Thomas of Cana

[8][9] Portuguese sources of the 17th century note that due to Thoma's deeds as a Christian merchant, the native Nasrani of Kerala venerated him as a saint.[14] A number of Portuguese era sources labeled Knai Thoma as a Syriac Christian in religion but “Armenian” in nationality.Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes that because the Portuguese associated the East Syriac bishops in Kerala with Armenia, out of their own ignorance they likely extended this same nationality to Knai Thoma as well.[15] In the native traditions of Kerala as well as the early 16/17th century recordings during the Portuguese era, Thomas of Cana is always noted as a merchant.Historian Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil calls Assemani's assertion a “counterfeit” creation not in line with earlier source work and native tradition.According to the traditions, Thomas of Cana led a group of 72 families, as well as clergymen, to the port city of Kodungallur in the Malabar coast.[12] [18][19] Scholars state the arrival of Thomas of Cana reflects a historical migration of East Syriac Christians to India.Their being in dire straits early on in their history and the arrival on the scene of the progenitors of the present-day "Southists" as benefactors, appears to coincide with the Community's acceptance of fellowship with the East Syriac Church.”[20]Through his copper plate grant, Thoma is noted to have acquired for the Christians land in Kodungallur upon which three churches dedicated to St. Mary, St. Thomas, and St. Kuriakose were built.Being rich and known in the country, he became a friend of the King of Cranganor who gave him a plot of land of 500 square yards to build a Church in honour of St. Thomas, which is the one the Portuguese now have."28, ff.34-38[22]Decades later in 1604, Francisco Ros, a Catholic bishop in Kerala, noted that he had read in old Chaldean texts in Kerala about the existence of the three churches of Kodungallur built by Knai Thoma: ..."I found written at the end how the said book was made and written at Cranganore, where it says there were three churches, one of St. Thomas, another of Our Lady, and another of St. Cyriac" - Francisco Ros (1604), MS. ADD.The ‘Northists’, on the other hand, claimed direct descent from the very oldest Christians of the country, those who had been won to Christ by the Apostle Thomas himself.- Historian of South Asian Studies Dr. Robert E. Frykenberg (2010)[1]Some Portuguese authors also associated the division of Northist and Southist to the two wives of Thomas of Cana.[10] Abuna: In 1533 Portuguese King John III ordered thirteen witnesses to give testimony on the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle in Mylapore, India.De Sequeria states that the copper plates were in the possession of Mar Jacob Abuna who had pawned them for twenty crusados due to the poverty felt by the Christians of Kodungallur after its destruction in 1524.Dionisio affirms that knowledge of Knai Thoma is known due to "a sheet of iron which the Portuguese found in the possession of these Christians".Scholar Istvan Perczel tentatively supports Dionisio's claim that Knai Thoma came after Mar Sapor and Proth.[27] Christian tradition in Kerala however is not concordant with Dioniso, stating instead that Knai Thoma arrived before bishops Sapor and Proth.[10] Gouvea gives information on the plates and states that they were entrusted to the Portuguese by Mar Jacob in the following citation: "As he (Thomas of Cana) was noble and rich, and carried on a great trade, he was shown much favour and hospitality by the king of Cranganor, who, as we saw above, was the most powerful of Malavar.From him he received many privileges and honours for the Christians among whom he lived, and a very spacious ground where to found a big Church, in keeping with the founder's power and wealth, all which he caused to write on copper-plates.Gouvea states that because Knai Thoma was powerful and had businesses in many parts of Malabar he had two wives and families, one on the northern side of Kodungallur and the other on the southern.and received a copper plate grant along with 264 elephant cubits of land from the Chera Perumal who reigned "more than one thousand two hundred years ago".After these things, Thomas himself went to the king's palaces and offered him presents, and afterwards he asked the king to give that land to him and to his descendants; and he measured two hundred and sixty-four elephant cubits, and gave them to Thomas and his descendants for ever: and the same time seventy-two houses which immediately were erected there, and gardens, and trees with their enclosures, and with their paths and boundaries and inner yards.[10] Do Couto's account: "From the people who had come with him proceed the Christians of Diamper, Kottayam and Kaduthuruthy, who without doubt are Armenians by caste, and their sons too: the same, because they had brought their wives; and afterwards those who descended from them married in the land, and in the course of time they all became Malabarians.All these Christians, after the Catholic prelates who came to them from the city of Edessa had died, lived many hundreds of years in the same faith which their fathers and grandfathers had taught them until about A. D. 730 before Thomas Cananeo arrived there.Then one of them arose, to wit a merchant called Thomas of Jerusalem, who answered sayiag : “Behold, i have now heard a report about Malabar and India from foreign countries and men."The Catholicos, hearing these words, answered thus: "Although I am ready to lay down my life for them, I ask you to be pleased to tell me what those children of mine most wish me to do."Therefore, not long after, yea in those very days, with the help of the adorable God and by order of the Catholicos of the East, Thomas of Jerusalem, the merchant, went forth again, and with him the Bishop who had seen the vision, and at the same time presbyters and beacons and also men and women, young men and maidens, from Jerusalem and Bagdad and Ninive, and they entered a ship and left for Malabar, where they landed at Moljomkare in the year 345 of the Lord.And the king was pleased with them (the gifts) and said to them “I shall give you whatever you ask of me.” And he gave them the land which they desired, a very long and very broad piece of ground; besides he granted them all the royal honours' which were written on copper-plates.65 From these legends, the following are to be derived.In the 18th century (1782), Mar Ousep Cariattil, Northist priest and leader of the Kerala Syrian Catholics, wrote a short history of the Malabar Church in which he included the arrival of Knai Thoma.However this defect was remedied by a rich and liberal merchant and Zealous catholic, Knai Thoma, who returning in haste to Babylonia, his native country, brought with him a bishop and two priests of laudable behavior and great learning in Syriac and Chaldean, which are the languages of the Rite of the people of Malabar, They worked with great zeal, and very soon they made the ancient virtues and fervor of Christian religion reflourish.