Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6 - Image 26

Identifier: castestribesofso06thuruoft (find matches)
Title: Castes and tribes of southern India. Assisted by K. Rangachari
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Thurston, Edgar, 1855-1935 Rangachari, K
Subjects: Caste -- India Madras (Presidency) Ethnology -- India Madras (Presidency) India -- Social conditions
Publisher: Madras Government Press
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN



Text Appearing Before Image:
the apostle landed at Malan-kara, or, more correctly, at Maliankara near Cranganur(Kodungallur), the Mouziris of the Greeks, or Muyirikodeof the Jewish copper plates. Mouziris was a port nearthe mouth of a branch of the Alwaye river, much fre-quented in their early voyages by the Phoenician andEuropean traders for the pepper and spices of this coast,and for the purpose of taking in fresh water and provi-sions. The story goes that Saint Thomas founded sevenchurches in different stations in Cochin and Travancore,and converted, among others, many Brahmans, notablythe Cally, Calliankara, Sankarapuri, and PakalomattamNambudri families, the members of the last claiming therare distinction of having been ordained as priests by theapostle himself. He then extended his labours to theCoromandel coast, where, after making many converts,he is said to have been pierced with a lance by someBrahmans, and to have been buried in the church of Rev. W. J. Richards. The Indian Christians of Saint Thomas.
Text Appearing After Image:
St. THOMAS CROSS, KOTTAVAM. 409 SYRIAN CHRISTIAN St. Thome, in Mylapore, a suburb of the town ofMadras. Writing concerning the prevalence of ele-phantiasis in Malabar, Captain Hamilton records * thatthe old Romish Legendaries impute the cause of thoseo-reat svvelld legs to a curse Saint Thomas laid upon hismurderers and their posterity, and that was the odiousmark they should be distinguished by. Pretty earlytradition associates Thomas with Parthia,t Philip withPhrygia, Andrew with Syria, and Bartholomew withIndia, but later traditions make the apostles divide thevarious countries between them by lot.J Even if theformer supposition be accepted, there is nothing veryimprobable in Saint Thomas having extended his workfrom Parthia to India. Others argue that, even if therebe any truth in the tradition of the arrival of SaintThomas in India, this comprised the countries in thenorth-west of India, or at most the India of Alexanderthe Great, and not the southern portion of the penin-sula, w