Syrian Malabar Nasrani

For the 2007 Malayalam film by Joshi, see Nasraani.

Syrian Malabar Nasranis

File:Varghese Palakkappillil.jpg Varghese Palakkappillil · Joseph Augusty Anna Chandy · A. K. Antony · Kunchako Boban
Total population
Kerala: 6,000,000 (18% of Pop.)
Regions with significant populations
India (Kerala)
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy, Reformed Orthodox, Protestantism (minority)
Related ethnic groups
Cochin Jews, Paradesi Jews, Knanaya, Malayalis

The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians and Nasranis are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition. They are also known as Syrian-Malabar Christians, Suriyani Christiaanikal, Mar Thoma Nasrani, or more popularly as Syrian Christians in view that they use Syriac liturgy since the early days of Christianity in India.

The Syrian Malabar Nasranis are the descendants of the Jewish diaspora in Kerala who were evangelized by St. Thomas in the Malabar Coast in the earliest days of Christianity. The community also comprises several ancient Christian settlements in Kerala. It has been suggested that the term Nasrani derives from the name Nazarenes used by ancient Jewish Christians in the Near-East who believed in the divinity of Jesus but clung to many of the Mosaic ceremonies. They follow a unique Hebrew-Syriac Christian tradition which includes several Jewish elements although they have absorbed some Hindu customs . Their heritage is Syriac-Keralite, their culture South Indian with semitic and local influences, their faith St. Thomas Christian, and their language Malayalam. Much of their Jewish tradition has been forgotten, especially after the Portuguese invasion of Kerala in the early 1500s.

Terminology

Portuguese period

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

1. Syrian Christians. Dutch called them The Christians of St. Thomas.
2. Syrian Christian Roman Catholics.
3. The non-Syrian Roman Catholics Known as Inland Christians by the Van Rheede and New Christians by Moens..They were grouped into seven parish churches under the bishop of Cochin.
4. Topass Christians. (Thuppai). They were the descendents of Indian mothers or fathers belonging to the diverse European nations.

Only the first two are Syrian Malabar Nasranis. Others are not. So, all Christians in Kerala are not included in this article.

Nasrani Mapilla

Syrian Malabar Nasranis are also called Nasrani Mapillas. According to Hermann Gundert (who wrote the first Malayalam dictionary), the term 'mapilla' was a title used to denote semitic immigrants from West Asia. Thus the term Mapilla was used to denote both Arab and Christian-Jewish descendants and followers in Kerala. The descendants of Arabs are called Muslim Mappila the descendants of Syrian-Jewish Christians are called Nasrani Mappilas. and the descendants of the Cochin Jews who have traditionally followed Halakhic Judaism are known as Juda Mappila The oldest of the Indian Jewish communities is in malabar coast. Traders from Judea arrived in the city of muzirus, in what is now Kerala, in 562 BC. Most Jews, however, came as exiles from Israel in the year 70 C.E. after the destruction of the Second Temple. The distinct Jewish community was called Anjuvannam. the descendants of Sephardim that were expelled from Spain and Holland in 1492.

History

Main article: History of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition

Origins

Muziris, near the tip of India, in the Peutinger Table.

On the south western side of the Indian peninsula; between the mountains and the Erythraean Sea (now Arabian Sea); stretching from Kannoor to Kanyakumari was the land called Cherarajyam, which was ruled by local chieftains. Later this land came to be known as Malabar and (now) Kerala. Muziris (now known as Pattanam near Cochin) was the important entry port. After the discovery of Hippalus, every year 100 ships arrived there from various parts of the then known world, including Red Sea ports .

During the time of Moses and King Solomon, the Malabar coast traded spices and luxury articles with Israel. Excavations carried out at Pattanam in 2008 provided evidence that the maritime trade between Kerala and the Mediterranean ports existed back in 500 BC or earlier . It is possible that some of those traders who arrived from the west, including Jews, remained in Kerala.

While Augustus Caesar (31 BC- 14 AD) was the Emperor of Rome and Herod the Great (37-4 BC) was King of Judea, ambassadors from Malabar visited the Emperor Augustus. There is a hypothesis that these ambassadors were The Wise Men From the East, of the Bible. Thus the Malabar Nasranis are some of the earliest people who joined Christianity in India.

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

The ancient navigation route from the Judeo-Roman world to the Malabar coast

The community also comprises several ancient Aramaic Christian settlements in Kerala. The Knanaya Nasranis claim to be the descendants of one such group of 4th century immigrants. while it is claimed that Christianity reached India as early as first century AD, after St Thomas landed in Kerala in 52 AD,. However, the year of his arrival is disputed due to conflicting stories and lack of credible historical evidence.

Thus the community consists of people from many ethnic groups of Kerala including different trading diaspora of Jews and Christian settlers of successive centuries like Knanaya people.

The southern coast of the Indian subcontinent (hypothesized by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus to be the place mentioned as Ophir in the Old Testament) inevitably became a gateway from the Mediterranean world to Kerala. The people there traded in teak, ivory, spices and peacocks, and the area was endowed with a magnificent coastline with numerous ports from Mangalapuram to Kodungallur, also known as Cranganore. In the ancient times it was called as Muziris in Latin and Muchiri in Malayalam.

The trade routes brought with them not just riches but also stateless nations and nascent worldviews. Cranganore became one of the earliest settlements of the Jewish diaspora from the later Old Testament period. They continued trade with the Mediterranean world, thus establishing a strong link between the southern coast of the Indian peninsula and the Judeo-Roman world. Laying the links or foundations for what would later be the early 'Judeo-Nazaraean' diaspora. The early Aramaic-speaking Christians who came to Kerala from the Middle East (whose kin already had a Jewish settlement in Kodungulloor) were of largely ethnically Jewish origin.

British researcher William Dalrymple travelled across the Arabian Sea to Kerala in a boat similar to those mentioned in ancient Jewish and Roman texts and showed how the Nasrani-Jewish people had travelled from the Middle East to Kodungulloor. He followed the same course as mentioned in the Acts of Thomas, a copy of which survives in a monastery on Mount Sinai.

The term Syrian-Malabar Nasranis is a composite form of the elemental aspects of the ancient tradition. In it the term Syrian actually refers to the Aramaic speaking Jewish people rather than the country of Syria, while the term Malabar is the name of an ancient region of the present day state of Kerala in India. The term Syrian-Malabar Nasrani therefore means people of Christian-Jewish tradition and descent who follow Jesus of Nazareth and are from the Malabar coast of South India.

The Tamil epic of Manimekkalai written between 2nd and 3rd century CE of Sangam Literature era mentions the Nasrani people by the name Essanis referring to one of the early sects within the Nasranis called Essenes. In AD 883, Alfred the Great (849-899), King of Wessex, England reportedly sent gifts to Mar Thoma Christians of India through Sighelm, bishop of Sherborne.. Around 1292 AD, Marco Polo (1254–1324) on his return journey from China visited Kerala, mentions that, "The people are idolaters, though there are some Christians and Jews among them".

Epigraphy

File:Signatures.jpg

Front and Reverse of third Quilon copper plate with Pahlavi, Kufic and Hebrew signatures.

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

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

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

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

Christian Jewish tradition

An old church in Kerala

These early Christian Jews believed in Jesus as the Messiah, while continued following many of the Jewish traditions and Mosaic laws and called themselves Nazaraeans or Nasrani, meaning Jews who followed the Nazarene Messiah (Jesus). The term Nazaraean was first mentioned in the New Testament in Acts 24:5. The term Nasrani was used essentially to denote Jewish followers of Jesus from Nazareth, while the term Khristianos "Christian" was initially used largely to refer to non-Jewish peoples ("gentiles") who followed the Christ (Acts 11:26). Until the advent of the Portuguese in the 1500s, the proto-Jewish-Nasrani ethos in Kerala thrived with Jewish customs and the Syrian-Persian tradition.

They preserved the original rituals of the early Jewish Christians, such as covering their heads while in worship. Their ritual services (liturgy) was and still is called the Qurbana (also spelled Kurbana), which is derived from the Hebrew Korban (קרבן), meaning "Sacrifice". Their ritual service used to be held on Saturdays in the tradition of the Jewish Sabbath. The Nasrani Qurbana used to be sung in the Suryani (Syriac) and Aramaic languages. They also believed that it was the Romans who killed Jesus because, historically, Jesus was crucified; the official form of execution of the Jews was typically stoning to death, while the official form of execution of the Romans was crucifixion. The architecture of the early church reflected a blend of Jewish and Kerala styles.

Persecution by Portuguese

Further information: Goa Inquisition

A Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala, with the Holy of Holies containing the Nasrani Menorah or Mar Thoma Sliba (St. Thomas Cross) veiled by a red curtain in the tradition of ancient Jewish synagogue.

The Judeo-Nasrani tradition of the Syro-Malabar Nasranis was wiped out when the Portuguese invaded Kerala, and denounced the Nasrani account of Christian faith as false. They imposed their European rituals and liturgy and obliterated the Jewish legacy from the Nasrani tradition. The Portuguese described the Nasranis as Sabbath-keeping Judaizers.

Archbishop Menezes of Goa, convened the Synod of Diamper in Kerala in 1599. There he ordered all the texts of the Syrian Nasranis to be burnt. The Portuguese burned several of these texts. The purpose stated by Menezes was to erase all legacies of antiquity and Jewishness. Amongst several accusations, the Nasranis were accused of not venerating images of saints and biblical figures. They completely obliterated the records of early Nasrani life and Hebrew-Syriac tradition, and imposed on the Nasranis the belief that they were local people who were converted, rather than descendants of early Jewish settlers converted to Christianity by the Apostle Thomas.

Books ordered to be destroyed:

General books destroyed: (1) Prammasa (2) Johannan Para Kalthon (3) Maarganisa (4) Vaappkadey Pusthakam (5) Aava Eilayya (6) Nuhara (7) Sunahadosa (8) Mar theermathay Osa (9) Njayarazhchayuday Emgartha (10) Makammasa (11) Kaamessa (12) Parapumman (13) Suryaniyile Malpanmaruday Pusthakangal (14) Peshitta Bible in Aramaic language. Worship books destroyed: (1) Hoodara (2) Sumaday Pusthakam (3) Annadha Pusthakam.

Nasranis outside the state of Cochin managed to preserve some elements of their Jewish original books. It was one of these books that Mar Thoma VI handed over to Dr. Buchanan in 1806.

Most of all, the Portuguese burned the Nasrani Aramaic Peshitta Bible known today as the Lost Aramaic Bible that was based on the Jewish Targum and included the Gospel of the Nazoraeans. The Portuguese imposed the teaching that the Jews killed Jesus. The Nasranis, who were, until then, the "living fossils" of the Christian-Jewish tradition, lost their very defining ethos. The only Nasranis who managed to preserve some elements of their Jewish origin were the Knanaya people, because of their tradition of being endogamous within their own community and therefore preserving their Jewish tradition.

Division and defiance

The oppressive rule of the Portuguese padroado provoked a violent reaction on the part of the indigenous Christian community. The first solemn protest took place in 1653, known as the Koonan Kurishu Satyam (Koonan Cross Oath). Under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas, and twelve other Priests, a part of the Thomas Christians publicly took an oath in Matancherry, Cochin, that they would not obey the Portuguese bishops and the Jesuit missionaries. In the same year, in Alangad, Archdeacon Thomas was ordained, by the laying on of hands of twelve priests, as the first known indigenous Metropolitan of Kerala, under the name Mar Thoma I.

After the Coonan Cross Oath, between 1661 and 1662, out of the 116 churches, the Catholics claimed eighty-four churches, leaving Archdeacon Mar Thoma I only thirty-two churches. The eighty-four churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syro Malabar Catholic Church have descended. The other thirty-two churches and their congregations were the body from which the Syriac Orthodox (Jacobites & Orthodox), Thozhiyur (1772), Mar Thoma (Reformed Syrians) (1874), Syro Malankra Catholic Church have originated. In 1665, Mar Gregorios Abdul Jaleel, a Bishop send by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch arrived in India and the St.Thomas Christians under the leadership of the Archdeacon welcomed him. This visit resulted in the Mar Thoma party claiming spiritual authority of the Antiochean Patriarchate and gradually introduced the West Syrian liturgy, customs and script to the Malabar Coast.

Relationship of the Nasrani groups

The arrival of Mar Gregorios in 1665 marked the beginning of a formal association of St.Thomas Christians with the West Syrian Church. Those who accepted the West Syrian theological and liturgical tradition of Mar Gregorios became known as Jacobites. Those who continued with East Syrian theological and liturgical tradition and stayed faithful to the Synod of Diamper are known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in communion with the Catholic Church. They got their own Syro-Malabar Hierarchy on 21 December 1923 with the Metropolitan Mar Augustine Kandathil as the Head of their Church.

St. Thomas Christians by this process got divided in to East Syrians and West Syrians.

Further divisions

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

In 1876, The Mar Thoma Church came into being under Thomas Mar Athanasious. They were known as Reformed Jacobites before the group took the name of Mar Thoma Church. They introduced many changes based on the Protestant doctrine.

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

However, in 1912 due to attempts by the Antiochean Patriarch to gain temporal powers over the Malankara Church, there was another split in the West Syrian community when a section declared itself an autocephalous church and announced the re-establishment of the ancient Catholicosate of the East in India. This was not accepted by those who remained loyal to the Patriarch. The two sides were reconciled in 1958 but again differences developed in 1975. Today the West Syrian community is divided into Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, autocephalous), Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church (in Oriental Orthodox Communion, under Antioch).

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

Nasrani people today

St.Marys Syrian Knanaya Church in Kottayam, Kerala containing ancient Nasrani symbols and Sassanid Pahlavi inscriptions.

Though much of the Jewish tradition was lost, some of the important traditions and Mosaic law observances lived on. The symbol of the Nasrani people is still the Nasrani menorah. Another surviving Jewish tradition still followed by the Nasranis is the tradition of Pesaha-appam or unleavened Passover bread. On passover night, the Nasrani people have Pesaha-appam along with Pesaha-pal or "Passover coconut milk". This tradition of Pesaha-appam is observed by many Nasrani people until this day.

The Nasrani Church has a separate seating arrangement for men and women. Until the 1970s the Nasrani Kurbana was sung in the Aramaic-Syriac language. Many of the tunes of the Syrian- Christian worship in Kerala are remnants of ancient Syriac tunes of antiquity. The "Holy of Holies" is divided by a red curtain for most of the time and is opened during the central part of the Nasrani Mass or Qurbana. The Nasrani Baptism is still called by the Hebrew-syriac term Mamodisa and follows many of the ancient rituals of the ceremony. It is referred to in Malayalam as Njana Snanam (Bath of Wisdom).

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

Demographics

Nasrani people largely live in the districts of Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Trichur in Kerala. They have also migrated to other cities in India like Kanyakumari, Ooty, Mangalore, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Shimoga, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Kolkota. Others have migrated to the United States, Europe, Australia or work in the Middle East. Based on the Indian census report of 2004, there are presently approximately 6,000,000 Syrian-Malabar Nasranis from across the various denominations within the Nasrani community.

Many Nasrani people own large estates and engage in trade of rubber, spices and cash crops. They also take a prominent role in the educational institutions of Kerala and throughout India.

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

Nasrani symbol

The cross of the Nasrani Menorah also known as the Mar Thoma Sliba

The symbol of the Nasranis is the Syrian cross, also called the Nasrani Menorah Mar Thoma sleeba in Malayalam. It is based on the Jewish menorah, the ancient symbol of the Hebrews, which consists of a branched candle stand for seven candlesticks. (Exodus 25). In the Nasrani Menorah the six branches, (three on either side of the cross) represents God as the burning bush, while the central branch holds the cross, the dove at the tip of the cross represents the Holy Spirit. (Exodus 25:31). In Jewish tradition the central branch is the main branch, from which the other branches or other six candles are lit. Netzer is the Hebrew word for "branch" and is the root word of Nazareth and Nazarene. (Isaiah 11:1).

Note that the Christian cross was not adopted as a symbol by Mediterranean and European Christianity until several centuries had passed.

Traditions, rituals and social life among Syrian Christians

• The symbol of the Nasranis is the flowery Persian cross, also called Mar Thoma Sleeba in Malayalam. It is unknown when this cross began to be used. According to J Raulin, up to 16th century, the Saint Thomas Christians did not use any other image except the Saint Thomas Cross in their Churches.

• Women cover their heads during worship, even outside the church. This is the tradition among the Jewish descendants of Abrahamic religion.

• The ritual services (liturgy) is called the Holy Qurbana (or "Kurbana"), which is derived from the Hebrew Korban (קרבן), meaning “Sacrifice”.

• Some parts of the Nasrani Qurbana are sung in the Suryani (Syriac) language. Until 1970s most of the churches followed Syriac liturgy almost completely.

• The architecture of the early church reflected a blend of Jewish and Kerala styles.

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

• The Churches have a separate seating arrangement for men and women.

• Many of the tunes of the Syrian- Christian worship in Kerala are remnants of ancient Syriac tunes of antiquity.

• The “Holy of Holies” is divided by a red curtain for most of the time and is opened during the central part of the Qurbana.
• Baptism is still called by the Hebrew-Syriac term Mamodisa and follows many of the ancient rituals of the ceremony. It is referred to in Malayalam as Njana Snanam (Bath of Wisdom).

• Most of the Nasranis even today use Biblical given names like Jews. Biblical names along with Greek, Armenian, and Syrian given names have been popular names in the Nasrani Community. They prefix and suffix Kerala names to these traditional names. The naming convention is also seen among the Sephardic Jews, whose customs may have been absorbed by the Syrian Christians in Kerala. See Saint Thomas Christian names.

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

• Another surviving tradition is the use of “Muthukoda” (ornamental umbrella) for church celebrations, marriages and other festivals. This can be traced back to a Syrian Christian Aristocrat Mar Sapir Iso who lived in the ninth century. Even today traditional drums and Arch decorations and ornamental umbrella are part of the church celebrations. Because of the harmonically co existence of religions in Kerala this became quite popular with other communities also.

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

• The spiritual life of Nasranis is ordered by liturgical obligations and by its specifically Christian ethics. Death rituals express Christian canonical themes very distantly especially in the ideas concerning life after death and the anticipation of final judgment.

• Christians were given honorific titles. “Tharakan” is a word derived from the word for tariff. “Panikkar” denotes proficiency in military training. The most common name of the Christians was Nasrani Mappila.

• The Church of Saint Thomas Christians accepted the East Syriac liturgy from an early period and along with the liturgy, the systems of ecclesial government, such as Metropolitan, Archdeacon and Yogams had their organic development in relation with East Syriac Churches.

• Syriac Christians are not allowed to marry into other religions.

Caste status

Syrian Malabar Nasranis or Syrian Christians are considered forward caste. Christians in Kerala are divided into several communities, including Syrian Christians and the so-called "Latin" or "New Rite" Christians.

Syrian Christians tend to be endogamous, and tend not to intermarry with other Christian castes. Also, very rarely are there intermarriages between Syrian Christians and Latin Rite Christians (converted in the 16th and 19th centuries) in Kerala; the latter were converted mainly from lower castes where fishing was the traditional occupation.

Syrian Christians derive status within the caste system from the tradition that they are converted Jews, who were evangelized by St. Thomas.

Anthropologists have noted that the caste hierarchy among Christians in Kerala is much more polarized than the Hindu practices in the surrounding areas, due to a lack of jatis. Also, the caste status is kept even if the sect allegiance is switched (i.e. from Syrian Catholic to Syrian Orthodox)

Notables

Main article: List of Syrian Malabar Nasranis

See also

• Syrian church in India
• Bene Israel
• Rock crosses of Kerala
• Caste system in Kerala

External references

Hardcopy

• Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, ISBN 81-87132-06-X, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press – (has some 70 lengthy articles by different experts on the origins, development, history, culture... of these Christians, with some 300 odd photographs).
• Mundadan, A. Mathias. (1984) History of Christianity in India, vol.1, Bangalore, India: Church History Association of India.
• Podipara, Placid J. (1970) "The Thomas Christians". London: Darton, Longman and Tidd, 1970. (is a readable and exhaustive study of the St. Thomas Christians.)
• The Land of the Perumals, or Cochin, Its Past and Present– Madras: Gantz Brothers– 1863.
• Philip, E.M. (1908) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas (1908; Changanassery: Mor Adai Study Center, 2002).
• Veluthat, K. (1978). Brahmin settlements in Kerala: Historical studies. Calicut: Calicut University, Sandhya Publications.
• Aprem, Mar. (1977) The Chaldaean Syrian Church in India. Trichur, Kerala, India: Mar Narsai, 1977.
• Menachery, Professor George. (2000) Kodungallur - The Cradle of Christianity In India, Thrissur: Marthoma Pontifical Shrine.
• Dalrymple, William (2000) “Indian Journeys”, BBC documentary
• Acts of St. Thomas (Syriac) MA. Bevan, London, 1897
• Poomangalam C.A (1998) The Antiquities of the Knanaya Syrian Christians; Kottayam, Kerala.
• Menachery George & Chakkalakal Werner (1987) "Kodungallur: City of St. Thomas", Azhikode
• Bornkamm, G. "The Acts of Thomas" in E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 2. London: Lutterworth, 1965.
• Tisserant, E. (1957) Eastern Christianity in India: A History of the Syro-Malabar Church from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Trans. and ed. by E. R. Hambye. Westminster, MD: Newman Press.
• James Hough (1893) "The History of Christianity in India".
• Michael Geddes, (1694) A Short History of the Church of Malabar together with the Synod of Diamper, London.
• Vellian, J (1988) Marriage Customs of the Knanites, Christian Orient, 9, Kottayam.
• Lukas, P.U (1910) ed. Ancient songs of the Syrian Christians, Kottayam.
• Menachery G (ed) (1982) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, B.N.K. Press, vol. 1;
• K.V. Krishna Iyer, Kerala’s Relations with the Outside World, pp. 70, 71 in "The Cochin Synagogue Quatercentenary Celebrations Commemoration Volume", Kerala History Association, Cochin, 1971.
• Periplus Maris Erythraei "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 ISBN 81-215-0699-9
• Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN 0-19-814264-1.
• "In Universi Cristiani" (Latin Text of the Papal erection of the Knanaya Diocese of Kottayam)
• Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.
• Koder S. 'History of the Jews of Kerala".The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. G. Menachery,1973.
• Vellian Jacob (2001) Knanite community: History and culture; Syrian church series; vol. XVII; Jyothi Book House, Kottayam
• Tamcke, M. (ed.) (2001) : Orientalische Christen zwischen Repression und Migration (Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 13; Münster: LIT).
• Puthur, B. (ed.) (2002): The Life and Nature of the St Thomas Christian Church in the Pre-Diamper Period (Cochi, Kerala).
• H. Rawlinson, Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome (1926).
• Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2
• T.K Velu Pillai, (1940) "The Travancore State Manual"; 4 volumes; Trivandrum)
• Weil, S. (1982)"Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: The Cananite Christians and Cochin Jews in Kerala. in Contributions to Indian Sociology,16.
• Menachery, G. (ed.): (2000) Thomapedia. The Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, 2. Trissur). [ISBN 81-87132-13-2].
• Claudius Buchanan (1811). Christian Researches in Asia: With Notices of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Oriental Languages. 2nd ed. Boston: Armstron, Cornhill
• Menachery G (ed); (1998) "The Indian Church History Classics", Vol. I, The Nazranies, Ollur, 1998. [ISBN 81-87133-05-8].
• Jessay, P.M. "The Wedding Songs of the Cochin Jews and of the Knanite Christians of Kerala: A Study in Comparison." Symposium, 29 August 1986.
• The Holy Bible (King James Version): 1611 Edition (Thos. Nelson, 1993) ISBN 0-8407-0028-8.
• Palackal, Joseph J. Syriac Chant Traditions in South India. Ph.d, Ethnomusicology, City University of New York, 2005.
• Joseph, T. K. The Malabar Christians and Their Ancient Documents. Trivandrum, India, 1929.
• Leslie Brown, (1956) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)
• Thomas P. J; (1932) "Roman Trade Centres in Malabar", Kerala Society Papers, II.
• Marco Polo. The Book of Travels Translated by Ronald Latham. Penguin Classics 1958.
• N.M.Mathew. St. Thomas Christians of Malabar Through Ages. CSS Tiruvalla. 2003.
• Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Double day English Edition, Stockholm.
• Thayil, Thomas (2003). The Latin Christians of Kerala: A Study on Their Origin. Kristu Jyoti Publications. ISBN 81-87370-18-1

External links

• Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
• The cradle of Christianity in India
• The Syro Malabar Church
• Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Indian Orthodox Church)
• Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church
• Christians of Kerala
• Population of Christians in India and Kerala based on 2001 report of Indian census
• Syrian christians are in a class of their own South Indian newspaper 31 August 2001
• The Nasrani Syrian Christian Network
• Project for preserving the manuscripts of the Syrian Christians of Kerala