freinds, karthikai greetings. yesterday the fox history channel brodcasted the story of st.thomas again. it was a good narration. i have seen this several times earlier but it never failed to arouse my curiosity.
the programme begins with his life in palestine and then turns to his indian journey. his visit to the muziris town. then about his conversions in kerala. then moves to final phase to tamilnadu coast. here he faced a hostile society and eventually killed(?).
there were very good arguments about his possible visit to india. even though there are no archeological evidences directly to pinpoint its authenticity, there are good sociological and cultural aspects of southindian history that proves his possible visit to kerala and tamilnadu. there were beutiful shots on the kerala coast especially near the present day tiruvanchikulam.
there are some ballads in the kerala pointing to a saints visit and a killing by a hunter. but that is only a superficial semblence.
there are people who argue about marco-polo's description about st.thomas mount. but this peace of mountain was named after st.thomas only in 1550 when portugese came to nagapatnam. how marco named this place as st.thomas's is not known.
it is very surprising to note the romancatholics(portugese) were intent upon destroying the st.thomas churches simply because it is an another sect of christianity. some of the roman catholic chapels in kerala are shown to have an older eastern orthodox tradition and some old paintings suggestive of st.thomas. some body could have done carbon dating of the painting!( to prove or disprove)
in all this particular programme is very very intersesting, b'cause of my brief association with kerlalite christians. i did feel there was an aura of mysticism around these various christian sects in kerala-especially the syrians. some of their priests looked very much like ukrainians or romanians( in the dress and ornaments). kerala is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma and shrouded in a mystery.
did st.thomas meet thiruvalluvar( most probably no; b'cause t'valluvar lived in a later period -by a few centuries )
Dear all An Armenian merchant-cum-diplomat, named Thomas Cana, had reached the Malabar Coast in 780 ADusing the overland route. It was widely beleieved that malabar christians belongs to Areminian christian church.The resemblence of the priest dress/ornament suites the above statement. I was wondering why the documentary did not cover this information.
Please Search for "Armenian in India" in google, you may get more info on Armenians who are still living in chennai and in other parts of India. It was not sure whether Jesus Disciple Thomas ( Doubting Thomas) came to India in first century AD.
this programme does not include those arguments. but the methodology and presentation were splendid. it is often reminded me, when i see the kerala christians especially their names like "verughese" which is a derivative of "georgees". georgees are related to "gujjars" of northindia too. kerala is melting pot of many different races.