The Syrian Christians of Kerala from the 1st to the 15th Century: A Historical Reconstruction

> Abstract

The present study traces the formation, consolidation and ecclesial-cultural evolution of the Syrian Christians of Kerala—the so-called St Thomas Christians or Nasrani—from their legendary 1st-century origins to the eve of the Portuguese incursions in 1498. By collating epigraphic, literary and foreign-travel evidence, the paper argues that the community’s early identity was forged through repeated waves of West-Asian immigration, sustained maritime commerce with the Persian Gulf, and strategic integration into the socio-political fabric of medieval Kerala.  

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1. Introduction: Geography, Sources and Terminology  

The label “Syrian Christian” is not ethnic but liturgical; it signals the community’s historic use of Syriac/Aramaic in worship and its jurisdictional allegiance to the Church of the East centred in Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Geographically, the community was concentrated between Cranganore (Kodungallūr) and Quilon (Kollam), the twin emporia of the Malabar Coast.  

Primary sources are sparse and often polemical:  

- Indigenous: copper-plate grants, palm-leaf chronicles (Rāṣṭrakūṭa pattayam, Kollam tarisappally), and Syriac-Malayalam manuscripts.  

- Foreign: Acts of Thomas (3rd–4th c.), Nestorian patriarchal letters, and the travelogues of Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th c.), Marco Polo (13th c.) and Niccolò de’ Conti (15th c.).  

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2. First-Century Foundations: The St Thomas Legend  

Local tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas landed at Maliankara near Cranganore in AD 52, preached among Nambudiri Brahmins and Cochin Jews, founded seven churches, and was martyred at Mylapore. While modern historians treat the narrative as hagiography, there is numismatic and ceramic evidence of 1st-century Levantine trade at Muziris (Pattanam), suggesting that early Jewish-Christian merchants could have formed the nucleus of a coastal congregation.  

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3. 4th–6th Centuries: Thomas of Cana and the Persian Connection  

The Knāyānāya (Southist) tradition records the arrival of Thomas of Cana, a Persian merchant, in AD 345 with 400 Syriac-speaking Christians and clergymen. The Quilon copper-plates (c. 849) issued by Āy king Sthanu Ravi granted the settlers land, tax privileges and jurisdiction over the Anjuvannam merchant guild.  

Simultaneously, Nestorian missionaries of the Church of the East began appointing bishops for India; David of Basra evangelised in the region c. 295–300. By the 6th century an East-Syrian ecclesiastical province—the Metropolitanate of India—was listed in the synodicon of Patriarch Ishoʿyahb II (628–46).  

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4. 7th–9th Centuries: Royal Patronage and Maritime Networks  

The Chera Perumals integrated the Christians into the manigramam trade corporations, allowing them to dominate the pepper and teak export to the Gulf. The Kollam tarisappally grant (c. 849) mentions a church dedicated to St Thomas and the royal confirmation of 72 mercantile privileges.  

Two Persian bishops—Mar Sabrishoʿ and Mar Piruz—arrived in AD 823 to reorganise liturgy and ordination, cementing the Malabar Church’s dependence on the Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.  

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5. 10th–12th Centuries: Social Stratification and Cultural Synthesis  

Syrian Christians adopted Nair-style matriliny (marumakkathāyam), wore the pūṇūl sacred thread, and claimed kṣatriya status, serving local rulers as cavalry soldiers, accountants and ship-captains. Intermarriage with Nasrāṇi Jews and Nairs created a “Northist” majority, while the endogamous Knāyānāya minority preserved West-Asian lineages.  

Liturgy: the East-Syrian rite of Addai and Mari was celebrated in Syriac, but sermons and hymns drifted into Malayalam; canonical texts were copied on palm leaves in Garshuni Malayalam script.  

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6. 13th–14th Centuries: External Recognition and Internal Expansion  

- Marco Polo (1292) described the tomb of St Thomas at Mylapore and noted “Nestorian Christians all about the country”.  

- Jordanus Catalani (c. 1324) recorded 30,000 faithful in the Quilon diocese alone.  

- The Chera-Chola wars (11th–13th c.) displaced Syrian Christians inland to the Nilgiri foothills and the Kuttanad backwaters, where new parishes (pallikkaras) were established.  

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7. The Eve of Portuguese Contact (1498): A Community Profile  

Feature Description 

Population Estimates range from 100,000 to 200,000. 

Ecclesiastical Structure 5 dioceses under a Metropolitan of Angamaly; bishops still sent from Babylon. 

Liturgical Language Syriac (clerical), Malayalam (vernacular). 

Social Status Ranked just below Nambudiri Brahmins and Nairs; exempt from poll-tax and corvée. 

Economic Role Monopolised black-pepper brokerage, ship-building and royal finance. 

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8. Conclusion: Continuities and Disruptions on the Threshold of the 16th Century  

By 1498 the Syrian Christians had evolved from a loose network of Jewish-Christian traders into a landed, literate and militarily useful elite, woven into Kerala’s braided caste order yet oriented liturgically and commercially toward the Persian Gulf. The arrival of Vasco da Gama would rupture this equilibrium, inaugurating the turbulent “Portuguese period” of forced Latinisation and schism.  

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References  

: Oommen, Emil Manu. Syrian Christians in Kerala and their Enterprising Ventures, Research Guru, 2023.

: Encyclopedia.com, “Syrian Christians in India”.

: Philip, T.V. East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia, ch. 7.

: Kerala Museum, Chaldean Syrian Christians in Kerala, 2024.

: Joy, Emy. Christian Manuscripts of Kerala, CEU, 2019.