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Syrian Malabar Nasrani
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The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians 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 Christians or Syrian Christians. They 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.
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The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians 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 Christians or Syrian Christians. They 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 in Kerala. The descendants of Arabs are called Muslim Mappila, while 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 Syrian Malabar Nasranis are the descendants of the natives and Jewish diaspora in Kerala who became Christians in the Malabar Coast in the earliest days of Christianity. 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. They are popularly known as Syrian Christians in view of the Syriac (classical form of Aramaic) liturgy used in church services since the early days of Christianity in India.
History
Origins
The Syrian Malabar Nasranis are some of the earliest people who joined Christianity in India and many Malabar Jews from the Jewish diaspora of the pre-Christian era who were settled in Kerala. The possibility of the early converts being partially or fully from the '10 Lost Tribes of Northern Kingdom of ancient Israel' can not also be ruled out (Ref. Asahel Grant's 'The Nestorians or the Lost Tribes, published in 1841). The community also comprises several ancient Aramaic Christian settlements in Kerala which included Nestorians who were fleeing persecution. The most prominent immigrations took place during the 4th and 9th centuries. The Knanaya Nasranis claim to be the descendants of one such group of 4th century immigrants. The Syrian Malabar Nasranis are related to the Cochin Jews and to Ashkenazi Jews which is proved recently by DNA studies on the community. Some of them also are reported to carry the Cohen gene marker,Cohen Modal Haplotype, indicating Aaronite descent for some.
Some writers claim that the first converts were mainly the Brahmins of Kerala called the Namboothiris, but others argue that the claims were made by the later Christians to obtain special caste status in the prevailing caste system of India as no single historical evidence exists to support the claim. A notable point is that the Namboothiri history claims their origin in Kerala in the seventh century CE, while Christianity in India originated in the first century CE, after St Thomas was speculated to have landed in Kerala at 52 AD. Besides several of the locals who joined early Christianity returned to their earlier faith during a Shaivite revival by the Shaivite scholar Manikkavacakar.
Thus the community consists of people from many ethnic groups of Kerala including the pre-Christian era Jewish diaspora(Cochin Jews), different trading diaspora of Muziris, local Malayalee converts, Aramaic Christian settlers of successive centuries and the Knanayas.
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 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 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 exclusionary Jewish sects within the Nasranis called Essenes. The embassy of Alfred in 833 CE described the Nestorian Syrian Christians as being prosperous and enjoying high status in the Malabar coast. Marco Polo also mentioned the Nasranis and their ancient church in the Malabar coast in his writings Il Milione
Nasrani DNA
The Nasranis of Malabar are of Hebrew or Israelite(Jewish) heritage but not much is known of their past, making it difficult to be certain that they are also descended from the 'Lost Tribes'. (Ref. Dr. Asahel Grant's 'The Nestorians or the Lost Tribes of Israel' for more about the Nazarenes and Nestorians). There is Y-DNA(specifically Haplogroup J) found in many Nasranis today. Most of the Nasranis might be mixed of Malayali, Jewish, Persian,and Portuguese ancestry through historic and genetic evidence.Cohen Modal Haplotype
is a common gene that is typically found in most of the Nasrani community.It proves that they have have Jewish ancestry.
Epigraphy
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 or 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.
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
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 Nazrani, 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, 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
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 the Gospel of Thomas and the Acts of Thomas. The purpose stated by Menezes was to erase all legacies of antiquity and Jewishness. Amongst several accusations, the Nasranis were accused of not worshiping images of saints and biblical figures. They completely obliterated the records of early Nasrani life and Hebrew-Syriac tradition and imposed on the Nasranis that they were local people who were converted and not descendants of early Jewish settlers converted to Christianity by the Apostle Thomas. This despite the fact that the Acts of Thomas (a copy of which still survives in a monastery on Mount Sinai), states that the early Christian converts by the apostle Thomas in Kerala were early Jewish people settled in the Malabar coast.
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.
Nasrani people today
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).
Nasrani people today belong to various Christian denominations of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition. See Saint Thomas Christians for a detailed description of the various denominations.
There is also a small population of atheists in the community as well.
Demographics
Nasrani people largely live in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Trichur, and Wayanad, Kannur, Kozhikode in Kerala. They have also migrated to other cities in India like 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 5,000,000 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.
Increasing migration and decreasing birth rate are endangering the Syrian Christian community in Kerala. The situation is likely to worsen in the coming decades and the community would soon enter the zero population regime. The community is facing a Parsi syndrome. Already about 25 percent of Syrian Christians live outside Kerala with a huge population living outside India. Very soon, the majority of them would be living outside and in 50 years time, the demography of Christian population in the state would change drastically.
Atheist Nasranis
There are some Nasranis that do not practice Christianity but instead believe in atheist and rationalist ideals. Some of these individuals include A.K. Antony, Abu Abraham , and M.C. Joseph who were born to Nasrani families but don't believe in the idea that there is a God. M.C. Joseph who is a Nasrani was one of the co-founders of the atheist/rationalist journal Yukthivadi.
Nasrani symbol
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.
See also
External links
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