Remembering grandfather

A man who would not shake even if the earth trembles – that was my maternal grandfather KC Abraham (Kallivayalil-Konduparambil). People respectfully called him ‘Pappan Chettan’. To us, he was ‘Ichachan’.

He was an uncrowned king. But then, there was the turban. The public believed that the Travancore Maharaja had granted him the privilege to wear it. That is not confirmed. He would remove the headgear only before peers and while praying or eating. A whispered joke was that he even slept with the turban on.

Ichachan’s dress code was unusual too. At a time when Kerala men usually did not use an upper garment, he wore white juba (kurta) and dhoti. In his book Pala – Ente Gramam, KC Thomas Kuttiyani says that Ichachan was perhaps the first in Kerala to use juba.

The man loved children but rarely expressed it. One exception was his first grandchild, my elder sister Mariamma. But when it came to manly matters, ‘men’ were preferred. I was the only one he took along to see a tiger which had fallen into an elephant pit in the forests a few miles from the house near Palai. Eight years old then, I was so excited and proud.

Among grandfather’s many achievements, the greatest was providing land to small farmers. With the expansion of organized plantations, land for cultivation became scarce. Ichachan acquired 7000 (one version says 5000) acres in Peruvanthanam (between Mundakayam and Peermade) and distributed it among the landless on sharecropping basis. It was a historic event.

The small army of beneficiaries rallied behind Ichachan when the Travancore Government wanted his help twice. One was when Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India (1926-1935), decided suddenly to go on a shikar to what is now Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Government machinery could not organize the safari which also involved construction of accommodation for the Viceroy and entourage in the dense forest. Ichachan who was a good hunter too, stepped in with his men and made the arrangements. The excellent facilities at Edapalayam in the Periyar Lake were originally built by him for the distinguished guest. The Viceroy honored him with a commendation.

The other instance was when the famous historian Fr. Henry Heras SJ wanted to explore Nilakkal (Chayal) deep in the forests. It used to be an important station on the ancient trade route between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Ichachan organized the expedition.

Once I accompanied him to the Trivandrum zoo. We reached in time to see the lions being fed. Ichachan asked the keeper how much food was given to the animals. ‘Two kilograms,’ the man replied. With a sad smile Ichachan responded, ‘No wonder they look starved.’

Larger than life, Ichachan was! He died on February 8, 1972 at the age of eighty-one. KERALA CHRISTIANS – Their Contribution to India* says of him ‘He was known for his bravery and courage, a man with an enquiring mind, and a great capacity for action. Though stern in demeanour, he had tremendous compassion and a fine sense of humour.’

Ends.

*Edited by Francis Mathew Alapatt and Bernadine Joseph.

Also see:
Gold color chips and a golden hearted Lady

Vedas, Syrian Christians

I had started writing this about eight months back, but somehow missed completing it and publishing. What prompted me to take up the subject was a report in the New Indian Express of June 22, 2007, which contained a statement that Vedic Pundits were not permitted to learn English

Many of you, I am sure, know more about the Vedas than I do. Nevertheless, a brief note on the basics. The four Vedas - Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda - are the primary Sacred texts of Hinduism. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are also greatly influenced by these scriptures.

There is a difference though. Hinduism considers that the Vedas (which means knowledge) are not human compositions but Wisdom that was ‘struti’ (heard). In other words they are Revealed Wisdom. The other religions mentioned above do not seem to concede the divine origin of the Vedas.

Different views are seen about the period when the Vedas came into existence. Wikipedia quotes Radhakrishnan and Moore: “The Vedic Period is dimmed by obscurity, but it may be placed between 2500 and 600 B.C.” It seems to be generally accepted that the Vedas were present in oral tradition long before they were reduced to writing.

The Vedic chants were always in Sanskrit. Therefore, the Pundits had no need to learn English. Whether there was a specific ban on them studying the foreign language/s is not very clear.

The Syrian Christians (Catholic denomination) of Kerala were discouraged or banned in the 19c from learning English because it was, at that time, considered by the Church hierarchy to be the language of the Protestants. Another restriction for this community during the same period related to Carnatic music because it invoked Hindu gods!

But historically, the theology and philosophy of the Syrian Christian community of Kerala had a strong root that could be traced to the Vedas. There was no conflict, That was not surprising. According to the great scholar, Father Bede Griffiths of Kurisumala fame, the Vedanthas are the greatest source of natural theology.

Ends.
Also see: History of conversions to Christianity in Kerala – an overview

Public Domain image of Rigveda from Wikimedia Commons.

History of conversions to Christianity in Kerala – an overview

This article takes a brief look into the history of conversions to Christianity in Kerala. The Christians of the State can be broadly categorized into three: Syrian Christians who are believed to have been converted from the upper castes (whether such distinction existed at that time is not clear) by Apostle St. Thomas in 1c, Latin Christians who were converted mostly from lower classes by St. Francis Xavier in the 16c and Dalit Christians who were converted in the 19c by the Anglicans and in the 20c by the Catholic denomination of the Syrians. The labels Syrian and Latin came about because of the respective languages that were used in liturgy. (See: Jewish names among Syrian Christians.)

The Syrian Christian community is referred to by historians as Malabar Church and St. Thomas Christians. This congregation was, till the intrusion by the Western Christianity with the arrival of the Portuguese, a distinctive Eastern Church with the Pope of Rome as a hazy father figure at the far end of a thin long line.

Being a Syrian Christian is a matter of birth and inherited religious convictions. Therefore, conversion to that community is an anomaly. In all its known history till the 20c, the Malabar Church never undertook any missionary work. The theology of the community was that every human being achieved salvation through his own religion; a conclusion that modern Christian theology is increasingly accepting. Spreading the Word of Christ and induced or forced conversions to Christianity are two totally different things. As a result, the Syrian Christians remained an exclusive community to which outsiders had no entry.

Two questions arise here: why then did St. Thomas carry out conversions and, why did he convert only the so called upper classes? The Apostle would have, if one accepts oral tradition, received into the Christian fold only those who came forward willingly and out of conviction. On the question of the claimed class distinction in the conversions by the Apostle, it is necessary to understand the background of his mission. His arrival in Kerala (52A.D.) was before the gentiles were accepted into Christianity. Even the word ‘Christian’ did not exist at that time; it was coined in Antioch around 65 A.D. Till then the followers of Christ were known as Nazranis, a name that continues to be used in Kerala.

It is possible that St. Thomas initially targeted the Jews who were already in Kerala. (Several historians claim that the Jews were trading with Kerala even at the time of King Solomon.) Some of the upper crust local people too, presumably, joined the new faith. Here ‘upper crust’ would mean the educated or enlightened who, according to oral tradition, engaged the Apostle in debates.

The Malabar Church enjoyed an organic growth for fifteen centuries, blending with the social structure and being part of it, conforming to the customs and traditions of the land, maintaining upper class stature, receiving support and recognition from the rulers.

The Portuguese arrived in Kerala at the end of the 15c. They initiated a campaign to convert the local Christians (who followed Syriac liturgy) to the Latin Rite. This met with incessant resistance. The net result in the long run was that the Malabar Church was truncated and split into different denominations. Of these, the Catholic faction was subjugated by the Western Latin Church for three centuries.

The arrival of St. Francis Xavier in the middle of the 16c saw a flourish in missionary activity. This great saint of the Catholic Church converted many people of the lower castes to Christianity. He had the patronage of the Portuguese and the maharajas of Travancore and Cochin. In fact, the Maharaja of Cochin had the title ‘Protector of Christians’.

But there were protests against these conversions from the upper classes not on religious grounds but for social and economic reasons. Accepting Christianity released the converts from their obligations under the fine tuned caste system. This led to several problems. To give an example: the coconut pickers who became Christians were no longer under any compulsion to carry out their traditional duty.

This new congregation came to be known as Latin Christians. Whereas the Syrian Christians always enjoyed upper class status, the Latin Christians were treated as lower caste and there were hardly any social interaction between the two. After Independence, the Latin Christians were officially included in the backward class category.

The next round of conversions to Christianity in Kerala was in the 19c by the Anglicans, now known as Church of South India (CSI), who came to Kerala in the wake of the British in the first quarter of the 19c. This episode covered both Syrian Christians and members of some lower castes. The Anglicans championed major causes of the Dalits, like the right of Channar women to cover their breasts in public, and the abolition of slavery. This attracted lower castes to the new edition of Christianity in Kerala.

Then, in the early 1930s, the Syrian Catholic Church suddenly went on a conversion spree against all traditions of the St. Thomas Christians, focusing specifically on the Pulayas who were among the untouchables. They were bonded labor attached to landlords, both Hindu and Christian. Anizham Thirunal Maharaja abolished slavery in Travancore in the mid -19c, but the practice continued in one form or the other till the World War II. The Pulayas were totally at the mercy of their lords. The prospect of joining Christianity appealed to many of them.

Whether all these conversions were genuine, arising out of conviction is debatable. The details about the activities of St. Thomas in Kerala are shrouded in the foggy past. But by no stretch of imagination could he have had the political, financial or military clout to indulge in coercion. The subsequent conversions are unlikely to pass the test because there was an element of quid pro quo involved, in one way or another.

The present scenario in Kerala is that the label ‘Christians’ covers diverse groups without meaningful homogeneity or integration.

Ends.

Also see:

Vedas, Syrian Christians