The Bible People Arrive India

The Bible People Arrive

Ancient Contact

It is said that the Jews (Hebrews) were in Kerala (Malabar) as early as during the reign of King Solomon of Israel (1000 B.C), based on a few Bible verses. In Exodus 35:1-24, spices mentioned, include cinnamon and cassia. I Kings 9:28 speaks of gold from Ophir, which place is identified with Sopara, north of Mumbai, or with Beypur in Kerala. 1 Kings 10:22 says that "Solomon's fleet of ocean-going ship brought several commodities, including ivory, apes and monkeys" which according to some historians, must have been from India.

The Jews of India include three major groups. Jews of Cochin, Kerala, Bene Israel of Maharashtra State, in and around Bombay, and the Baghdadis Arabic speaking immigrants to British India.

India: No Persecution

Since India has welcomed the Jews from earlier times, many of them migrated to this land through the ages. This is one of the reasons why Thomas the Jew, a disciple of Jesus came to India to introduce Jesus Christ to fellow Jews Jesus had already told his disciples to communicate the Gospel first to the Jews, then to the Samaritans (half Jew and half non-Jew), and then to the non Jews. No wonder the apostle Thomas dedicated his life for India. Another disciple of Jesus, namely Bartholomew is also said to have come to Kalyan, (now a part of Mumbai) in India in the first century A.D. and preached the Gospel.

Into India

It is traditionally believed that it was Apostle Thomas a disciple of Jesus Christ who brought Christianity to India arriving in Kerala in about A.D. 52 He was a jew by birth and once he met Christ, he became his follower He was a fisherman born in Galilee of Palestine On the basis of a few passages in the Old Testament of the Bible (1 Kings 9.28, 10:11; 10:22), the Jews of Kerala claim that they had been there several centuries before Christ According to S S Kodder, a leader of the Jews in Kochi Jewish contact with India may be traced to the 10 century BC. during the reign of King Solomon. India has an unbroken record of nearly 3000 years of hospitality to Jews A substantial number of Jews were believed to have settled in Kerala. Several historians suggest that the Jews came here in B.C. 973, 605, 586, and 539. Also when the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Titus in  A.D 70, many Jews emigrated to Kerala and other parts of India.

It is a historical reality that religious ideas also travelled through these trade routes. Christianity was no exception. Thus, following the well established sea routes, it is believed that Apostle Thomas left Alexandria and reached Taxila (Thakshasila,) capital of Indus (Punjab) between A.D. 48-49, during the reign of the Parthian king Gundaphorus. Through his preaching, according to traditional belief several local congregations were established in Kerala. This was the beginning of Christianity in India. These congregations were like the first century Christian gatherings of Jerusalem, having no priests, buildings or sign of the cross. They would have met in the houses of believing Christians. The communities in Kerala at that time included Dravidians, Buddhists, Jains, and Jews, it is believed. They respected each other. Several from all these communities became disciples of Christ.

According to historian, Dr. George Moreas, the Jewish community in Taxila and Kodungallur was one of the major attractions of Apostle Thomas to reach India. Then local rulers also welcomed and respected the Jews including Thomas.

(History of Christianity in India 6 volumes, Church History Association of India, Bangalore, 1984). It is said that Apostle Thomas later travelled eastward to Malacca and even to China Then he returned to Kerala and then went to Mylapore now part of the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu where he was pierced to death. It is believed that he had already preached the gospel in Parthia, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Media-Persia and Sri Lanka..

More Inflow

.....The first two centuries immediately following the Apostolic Age are almost a complete blank. However, as historian C. B Firth says, "a glimpse at the early Indian church is suggested by a passage in Eusebius, where he speaks of a visit of Pantaenus, a noted Christian teacher of Alexandria to "the land of the Indians" shortly before A.D. 190. Eusebius says that Pantaenus found among the Christians there a copy of the Gospel According to St. Matthew in Hebrew (Aramaic) characters, which was said to have been left by Bartholomew who had preached in that country. Though modern historians find it difficult to accept, the fact remains that there were Christians in India in the first century. On the basis of certain 7th and 10th century writings, which say that Bartholomew, a disciple of Jesus Christ, went to India, it also says that another follower of Jesus named Felix also came to India with the message of Jesus Christ. Some historians believe that this apostle was the founder of a Christian community at Kalyan, near Mumbai, since the Latin word Felix has the same meaning as the Sanskrit word "Kalyana". Thus many modern historians are of opinion that both Apostles Thomas and Bartholomew had their share of reaching India with the gospel of Christ. Pantaenus book, Universal Christian Topography said that there were Christians in Ceylon. Malabar and Kalyan from the early century... According to Syrian Christian tradition, there had been at least two major immigrations of Christians to Kerala from the Middle East. The first took place in A.D 345, consisting of 336 families under the leadership of Thomas the Canaanite (Kanai Thomman). They came from Canaan, which is Jerusalem and landed in Kodungalloor, and they were protected under a special law by the then king Cheraman Perumal. The second immigration was from Syria in A. D 823 under Mar Sapor and Mar Parut and Marwan Sabriso, where a number of families arrived in "Kollam" (C.B Firth Introduction to Christian Church History Serampor College,/ ISPCK, 1998, P19)

In 1321 under the Roman Pope. four Franciscan Friars along with a French Dominican Friar arrived in Thane in Mumbai, where they saw 15 families of Nestorian Christians who received them kindly. Leaving the Franciscans there, the French Friar, Jordan, left for Baruch in Gujarat. Meanwhile, the Franciscan Friars were killed by Mohammedans for preaching Christ as the Son of God.

European Waves

 

The second half of the 15th century is renowned for great voyages of discovery under Western Europe leading to the founding of colonial empires in America, Africa and Asia. The pioneers of this enterprise were Spain and Portugal. One of their desires was to find a new trade route to India. Thus the Portuguese voyager Vasco da Gama guided by an Arab pilet arrived in Kozhikode in 1498. Later, they came to Goa, Bassem, Kalyan, Mumbai, Kannur, Kodungalloor, Kochi, Kollam, Tutikorin, Nagapattam and Mylapore. The arrival of the Portuguese was the beginning of the Roman Catholic influence in India. Francis Xavier was their great leader. The natives who became Christians through the preaching of the apostle Thomas were unwilling to accept the authority of the Roman Catholic Church over them. However, the might of the Pope prevailed because of the political power of the Portuguese.

By the decree declared at the Synod of Diamper (Udayamperur in 1599, the Portuguese brought the Indian Christians under Roman Catholicism. But after 54 years, a substantial number of Christians, refusing to accept the authority of the Portuguese of the Pope, gathered together in Kochi on January 1653 and took an oath known as the Coonan Cross Oath. Thus, they parted ways with the Catholic Church.

Though the Malabar Christians parted ways, the Roman Catholics under the Jesuits continued the propagation of Christianity both in Kerala and in other parts of India. The Jesuit Father Robert de Nobille started the Madurai Mission in 1606. Father Constant Joseph Beschi was another famous personality of the Madurai Mission who became a master of the Tamil language. The Goa Mission took the initiative to start printing in India.

Spreading the Message

During the early 18 century, while the Jesuits were carrying on the work in Tamil Nadu, the Protestant missionaries also came to this part of South India. Besides Portugal, other trading companies of the Europe had already arrived in India. Most of the newcomers were Protestants.

The Dutch settled in Pulikat (1609), Sadras (1647), and Negapattam (1660): The British at Masulipattam (1622), Madras (1609) Cuddalore (1683) and Calcutta (1689) The French at Pondicherry (1674) The Danes at two places whose names are household words in Indian church history: Tranquebar (Tarangambadi), in what is now the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu (1620), and Serampore (1676) in Bengal near Kolkatta.

The French were Roman Catholics but the rest were Protestants, and it was in their stations that Protestant Mission work began. Not that it was in any way their policy to spread Protestant Christianity among the people of India. Far from it, they had no such intentions. Their sole aim was trade and profit. They brought chaplains to minister to their own people. But they made no attempt to officially spread Christianity.

According to the Bible, Christianity does not have a headquarters anywhere in the world. Each local congregation is independent in matters of faith and administration, though there is a spiritual fellowship between them, locally and globally. Thus, the Indian Christians with 2000 years of history have been a great influence to the prosperity and welfare of the nation. Jesus Christ has asked them to be a blessing to the society as 'salt of the earth' and 'light of the world'.

This was how the Bible people came to India. Now, let us find out what this book Bible is all about?