although they have lived under the heathens, Jews and Mohammedans, they have remained steadfast in their faith to this day." 

In the known history of Syrian Christians, the first regional Synod was convened at Angamaly in 1583, in which Mar Abraham presided. In this Synod various important decisions were taken regarding the corrections in the liturgical books of Syrians, establishment of Vaipicotta seminary etc.

Mar Abraham died in January, 1597 at Angamaly and his body was buried in the Cathedral church (St. Hormis or East church, Angamaly). Angamaly was the first Archdiocese in India and the jurisdiction of the Angamaly at that time, extended over the whole of India, and the metropolitans were designated as ‘of India’ or ‘all India’ ( metropolita w- tha’ rad-kollah hendo). After Mar Abrham’s demise, the superior of Archdiocese, Goa, Menezes degraded Angamaly and brought it under the control of Goa Archdiocese by appointing Fr. Francisco Ros as Bishop of Angamaly.

The disgraceful activities of Menezes, enraged the Syrian Christians of Angamaly. They struggled to recapture the lost Archdiocese seat of Angamaly. The Archdeacon Geevarghese also, with the support of native Christian community, protested against the biased movements of Menezes. In addition, there was a strong power of Nazarani soldiers under Archdecon. It is very interesting to review the past history of these soldiers, who were trained in different types of fights, centered at Angamally. There were more than fifty thousand trained Nazarani soldiers (belongs to ‘Amoci’ or ‘Chaver’ – were persons who swore to give their lives to protect a person) who were ready to serve the local rulers and also to take care of Syrian Christians. Menezes tried to convene a Synod to establish his interests without obtaining permission from Rome. But he was not daring to organize this Synod at Angamaly as it was the dominant center of Syrian Christians and Nazrani soldiers. So he selected a safe place to conduct this ‘Angamaly Synod’ at Udayamperur where he managed to get the support of king of Kochi and Portuguese soldiers. 

Thus the synod was held at Udayamperur in 1599.

Syriac script on the wall of St Mary's Jacobite Church,Angamaly

The Portuguese arrived in India during 16th century.The Portuguese ‘padroado’ was come into force in 4th August 1600 at Angamaly. The Padroado is a system which means the royal protection of the King of Portugal over the churches in the territories occupied by the Portuguese. It had its origin with the Popes themselves. In 1603, Mar Ross convened another local Synod at Angamaly. Its aim was to rectify the drawbacks of decisions taken in the invalid synod of Udayamperur. In 1608, the Archdiocese seat at Angamaly was retrieved; but its title was changed to that of Cranganore (Kodungalloor). However, Mar Ros did not reside at Kodungalloor.

After this, there was the burning of Christian libraries in Kerala, by Tipu Sultan.

A Portuguese Franciscan missionary, Frey Viacente de Lagos started a College Seminary at Crangannore in 1541. He had the support of the bishop of the St. Thomas Christians, Mar Jacob (1502- 1522) and of Fr. George, a St. Thomas Christian priest who studied in Portugal. St. Francis Xavier in his letter to the king of Portugal praised the attempt of Frey Viacente. There were about 100 students when the saint wrote this letter. This seminary was a failure because the missionaries did not take care to teach Syriac, the liturgical language of the Syrian Christians. Hence those who studied there could not administer the sacraments in the parishes of the Syrian Christians. The priests who were ordained here, were disowned by them.

They served the Latin diocese of Cochin. Mar Joseph, the successor of Mar Jacob, refused to ordain anyone who had studied in this seminary because of the lack of knowledge of Syriac. This Seminary was under the jurisdiction of Goa. The college continued to be under the Franciscans even after the establishment of Vaippicotta Seminary by the Jesuits. This college was a success in the sense that it produced well trained and good Latin priests from the community of the Syrian Christians. Since those trained there could be of no use to the Syrian Christians themselves, they stopped sending their children to this seminary and thus it came to an end.

The Jesuits started a seminary at Vaippicotta in 1581 for Syrian Christians. Fr. Francis Roz was the Rector and he taught Syriac in 1584. The excellent teaching in the seminary really attracted the Syrian Christians and they sent their children to it. It was under the jurisdiction of Mar Abraham (1567-'97), bishop of the Syrian Christians. This seminary became very famous. It was staffed by the Jesuits. There were 50 or 60 students who were taught the Humanities, Latin, Chaldean, the Cases of conscience, the rudiments of catholic faith and of the liturgy.

In 1627, the yogam (assembly) at Edapally decided to suppress Malpanates and to give instructions to send the students to Vaipicotta seminary. The following directions were given to the seminary : To limit the number of admissions to Vaipicotta seminary To select candidates from noble families To select only the best to priesthood To teach others to live as good Christians Regarding the piety and exemplary life of the students of this seminary, there is a report of 1597. They increase more and more every day in number as well as in diligence to piety. Every fifteen days they receive the sacraments, sometimes more frequently. They do various penances and fasts. They are taught Syriac and Latin. They recite prayers at fixed hours every day. They speak about divine things with ardour.

When the Dutch captured the Portuguese possession of Cochin in 1663, the Jesuits were expelled from Vaippicotta and the seminary was turned to an asylum for lepers. They shifted the seminary to their house at Ambazhakad started in 1662. At Ambazhakad the seminary for the Syrians was different from the Jesuit house of studies. This seminary was closed down legally with the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. It was destroyed in 1789 with the raid of Tipu Sultan,and the library burnt.

Ruins of Vypikotta Seminary

Tipu Sultan's invasion of the Malabar had an adverse impact on the Syrian Malabar Nasrani community of the Malabar coast. Many churches in the Malabar and Cochin were damaged. The old Syrian Nasrani seminary at Angamaly which had been the center of Catholic religious education for several centuries was razed to the ground by Tipu's soldiers. A lot of centuries old religious manuscripts were lost forever. The church was later relocated to Kottayam where it still exists to this date. The Mor Sabor church at Akaparambu and the Martha Mariam Church attached to the seminary were destroyed as well. Tipu's army set fire to the church at Palayoor and attacked the Ollur Church in 1790. Furthernmore, the Arthat church was also destroyed.

Over the course of this invasion, many Syrian Malabar Nasranis were killed or forcibly converted to Islam. Most of the coconut, arecanut, pepper and cashew plantations held by the Syrian Malabar farmers were also indiscriminately destroyed by the invading army. As a result, when Tipu's army invaded Guruvayur and adjacent areas, the Syrian Christian community fled Calicut and small towns like Arthat to new centres like Kunnamkulam, Chalakudi, Ennakadu, Cheppadu, Kannankode, Mavelikkara, etc. where there were already Christians. They were given refuge by Sakthan Tampuran, the ruler of Cochin and Karthika Thirunal, the ruler of Travancore, who gave them lands, plantations and encouraged their businesses. Colonel Colin Maculay, the British resident of Travancore also helped them.

Mural of St Thomas/St Mary's Church

In Indian history, another notable destruction of a library was in Nalanda.

In around 1193 CE, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkic chieftain out to make a name for himself, was in the service of a commander in Awadh. The Persian historian, Minhaj-i-Siraj in his Tabaqat-i Nasiri, recorded his deeds a few decades later. Khilji was assigned two villages on the border of Bihar which had become a political no-man's land. Sensing an opportunity, he began a series of plundering raids into Bihar and was recognised and rewarded for his efforts by his superiors. Emboldened, Khilji decided to attack a fort in Bihar and was able to successfully capture it, looting it of a great booty. Minhaj-i-Siraj wrote of this attack:

"Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, by the force of his intrepidity, threw himself into the postern of the gateway of the place, and they captured the fortress, and acquired great booty. The greater number of the inhabitants of that place were Brahmans, and the whole of those Brahmans had their heads shaven; and they were all slain. There were a great number of books there; and, when all these books came under the observation of the Musalmans, they summoned a number of Hindus that they might give them information respecting the import of those books; but the whole of the Hindus had been killed. On becoming acquainted [with the contents of those books], it was found that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindui tongue, they call a college [مدرسه] Bihar."

Ruins of Nalanda University

This passage refers to an attack on a Buddhist monastery (the "Bihar" or Vihara) and its monks (the shaved Brahmans).The exact date of this event is not known with scholarly estimates ranging from 1197 to 1206.While many historians believe that this monastery which was mistaken for a fort was Odantapura, some are of the opinion that it was Nalanda itself.However, considering that these two Mahaviharas were only a few kilometres apart, both very likely befell a similar fate. The other great Mahaviharas of the age such as Vikramshila and later, Jagaddala, also met their ends at the hands of the Turks at around the same time.

Another important account of the times is the biography of the Tibetan monk-pilgrim, Dharmasvamin, who journeyed to India between 1234 and 1236. When he visited Nalanda in 1235, he found it still surviving, but a ghost of its past existence. Most of the buildings had been damaged by the Muslims and had since fallen into disrepair. But two viharas, which he named Dhanaba and Ghunaba, were still in serviceable condition with a 90-year-old teacher named Rahula Shribhadra instructing a class of about 70 students on the premises. Dharmasvamin believed that the Mahavihara had not been completely destroyed for superstitious reasons as one of the soldiers who had participated in the desecration of a Jnananatha temple in the complex had immediately fallen ill.

Nalanda was India's second oldest University after Thakshila. Spread over an area of 14 hectares, it was the principal seat of learning fthe from the last century BCE till the Turkish invasion of 1193. It is estimated that 9 million manuscripts were destroyed. The library burned for three months, in three multi storeyed buildings, one of which had nine storeys.

------------------

Reference:

1.The Church of the East: A Concise History/ Wilhelm Baum, Dietmar W. Winkler
2.Travancore Resident G T Mackenzie's Chapter on Christianity,dated 23 October 1901 to V Nagam Aiya's Travancore Manual

© Ramachandran 

THUS THEY ABOLISHED SLAVERY IN TRAVANCORE

There Was Also Tax on Breasts

There is an unsung hero in the entire episode of the final abolition of slavery in Travancore-Rev George Mathen.He was the commission appointed to look into the discrepencies prevailed in the implementation of the abolition of slavery.Based on his report,the proclamation for the complete abolition of slavery was declared in Travancore on 1855. 

During second chera empire [800-1102] the pulayas enjoyed a high status.The Pulayanar Kottai of Trivandrum was the center of a Pulaya ruler who established his control over the surrounding parts.A pulaya princess, Kotha is said to have ruled over Kothamangalam of Nedumangad taluk But in course of time,by the seizure of power by the Nambudiris, this community was reduced to the status of slaves. 

Colonel John Munro

Most of the castes below the Nadars and Ezhavas, such as pulayas, Parayas, Paravas, Kuravas and Vettuvans were generally regarded as slaves.The wars between petty chieftains were followed by the capture of the vanquished.The vanquished were made slaves.During famine, the parents used to sell their children for petty sums of money to work in the houses or in the fields of the rich.Later they were converted as slaves. Women of higher caste, if found of relation with men of lower castes, were invariably reduced to the position of slaves. Victims of caste inquisition or Smartha Vicharam were sold to fisher men. 

There existed a custom known as “Pula Pedi” which pushed many into slavery.The debtors who could not pay loans sold themselves to creditors and served them as slaves till their liabilities were over.The Kings of Travancore sold members of the defeated king's family as slaves.Evidence shows that the women and children of eight Knights who were extirpated in 1730 were handed over to fisherman as slaves.

The Ettuveetil Pillamar (Lords of the Eight Houses) were nobles from eight Nair Houses in erstwhile Travancore in present-day Kerala state, South India. They were associated with the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram and the Ettara Yogam. Their power and wealth grew until Marthanda Varma (1706–1758), the last king of Venad and the first King of Travancore, defeated them in the 1730s.The Ettuveetil Pillamar were known according to the villages in which they resided and all held the title of Pillai. The Eight Lords were Kazhakoottathu Pillai, Ramanamadhom Pillai, Chempazhanty Pillai, Kudamon Pillai, Venganur Pillai, Thazhaman Madhom Pillai, Pallichal Pillai and Kolathur Pillai.Kazhakkoottam and Chempazhanthi lie to the north of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city, while Venganoor lies to the south, between Balaramapuram and Kovalam.

The Ettara Yogam ('King's Council of Eight'), an association consisting of the Pushpanjali Swamiyar, seven Potti families and the King of Venad administered the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram. The Ettuveetil Pillamar, aided by the Ettara Yogam, became the supreme power in Travancore to such an extent that the sovereign needed their permission even to construct a palace for himself at his capital. With so much power in their hands they wished to do away with the Royal House.

 The earlier chroniclers of Travancore history state that their chief intention was to extirpate the Royal House and convert the state into a pseudo-republic under their control, and eventually under a monarchy under one of themselves. With this in mind they plotted and assassinated Maharajah Aditya Varma by poisoning him and set the Palace on fire.Five of Umayamma Rani's six sons were drowned under suspicious circumstances.But researches reveal that Adithya Varma died a natural death and umayamma Rani had no children.In the document of 1730 regarding the execution of the Pillamar the name used for the conspirators is Ettuveetil Madampimar and not Pillamar. Besides, of the eight Pillais, only Kazhakoothathu Pillai and Kulathur Pillai are mentioned, the remainder being totally different individuals. The remaining six families are not mentioned at all, and it is improbable that the King who personally made investigations would let any of them go free.

High caste females who were exposed to punishments when detected of immorality or breach of caste rules and regulations, immediately became untouchable and slave of the ruler. 

Records show that prisoners, ex-convicts released from jails after undergoing long years of punishment and people from depressed sections were generally victims of the inhuman practice.

The days of enslavement meant they were bound to obey orders of their masters without question. They were given a meagre subsistence allowance, too low for their hectic work.

Children born to slaves would become slaves for all practical purposes. Men and women were sold and bought like cattle once in the state.

European merchants also used to buy slaves from here and ship them to their colonies to make them work as bonded labourers.

Matriarchy ( Marumakkathayam ) system existed and the people had to pay an amount as fee called Adiyara. It amounted to one fourth of the value of the property. It was difficult to pay a fee to conduct and arrange marriages.A particular type of tax known as “Kuppakkache” in the nature of pole tax was imposed on Parayas and ezhavas in the Taluk of Thovalai.

The Breast Tax (Mulakkaram  in Malayalam) was a tax imposed on the lower caste and untouchable Hindu women by the Kingdom of Tranvancore,if they wanted to cover their breasts in public, until 1924.The lower caste and untouchable women were expected to pay the government a tax on their breasts, as soon as they started developing breasts.The lower caste men had to pay a similar tax, called tala-karam, on their heads.Travancore tax collectors would visit every house to collect breast tax from any lower caste women who passed the age of puberty. The tax was evaluated by the tax collectors depending on the size of their breasts. 

Gowri Lakshmi Bayi

There is a folklore about a Nangeli, a woman who lived in the early 19th century at Cherthala in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in India who supposedly cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against the caste-based breast tax.

The village office came to her home to survey her breasts and collect the breast tax. Nangeli revolted against the harassment, cutting off her breasts and presenting them to him in a plantain leaf. She died soon from loss of blood.Nangeli's husband, Chirukandan, seeing her mutilated body was overcome by grief and jumped into her funeral pyre and committed suicide-a male Sati.

Following the death of Nangeli, a series of people's movements were set off. Soon the place she lived had come to be called as Mulachiparambu (meaning place of the breasted woman).The Marxists have time and agaun tried to give this folklore authenticity,but is not recognized in any of historical accounts.

The law resulted from Travancore's tradition, in which the breast was bared as a symbol of respect to higher-status people. The Nair women were not allowed to cover their bosoms while in front of the Namboodiri Brahmins or entering the temples, while the Brahmins bared their breasts only to the images of the deities. The women of the even lower castes, such as Nadars, Ezhavars and untouchables castes, were not allowed cover their breasts at all. With the spread of Christianity in the 19th century, the Christian converts among the Nadar women started covering their upper body, and gradually, even the Hindu Nadar women adopted this practice. After a series of protests, the Nadar women were granted the right to cover their breasts in 1859.

It was after the arrival of missionaries that a great change wss witnessed in the life of dalits. Missionaries appealed to Madras Government, and with the instruction of Madras Government, Travancore government decided to pass an Act for the emancipation of the slaves. Rani Gowry Lakshmi Bai,mother of Swati Thirunal,who was the Regent 1811-15),and who had a close relationship with the Resident dewan John Munro, issued two proclamations in 1815,when she was only 20. 

The first declaration said that Christians were exempted from taxation;the second said that the Christians were exempted from forced labour namely,Oozhiyam.This was only for the rescue of the Christians,not Hindus. 

Rev Charles Mead

The efforts of two lady missionaries,Johanna Celestina Horst Mead ( 1803-1848) and Martha Mault ( 1794-1870 ) marked a turning point in the life of Dalits. They started a Boarding schools at different parts of Travancore,admitting slave girls.Johanna was the wife of Rev Charles Mead, who shifted his Mission Head Quarters from Mylaudy to Nagercoil in 1818, on account of his civil appointment as Judge of the Nagercoil Court.Mead got Col.Munro's Traveller's Bungalow at Nagercoil, to reside at from Col. Munro.After her marriage with Rev Charles Mead of LMS, Mrs.Johanna Celestina Mead arrived at Nagercoil, Kanyakumari District with her husband in 1819.Mrs Mault,wife of Rev Charles Mault, arrived at Nageroil in 1819; as LMS missionaries to work with Rev Mead.

In the year 1818, at the age of 24, Martha married Rev .Charles Mault of Shropshire. Charles Mault had been trained for Priesthood at the Missionary Academy, Gosport near Portsmouth, England under the auspices of the London Missionary Society and also had been ordained as a LMS Pastor, before a week of their marriage . The review of the East India Company's Charter of 1813 had fully opened the closed door for missionary work in India.After marriage,as decided before Mrs, Mault along with her missionary husband Rev, Charles Mault, sailed towards the shore of India for missionary work in South Travancore,in December 1819.Their eldest daughter Eliza Mault married the famous Missionary, Linguist , Tamil Scholar, Writer, Historian and Bishop Dr. Robert Caldwell. in 1844, at the Home Church, Nagercoil.

Mrs. Johanna Celestina Horst Mead, Mrs Martha Mault, Mrs Miller , Mrs. Thompson, Mrs Norton, Mrs. Bailey and Mrs Baker were the pioneers connected with the Pioneer educational enterprise among the women of Travancore. In1819, Mr Mead and Mrs Mead planned and decided to establish one Boys' School and one Girls' School, at Nagercoil. Accodingly a Girls School was established at Nagercoil in 1819, and with great difficulty some girls were collected and admitted in the girls School. and the School began with 18 girls[CMA, p. 766.]. Mr and Mrs Mault came from England and stayed with Mr and Mrs Mead , the Girls' School was greatly improved. Mrs. Mead an Mrs Mault made mutual division of their work in the Girls School. Mrs. Mead taught the student in the Girls Boarding School, plain sewing, spinning knitting , etc, Mrs Mault taught them crochet and embroidery [in1821 inroduced the pillow lace].

After having moved to Neyyoor, Mrs Johanna Mead established a Girls Boarding School at Neyyoor in 1828 and this Girls Boarding School flourished for many years in many ways under the ardent and zealous care of her. The Girls Boarding School at Neyyoor played a crucial and significant role to spread education and self dignity among the women in and around Neyyoor and in the whole of South Travancore. The Girls Boarding School at Neyyoor and other Boarding Schools established by the Missionaries during that period of time were the means of training many girls and women in the habits of order, cleanliness, industry and useful leaning .Besides Scripture the girls students in Girls Boarding Schools were taught a fair knowledge of History , Geography, Arithmetic and elements of natural Philosophy was imparted in vernacular.In 1837 in South Travncore there were 15 Girls Schools containing 361 girls and in 1840 in the two districts of Neyyoor and Nagercoil out of 7540 school children 998 were girls.

The Girls' Boarding School at Nagercoil in 1820, was the first Girl's Boarding School in the whole of South India.

Martha Mault

By the treaties of 1795 and 1805 that were concluded between English East India Company and Travancore, the political power wrested with the Company,and the Travancore King was,infact,a slave.Under pressure from Col. Munro, Rani Gowry Lekshmi Bai introduced certain reforms which helped the slaves to get certain privileges denied to them. So by the proclamation of 1812, Rani Lakshmi Bai introduced a notification for the abolition of slavery. On 21 vrichikam 987 ( 1812) this proclamation was published. proclamation said:

“with reference to the natives and foreigners who for the sake of profit, buy at a cheaper rate, the boys and girls of several low caste people of this country and sell them for a higher prices, take them to a distant places and pay tolls at sea ports and thus make a regular bargain of them. As this is really inhuman and disgraceful custom, which ought to be checked, we here by noticed that no person shall, for purpose of cultivation buy or sell pulayas, kuravas, malayars, vetars, pariah and others in mortage, janmam or pattam, as is done in many places orarear title deeds with the prominent land holders of the place concerning them or engaged such people for cultivation and that no people of any other caste shall beyond this natural customs, buy or sell children of their own caste or pay toll to the sercar.if any one raise his voice against this proclamation and has a regular dealing of the slaves shall be subjected to sever punishment, their property should confiscated and they themselves banished from the country”. 

Many taxes such as ‘Thalayara,’ ‘Valayara’ were also abolished by the proclamation of 1815. 

In the same year another proclamation removed the taboo imposed on dalits in carrying umbrellas, lights and a knife chained with gold and wearing ear-rings.
In 1836, slaves who worked as bonded tenants in government lands in Travancore had been released. By 1843, slavery and slave trade had also been banned in British India. 

Missionaries continued their efforts,aimefd at catching the lower castes. They submitted a series of memoranda.The government felt that the earlier proclamation could neither abolish nor contain the evil; hence, a fresh legislation was issued in 1843,during Swati Thirunal's reign.

A report says that in 1847, the slaves were mainly used as agricultural labour, for which they were given food served on leaves placed in small pits in the ground. The Travancore government kept 15,000 slaves who were given to landlords on rental basis, who had the power even to kill slaves if they disobeyed orders. They also sold slaves to others. Young children were often taken to the markets, mainly by their parents, to be sold. Some European missionaries were reluctant to convert them to Christianity, as they feared that it may adversely affect their conversion plan of the upper castes and the image of their mission. Up to 1854, no baptism of these castes was done by the CMS church. 

The Governor General Lord Ellenborough and Council decided to enact another act in 1843 for the emancipation of the slaves.In 1847 the missionaries submitted a memorandum to Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma portraying the plight of the slaves for consideration. It was with this the demand for the abolition of slavery in Travancore began. Resident General William Cullen ( 1785-1862 ) forwarded the memorandum to the Raja for action. So on behalf of Maharaja, the Dewan Krishna Rao replied to the Resident that “his Highness would never fail to give his attention to the unfortunate class of people referred in the missionaries’ petition.The Resident was not satisfied by this.

General William Cullen

The missionaries continued their effort to compel the Resident. Finally on 13 March 1849 he passed on a memorandum to Dewan , “Recommending certain measures for improving the condition of slaves and for the gradual abolition of slavery in the state.” The Resident requested the Dewan to observe the provision of the act passed by the Indian government.The King expressed his willingness to look into this vital issue, prepared a draft proclamation and sent it to the Resident.The Resident found that the draft proclamation was inadequate. On 20 November 1852, the Dewan sent a revised draft largely observing the guidelines laid down by the Resident and submitted it for approval. In September 1853, the Travancore authorities prepared another draft of proclamation and the copies were sent to the Dewan of Cochin and the Resident for their consideration. The Resident approved. 

The drawback of the 1853 proclamation was so glaring, the Resident wrote a series of letters to the Dewan of Travancore. In one of the letters, he requested the Government to discontinue the tax levied on the sarkar slaves. In another letter,the Resident mentioned the cruel practice of selling free men as slaves. The Travancore Government was indifferent. As a solution, the Resident suggested the re publication of the proclamation of 1853 with modifications.On June 1855 another proclamation was issued,for the complete abolition of slavery.The final blow to slavery in India was struck by section 370, 371 of the Indian Penal Code, which came into force on January 1862, on the basis of which any person found to possess slaves became punishable. 

The abolition of slavery in Travancore in 1855 led to even more frustration among the upper castes who felt they were losing control.Uneasy with their social status, a large number of Nadars had embraced Christianity, and started to wear long cloths. When many more Nadar women turned to Christianity, many Hindu Nadar women also started to wear the Nair breast cloth. This led to violence between the upper caste and lower castes.

 In October 1859, riots broke out as Channar women were attacked in the marketplace and stripped of their upper clothes. Houses were looted and chapels burned. The government issued another proclamation permitting Channar women, whether Christian or Hindu, to wear a jacket, or cover their breasts ‘in any manner whatever, but not like the women of high caste’. 

Following the trails of Travancore, the neighbouring princely state Kochi also banned the practice in 1872. 

Rev. George Mathan ( 1819 – 1870), a.k.a. Rev. George Matthan, Rev. George Mathen, Geevarghese Kathanar or Mallapallil Achen,who was the commission to reprt on slavery was an Anglican priest (Kathanar), Malayalam grammarian and writer of the 19th century Kerala. 

Mathan was born on 25 September 1819 in the village of Kidangannoor, Kerala as the son of Chengannur Puthencavu Kizhakkethalackal Mathan Tharakan and Puthencavu Puthenveettil Annamma. His great grand-father Cherian and his grand-father Chummar had received Tharakan title from the Travancore king, as they were a wealthy family who supported the royalty in times of need. 

From childhood, he had shown great aptitude for learning. Since Mathan’s father had died at a very early age, his uncle Rev. Kurian Kathanar took charge of his education. Inspired by Kurian Kathanar, he became a Deacon and Kathanar of the undivided Malankara Syrian Church. 

Later, he received an offer from the C.M.S Anglican missionaries to pursue university education at the newly opened Madras University at Madras. He accepted the offer and after graduating from Madras University, he became an Anglican priest. He was the first ordained native priest of the Anglican church in South India. 

Mathan first started his ministry in the Mallapally area of Travancore and became known as "Mallapallil Achen," meaning father of Mallapally. He was instrumental in converting the first lower-caste family (headed by a man named Habel) to Christianity in Mallapally. This day is celebrated even today in Kerala as Habel’s Day. This family’s conversion into Anglican Christianity encouraged the conversion of a large number of lower-caste people into the faith. 

Rev George Mathan

Rev. Mathan was also a contemporary of Hermann Gundert, a German priest, who wrote the first dictionary in Malayalam. 

While ministering to the people, a full-time job, Mathan found time to write erudite treatises on grammar and local culture. He wrote the first book of Malayalam grammar called "Malayazhmayude Vyakaranam," which was published in 1863. His other works of longish essays include, "Satyavadakhedam," "Vedasamyukthi," and "Balabhyasam." It should me remembered that A R Raja Raja Varma,who got the sobriquet, 'Kerala Panini',was born on the year Mathan's grammar was piblished.Kerala Panineeyam,Varma's treatise on Malayalam grammar was published only in 1896.

Rev. Mathan was a keen educationist. He helped collect funds to build the Cambridge Nicholson Institute (CNI) and oversaw the construction of its building and facilities. Later on, he became the principal of the CNI, which was instrumental in spreading English medium education throughout the state of Kerala.
The Malayalam poet and littérateur Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer stated in History of Malayalam Literature: "All in all, George Mathan built a permanent framework for Malayalam literature and thus made all Malayalis indebted to him, a fact beyond dispute." 

Rev. George Mathan died on 4 March 1870. He is interred at St. Thomas CSI church, Thalavady.

© Ramachandran