Medieval Period
The Saint Thomas Christian community was further strengthened by various Persian immigrant settlers, the Christian-Jewish Knanaya colonies of 3rd century, Manichaeanism followers, Babylonian Christians settlers of 4th century AD, the Syrian settlements of Mar Sabor Easo and Proth in 7th century AD and the immigrant Persian Christians from successive centuries.
Local rulers in Kerala gave the St. Thomas Christians 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 in the possession of the Syrian churches of Kerala which include the Thazhekad Sasanam, the Quilon Plates (or the Tharisappalli Cheppeds), Mampally Sasanam and Iraviikothan Chepped etc. Some of these plates are said to be dated around 774 AD. Scholars have studied the inscriptions and produced varying translations. The language used is Tamil in Tamil letters intermingled with some Grantha script and Pahlavi, Kufic and Hebrew signatures.
The ruler of Venad (Travancore) granted the Syrian Christians seventy two rights and privileges which were usually granted only to high dignitaries. These rights included exemption from import duties, sales tax and the slave tax. A copper plate grant dated AD 1225 further enhanced the rights and privileges of Nasranis.
The South Indian epic of Manimekalai (written between 2nd and 3rd century AD) mentions the Nasrani people by referring to them by the name Essanis. The embassy of King Alfred in 883 AD sent presents to St. Thomas Christians. Marco Polo who visited in 1292, mentioned that there were Christians in the Malabar coast. The Saint Thomas Christians still use the Syriac language (a dialect of Aramaic, which is also the language that Jesus spoke) in their liturgy. This group, which existed in Kerala relatively peacefully for more than a millennium, faced considerable persecution from Portuguese evangelists in the 16th century. This later wave of evangelism spread Catholicism more widely along the Konkan coast.
Read more about this topic: Christianity In India
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