Peeters

ARAM, 21 (2009) 289-321. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.21.0.
2047097
CLASSICAL SYRIAC AS A MODERN LINGUA FRANCA IN

SOUTH INDIA BETWEEN 1600 AND 20061
Dr. ISTVÁN PERCZEL

(University of Tübingen & Central European University, Budapest)
I. INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF SYRIAC IN INDIA BEFORE THE

PORTUGUESE PERIOD
In South India there lives one of the most ancient Christian communities
of the world. According to its own founding traditions it consists of two ele-
ments: a majority descending from autochthonous Indian populations, among
whom the first members were converted – according to tradition – by the
Apostle Saint Thomas, and a minority descending from Syrian colonists who
– once again according to the local tradition – arrived in India through the sea
routes from Persia using the monsoon winds. These two communities are
called the Northists (Vadakkumbhagar), that is, the autochthonous Indians, and
1
In whatever new material is presented in this study, the author has no personal merit. This
material is the fruit of the joint efforts of a team, which, recently, has founded an Indian Asso-
ciation for the Preservation of the Saint Thomas Christian Heritage. Unfortunately, each and
every one of those who are working in the folds of and for this Association cannot be remem-
bered by name. To mention only a few among many, particular gratitude is due on the part of the
author to the following: to Mar Aprem, Honorary President of the Association, to whom he owes
all his knowledge on the Chaldean Syrian Church in Thrissur and its antecedents, as well as on
its documents; to His Beatitude, Baselios Thomas I, the Catholicos of the Malankara Jacobite
Syrian Orthodox Church of India, who gave him access to Syrian Orthodox collections and inscrip-
tions and who graciously allowed their publication; to Cardinal Joseph Varkey Vittayatthil and
Bishop Thomas Chakiath, who gave him access to the Syro-Malabar collections; to the Prior and
the Librarian of Saint Joseph’s Monastery Mannanam, Frs. James Thayyil and Saji Cherumudham,
as well as to the late Fr. Antony Vallavanthara, all three Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, to whom
he owes the knowledge of the stupefying Mannanam collection; to Fr. Johns Abraham Konat, who
several times has opened to him his wonderful personal collection; to his close collaborators,
Fr. Ignatius Payyappilly and Dr. Susan Thomas, office bearers of the Association, as well as
Mr Geejo George, without whose help not a single step could have been taken; to Rev. Dr. George
Kurukkoor, to whom he owes whatever he knows about Old Malayalam and its scripts, particu-
larly Garshuni Malayalam; indescribable is his gratitude to Prof. Hubert Kaufhold, who has been
a teacher for the uneducated, that is, for the author, being an autodidact in Syriac, and a most
valuable external collaborator of the Association. Everything presented here is based on a digitis-
ing and cataloguing project, now carried on by the aforementioned Association and supported by
the German Research Council (via the University of Tübingen) and Hill Museum and Manuscript
Library, Collegeville, MN. The author is also thankful to the able technicians of the digitising
project, without whose diligent work nothing could have been accomplished. Last but not least
he is happy to thank his friend, Matthew Suff, for carefully proofreading the manuscript of the
present study.
1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 289 21/04/10 09:06

290 CLASSICAL SYRIAC AS A MODERN LINGUA FRANCA IN SOUTH INDIA
the Southists (Thekkumbhagar), that is, the descendants of the Syrian colo-
nists. However, even the founding legends are not that simple. In fact, these
legends know about an initial mingling of the two communities, that is, of the
indigenous Indians and the newly arrived Syrian Christians2, so that they claim
for both communities a mixed anthropological background. In this way, these
legends connect both communities to the symbolic (?)3 number of seventy or
seventy-two Syrian families arriving together with the merchant Thomas of
Kana at a date that is now generally believed to be 345 AD, but about which
earlier European travellers, colonisers and missionaries heard many divergent
relations, so that the date varies between the first and the eighth century4. It is
also true that some Indian Christian scholars recently advanced the hypothesis
that most of the Indian Syrian Christians, including the Northists, just like the
Muslims of the Malabar coast, are descendants of early immigrants, who inter-
married with local women and received a relatively high-caste standing from
the local kings. Hence the name Mappilai, equally used for Christians and
Muslims, and meaning “adopted child.”5 According to this hypothesis, due to
the trade connections there was a steady influx of immigrants on the Kerala
coast, antedating the Christian era, which brought not only Jews, Christians
and Muslims here, but also Chinese and other ethnicities. Moreover, we are
aware of the fact that Syrian Christian communities, other than the Southists,
migrated to India at a later date and became an integral part of the Northist
community, without any ecclesiastical or caste separation6.
2
See Mathias Mundadan, History of Christianity in India, vol. 1: From the Beginning up to
the Middle of the Sixteenth Century (up to 1542) (Bangalore: The Church History Association of
India, 1984), p. 95 ff.
3
While this number 72 looks like a symbolic one inspired by the Bible (the 72 elders appointed
by Moses and the 72 disciples of Christ), in fact, it is the product of a sheer misunderstanding: as
the original Thomas of Kana copperplates have been lost, all the narratives are based on a report
by Francisco Roz, first European Metropolitan of Angamaly/Kondungallur (1601-1624), entitled
Relação da Serra, whose unedited manuscript is in the British Library (MS BL Add 9853, ff. 86-
99). This document repeatedly speaks about 72 (once 62) houses built by Thomas of Kana’s
Syrian community, being – as T. K. Joseph has shown – a misunderstanding of the Malayalam
expression ezhupatthirandu viduperu – “seventy-two privileges” – reading vidu, “house,” with
long i, instead of vidu. See the “Observations” of T. K. Joseph on Rev. Monteiro D’Aguiar, “The
Magna Charta of the St. Thomas Christians,” translated and annotated by the Rev. H. Hosten, SJ,
Kerala Society Papers, series 4 (1930): 193-200, here p. 199.
4
M. Mundadan, op. cit., pp. 91-93.
5
A. Yeshuratnam, “Moplahs and Mappillais of Kerala,” manuscript given to the author
on 11 February 2008, in Trivandrum. According to Prof. Yeshuratnam, the Muslims are called
Chonaka Mappillas and the Christians Nasrani Mappillas. This seems to indicate an analogous
role played by them in the Indian society.
6
Source: “The History, Syrian Traditions and Contributions of Thulasserymanapurathu
Family,” Thulasseri Manappuratthu Tharavad Padinnyare Kallada-Kollam Kudumbha Charitra
Dayaraktari (Chengannur: Thulasseri Manappuratthu Tharavadu Smaraka Charitable Society,
1992), pp. 79-84, here p. 79, and Arun Babu Zachariah, “Judeo-Christian Diaspora in Kerala: An
Endeavour in Racial Integration and Resource Sharing,” Journal of Kerala Studies 34 (2007):
41-62, here pp. 46-52.

I. PERCZEL 291
Be this as it may, the Northists and the Southists among the Kerala Christians
constitute two different castes (jati) of the Hindu society, meaning endoga-
mous groups practising a number of characteristic traditional occupations, two
castes that, in principle, do not mingle either with other groups or with each
other. However, when the Portuguese arrived on the Malabar Coast at the end
of the fifteenth century, they found that the two communities belonged to the
same Church, that is, the Assyrian Church of the East, that they celebrated
the same East Syrian liturgy, were subject to the same Mesopotamian Bishop
and had as local head the same Archdeacon. In fact the latter was not only a
priest helping the Bishop, as it should be according to East Syriac canon law,
but also a princely person with enormous power over the community, who
usually went along accompanied with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of armed
soldiers7.
On the arrival of the Portuguese this community was mainly located in
the kingdoms of Cochin and Venad (Travancore), now corresponding to the
southern part of the present-day Kerala State of India, and a part of Tamil
Nadu, whence all its modern diaspora spread out. However, in earlier times
there lived Christians also on the Coromandel Coast, that is, in the region of
Chennai (Madras). These Christians, who must have undergone persecution at
the hands of the Hindus in the second half of the ninth century, partly con-
verted to Hinduism and partly left the Coromandel Coast and joined their
brothers and sisters in Kerala, with whom they intermarried8. At present they
are several million strong, and flourishing, and their diaspora is present every-
where in the world9.
7
On the Archdeacon, see Jacob Kollaparambil, The Archdeacon of All India, The Syrian
Churches Series, vol. 5 (Kottayam: The Catholic Bishop’s House, 1972). See also I. Perczel,
“Language of Religion, Language of the People, Languages of the Documents: The Legendary
History of the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala,” in Ernst Bremer, Jörg Jarnut, Michael Richter
and David Wasserstein, eds., Language of Religion – Language of the People: Judaism, Medie-
val Christianity and Islam (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2006), pp. 387-428. On the origins
of the Archdeaconate, which I tend to date to the beginning of the sixteenth century, see also
I. Perczel, “Four Apologetic Church Histories from India,” in The Harp: A Review of Syriac and
Oriental Ecumenical Studies 24 (2009), pp. 189-217.
8
Francisco Roz, SJ, in his Relação da Serra, mentioned above. Mundadan studied this man-
uscript and reports on it and other Portuguese sources: Mundadan, op. cit., pp. 71-75. Another
version of the story is contained in “Brevis notitia historica circa Ecclesiae Syro-Chaldaeo-
Malabaricae statum,” in Samuel Giamil, ed. and tr., Genuinae relationes inter Sedem Apostolicam
et Assyriorum Orientalium seu Chaldaeorum Ecclesiam: nunc maiori ex parte primum editae,
historicisque adnotationibus illustratae (Rome: Ermanno Loescher et Co., 1902), pp. 552-564,
here pp. 553-555. On this question, see also Perczel, “Four Apologetic Church Histories from
India,” referred to above in n. 7, pp. 192, 199-200.
9
One of the strangest phenomena is the fact that it seems to be impossible to tell how numerous
the Syrian Christians are. According to the data given by the Churches, their accumulated mem-
bership comes up to approximately seven million. However, one finds totally different numbers
in K. C. Zachariah, “The Syrian Christians of Kerala: Demographic and Socioeconomic Transition
in the Twentieth Century,” Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum Working Papers 322,

These Christians, that is, both communities, are known in South India up to
the present day as Nasranikkal, “Nazranies”: in fact corresponding to the
standard Middle Eastern naming of the Christians, but also as Suryanikkal, that
is, Syrian Christians. Although through the effects of colonial interventions and
through their own reactions to these interventions they are now split into four
different confessions and seven different churches, they have in common many
things, among which is a strong feeling of belonging together, and also the fact
that one of the bonds that ties them together is the common Syriac heritage10.
Notwithstanding the fact that this Syriac heritage is so important and deter-
mined the consciousness of these communities from times immemorial, we
have astonishingly sparse testimonies for their pre-colonial Syriac culture.
There is only one ancient manuscript preserved in Rome, written by an Indian
scribe in 130111; the other ancient manuscripts, preserved in European or
Indian libraries, are from the sixteenth century.12
We do not have any Syriac inscription that could be safely dated to the pre-
Portuguese period. It is true that there is an inscription containing a quotation
from St. Paul (Gal 6:14), on one of the old granite Persian crosses kept in the
Great Church (Valliyapally) of Kottayam. While the Valliyapally crosses, being
two out of the eight Persian Crosses to be found in India and Sri Lanka13,
are definitely datable to the time before 1550, when the Valliyapally church
was built and when these crosses were transferred from an earlier church in
Kodungallur, the Syriac inscription must be of a later date and must have been
incised after the cross’s transfer to Kottayam. This is what A. Desreumaux,
F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil suggest on the basis of epigraphic
from Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India, revised, at http://econpapers.repec.org/

paper/indcdswpp/322.htm, accessed on 20/02/08. According to Zachariah, the total number of
Christians in Kerala is ca. six million (precisely 5,928,552 for 2001), out of which only three
million belong to the Syrian Christians. Zachariah’s numbers are based on the Census reports of
Kerala for 1991 and 2001, the first being official and the second provisory. At the same time the
Churches claim that they possess precise data due to the parish records. While it is true that the
data of the Churches refer to their entire communities all over India and the world and while it
is also true that many of the Syrian Christians live in diaspora, such a discrepancy of ca. four
million people cannot be attributed to migration. Not being a demographist I have no clue as to
how to solve or to understand this mystery.
10
As every rule, this also has its exceptions. So Joseph Pulikkunnel claims that the Indian
Church had never belonged to the Persian Church of the East and had always been independent,
with its own liturgical language: J. Pulikkunnel, Identity of Nazrani Church of Kerala (Kottayam:
Indian Institute of Chrirstian Studies, 1997), passim.
11
This is Vat. Syr 22, completed by an Indian scribe, Zacharya bar Joseph bar Zacharya,
in Kodungallur, commemorating the Catholicos Patriarch Mar Yahballaha V (1283-1317). See
J. P. M. van der Ploeg, OP, The Christians of St. Thomas in South India and Their Syriac Manu-
scripts (Rome/Bangalore: Center for Indian and Inter-Religious Studies/Dharmaram Publications,
1983), pp. 3-4, 187-189.
12
See van der Ploeg. op. cit., passim.
13
The Persian crosses are those of Mailapur (Chennai) in Tamil Nadu, Kottayam (two crosses
in Valliyapally), Kadamattam, Alangad and Muttuchira in Kerala, Pilar in Goa and Anuradhapura
in Sri Lanka.

I. PERCZEL 293
evidence14. Earlier, F. C. Burkitt had come to a similar conclusion. He had

found a striking similarity between the letters used in the Kottayam inscription
and MS Cambridge Oo. I.8. in the Buchanan collection, a manuscript written
on European paper and datable to the seventeenth century or later. So this
inscription should not be considered earlier than the seventeenth century AD15.
There are also two Syriac inscriptions on granite crosses, one in Muzhikulam
and one in Koratty. The inscription on the upper cross bar of the Muzhikulam
cross reads thus: ‫ܐ ܕ ܘܕ ̈ܐ‬ ‫ܗ‬: “this is the King of the Jews” (Mk 15:26
and Lk 23:38 according to the Peshitta text)16. The Koratty cross is inscribed
on the upper and lower cross bars, as well as on the trunk in between the two
ܵ ܿ
cross bars; the upper cross bar inscription reads thus: ‫ܵܗ ܵ ܐ ܼ ܥ ܿ ܼ ܪ ܵܐ ܵ ܐ‬
̈ ܿ
‫( ܼܕ ܼܘܕ ܹܐ‬sic! with this punctuation): “this is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews” (Jn 19:19 according
̇ to the Peshitta); on the trunk, in between the two
cross bars there is ̇ ܵ (sic!) while the lower cross bar inscription reads thus: ‫ܵܗܐ‬
‫( ܸܐ ܹܗ ܵܕܐ ܵ ܵ ܐ ̇ܗܘ ܕ ܵ ܹ ̣ ܹ ܗ ܕ ܵ ܵ ܐ‬sic!) “behold, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29 according to the Peshitta)17. I am
unable to date these inscriptions, which may or may not be pre-Portuguese.
Now should we suppose that these inscriptions witness an influence of the
Latin custom of writing I.N.R.I. on the crosses? To accept or discard this doubt
we would need an appropriate methodology18. One, still inconclusive argu-
ment in favour of dating not only these inscriptions but all the ancient granite
crosses to the Portuguese period is the content of a Vattezhuttu Malayalam
inscription in Muttuchira, discovered in 1930, which, according to its deci-
pherer, A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar, reports on the replacement of an earlier
14
A. Desreumaux, F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil, “Témoignages épigraphiques
syriaques des Églises du Kérala,” in F. Briquel-Chatonnet, M. Debié and A. Desreumaux, eds.,
Les inscriptions syriaques (Études Syriaques 1) (Paris: Geuthner, 2004), pp. 155-169, here
p. 165. The authors place the construction of the Valliyapally church and, thus, the transfer of the
crosses from Kodungallur, to ca. 1500, while the local tradition knows about a later date: 1550.
The same dating can be found in F. Biquel Chatonnet – A. Desreumaux – J. Thekeparampil,
Recueil des inscriptions syriaques, tome 1: Kérala (Paris: De Boccard, 2008), p. 94.
15
F. C. Burkitt, “The Buchanan MSS at Cambridge,” Kerala Society Papers, series I (1928):
40-44 (reprint Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: The State Editor Kerala Gazetteers, 1997). This ref-
erence is to be added to the bibliography on the inscription given in F. Briquel Chatonnet –
A. Desreumaux – J. Thekeparampil, Recueil…, p. 96.
16
See Table 1. The inscription was first published in F. Briquel Chatonnet – A. Desreumaux –
J. Thekeparampil, Recueil…, p. 140 and dated – with doubts – to the nineteenth century.
17
See Table 2. The inscription was first published in F. Briquel Chatonnet – A. Desreumaux –
J. Thekeparampil, Recueil…, pp. 81-82 and dated by the authors – with doubts – to the sixteenth-
seventeenth centuries. The transcription by the authors contains a small number of mistakes, such
as ‫ ܗ ܵ ܐ‬for the correct ‫ ܵܗܐ‬and the erroneous observation (ibid. p. 82) that has an inferior dia-
critical point, while it is fully vocalised.
18
Rev. Dr. Peter Hill suggested me the idea that, perhaps, the Koratty inscription might be
influenced by the liturgical expression from the Latin mass: hic est agnus dei qui tollit peccata
mundi. However, the sentence, before belonging to the mass, belongs to Saint John’s Gospel. We
should see what the role of this Biblical verse was in the Malabar Chaldean liturgy reformed by
Francisco Roz in the early seventeenth century.

wooden cross at Muttuchira by a granite one in 158019. As, moreover, we only

have dated granite crosses from the sixteenth century onward, most probably
the inscribed Koratty granite cross also dates from this period.
With this, we can close the above, rather meagre, list of surviving actual or
potential pre-Portuguese Syriac documents20. Indeed, there is also a number of
manuscripts containing texts that were condemned as heretical at the Synod of
Diamper held in 1599, during which the Portuguese missionaries condemned
en bloc the local Christians’ Syrian culture and ordered the burning of a list of
manuscripts deemed “heretical.” However, none of the surviving manuscripts
is older than the sixteenth century: that is, none of these antedates the arrival
of the Portuguese in Malabar. Most of the surviving manuscripts that contain
texts condemned at Diamper are even later than the year 1599, proving that the
local Christians continued to copy the condemned texts, sometimes even as
late as in the nineteenth century21. Moreover, the condemned texts, as Chabot
had demonstrated22 and as further research has confirmed23, almost exclusively
contain texts written outside India and known from other sources, so that the
frequently repeated claim that the flames of Diamper destroyed the history of the
Indian Syrian Christians is in fact untenable24. If now we resume this survey
of actual or potential pre-Portuguese Syriac documents, we have to draw the
conclusion that, indeed, we have very little evidence for indigenous Syriac
literature in India before the Portuguese.
19
A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar, Travancore Archæological Series VII/I (Stone and Copper-plate
Inscriptions of Travancore with Plates) (Trivandrum: The Superintendent, Government Press,
1930), “Muttusira Inscriptions,” pp. 75-78, here p. 76.
20
The oldest historic Syriac inscription is the one commemorating the erection of the door-
way of the Mulanthuruthy church from 1575. The inscription was first published in S. P. Brock
and D. G. K. Taylor, The Hidden Pearl, 3 (S. P. Brock and W. Witakowski): At the Turn of the
Third Millennium: the Syrian Orthodox Witness (Rome: Trans World Film, 2001), p. 116, and
then in A. Desreumaux, F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil, “Témoignages épigraphiques",
pp. 158-159; see also A. Palmer’s book review in Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, Vol. 8,
No. 2 (July 2005) at http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol8No2/HV8N2PRPalmer.html: 12-13. The
inscription was re-published in F. Briquel Chatonnet – A. Desreumaux – J. Thekeparampil,
Recueil…, pp. 141-145.
21
On this subject, see I. Perczel, “Have the Flames of Diamper Destroyed All the Old Manu-
scripts of the Saint Thomas Christians?” Festschrift Jacob Thekeparampil – The Harp: A Review
of Syriac and Oriental Ecumenical Studies 20 (2006): 87-104.
22
J.-B. Chabot, “L’autodafé des livres syriaques du Malabar,” in Florilegium, ou recueil de
travaux d’eìrudition deìdieìs à Monsieur le Marquis Melchior de Vogüeì à l’occasion du quatre-
vingtième anniversaire de sa naissance. 18 octobre, 1909 [with a preface by Gaston Maspero]
(Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1909), pp. 613-623.
23
See Perczel, “Have the Flames of Diamper Destroyed All the Old Manuscripts,” referred
to above.
24
There are some surviving texts either in pre-Diamper manuscripts or in manuscripts con-
taining pre-Diamper texts, which seem to have been written in India in the sixteenth century.
I am not treating these here.

I. PERCZEL 295
II. THE ROLE OF SYRIAC IN INDIA IN EARLY MODERN AND

MODERN TIMES: LITERARY GENRES
Beginning with the period after the arrival of the Portuguese, we have abun-
dant evidence of Syriac being used on the Malabar Coast for many different
purposes.
As far as literature is concerned, we witness an incredible blossoming of
Syriac literature beginning with the sixteenth century, still very vigorous in the
nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, declining only at
the end of the same century. However, notwithstanding this decline, the latest
Syriac manuscript that I have seen and photographed in Kerala is dated to 2005
and was written by Chorepiscopa Curian Kaniamparambil, the great Malankara
malpan, that is, malfono – Doctor, of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church,
now 97, containing a devotional poem called Thousand Stanzas, a poem written
in a simple and crystalline Syriac, which I find very beautiful and enjoyable,
of definite literary quality. Father Curian Kaniamparampil has also rendered
into verse the Gospel of St. Matthew, and has written many other works in
Syriac25. However, this literary tradition is now close to extinction, due to a
simple and normal fact, namely the translation of the liturgy into Malayalam
in every church of the Suryani, by now accomplished, resulting in a rapid loss
of the Syriac language among the clergy.
There were many genres of Syriac literature practised in India, from among
which I will only treat six here.
II.1. Inscriptions
One literary genre, which seems to be absent or almost absent in the pre-
Portuguese period, appears together with the Portuguese colonisation, and
yields an abundant crop in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is Syriac
inscriptions. As A. Desreumaux, F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil
note in their first survey of the Kerala epigraphic material, this Syriac epi-
graphic corpus “comes to life when the others become extinct, at the end of the
Middle Ages.”26 For more information on this material the reader is directed
to that study and their recent collection of Syriac inscriptions in Kerala, cited
above.
25
Rt. Rev. Dr. Curian Kaniamparampil Cor-episcopa, The Gospel of St. Matthew / Moran
{Eth’o; 11 (Kottayam: SEERI, 1999). Father Curian is also the author of many historical and other
books, among others The Syrian Orthodox Church in India and Its Apostolic Faith (Detroit, MI:
Rev. Philips Gnanasikhamony, 1989). On Father Curian Kaniamparampil, see Pulickavil Achen,
Malankarayudae Manideepam (Light of Malankara): Kaniamparampil Achen, transl. from the
Malayalam by Dr. K. M. Cherian (Syrian Orthodox Bible Society of India, 2003).
26
A. Desreumaux, F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil, “Témoignages épigraphiques",
p. 167.

The modern epigraphic material in Kerala, as presented by Desreumaux,

Briquel-Chatonnet and Thekeparampil, is enormously rich. I would give only
a sample here, which has the literary merit of being closely linked to another
genre, the manuscript colophon, and also the historical merit of having been
written by a person of strong historical impact on modern Kerala Christianity,
Abdallah Sa†uf of ∑adad, born in 1833, who later became Patriarch of Antioch
under the name Mor Ignatius Abdallah II (1906-1915).
The inscription is preserved in the sanctuary of Saint Mary’s Jacobite Church
in Rakad27. In fact, in the Rakad sanctuary, there are two inscriptions at the
bottom of the murals, extending to almost the entire width of the eastern wall.
The first, written in red on an orange background, and thus barely visible,
commemorates the visit, on the 27th of Elul (September-October) 1852, to the
church of Mor Qurillos Yuyaqim of Tur Abdin, Metropolitan of Malabar. I do
not dare as yet to publish this first inscription, because I am undecided on
more than one of its elements, due to its poor visibility28.
The second inscription is written in a different handwriting, using a different
orthography. It is written in black paint and so, although some of its elements
have faded away or been erased, it can easily be read, while the missing ele-
ments can be restored using parallel material found in the Kerala manuscripts.
Here is a transcription and a translation of the second Rakad inscription:
‫̣ ̈ܪ ܐ | ܕܒ ܿ ܒ ܐܒ ܢ ܝ‬ ܼ ܼ ‫ܬܐ ܕ‬ ܼ ‫ܐܬܐ‬ܼ ‫̣ ܿ ܐ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܒ‬
ܵ ܿ ̄ ܿ
‫ܬܢ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ ܗ‬،‫ܼ ܐ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܘ ܕܐܘܪ‬ ‫ܓ ܓ ܼ ܪ ܣ ܒ ܗ ܕ ܼ ܗܪܐ ܐܘܪܗ ܐ‬
‫ܐܒ ܿ ܢ | ܒ ܐ ܢ ܝ‬ ̈ ‫ ܒ‬،‫ܐ ܕܨܘ ܐ ܪܒܐ‬ ‫ ̄ܡ ̄ ܒܐܕܪ ܐ‬29‫ܿܗܕܐ | ܒ ݀ ܐ ̄ ܙ‬
‫ܵ ܐ ܒ ܐܡ ܘܐܒ ܿ ܢ | ܝ‬ ‫ܿܣ‬ ‫ܼ ܒ ܬܪ ܐ ܿ ܼ ܐ ܘܐܒ ܿ >ܢ< ܝ ܒ‬ ‫ܐ ܼܓ ܐ ܿ ܣ‬
ܿ ܿ ‫ܼ ܪ ܼ ܿ ܣ ܼ ܿ ܼ ܕܐ ܼ ܪ ܐ ܕ ܝ >ܬܐܘ ܐ‬
‫>ܬܗ<ܘܢ‬ ܼ ‫ ܨ‬، ‫< ܕܒ ܼ ܒ‬30‫ܼ ܐ ܕ ܬܐ‬
̈ ܿ
‫̈ ܐܕܼ ܒ‬ ̈ ‫̈ܪܐ‬
‫ܘܙܕ ܐ‬ ܿ
‫ܐ ܕ ܬܐ ܕ ܕܒܐܘܪ‬ ܼ ‫ ܐ ܀ ܘ‬، <‫ـ>ܠ ـ‬
31
،<‫>ܘܬ ܼ ܒܐ‬ ‫ܕ ܒ‬ ‫ܗ ܕ ܐ ܒ ܗ ܕ ܐ ܰܨ ܰܕ ܳܕ ܐ ܘܨ‬ ‫ܘܐ ܿ >ܝ ـ<ܗܘܢ | ܬ‬
27
I deeply thank all those who showed me this inscription and obtained or granted access
for me to the church’s sanctuary: first and foremost Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, head of
the Malankara Jacobite Orthodox Syrian Church, the vicar of the church, Dr. Susan Thomas,
Mr. Geejo George and Dr. A. V. Zacharia, a fine Malayali Syriacist and historian, author of
several historical books in Malayalam, to whom I owe many historical explanations concerning
the church and the inscriptions.
28
This first inscription is deficiently published in F. Briquel Chatonnet – A. Desreumaux –
J. Thekeparampil, Recueil…, p. 178. The most important corrections are that the inscription is
written in red paint (not black) on an ocre background and that it correctly dates the construction
of the Rakad church to the year 1687 (not 1840) by Metropolitan Mor Ivannios Hidayat Allah.
29
Sic!
30
The three words ‫ܼ ܐ ܕ ܬܐ‬ ‫ ܬܐܘ ܐ‬have been either lost or erased from the inscription. For
their reconstruction, see my discussion of the text here below.
31
The last word, ‫ܘܬ ܼ ܒܐ‬, can be restored on the basis of the parallel expression in the colophon
of MS Kothamangalam Cheriyapally Syr 1, ff. 153v-154r, by the hand of the same Abdallah Sa†uf.
The inscription was partly published in A. Desreumaux, F. Briquel-Chatonnet and J. Thekeparampil,
“Témoignages épigraphiques," p. 160 and, then, almost completely in Recueil …, pp. 180-181,

I. PERCZEL 297
In the year 1856 of Christ there came to visit the Church of ours who are the
Syrians of Malabar, our Father Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur of Edessa, Metropolitan
of Jerusalem, Fifth Patriarch. Thereafter, he came to this church in the year 1857 of
Christ, on the 13th of Adar [March], in the middle of the Great Lent, in the days of
our venerable Father, the blessed Moran Mor Ignatios Yacqub II, and of our Father
Mor Baselios Behnam Maphrian and of our Father Mor Qurillos Yuyaqim, who
holds the See of Mor <Thomas the Apostle, of the Church> that is in Malabar – let
their prayers be upon us! Amen. And he collected oblations and alms from the
faithful of Malabar for the expenses of our Church in Jerusalem and his disciple,
the monk Abdallah from ∑adad, brought them <home>; and pray for the one who
has written this, the feeble <and wretched>32.
So this inscription commemorates the visit to the Rakad church, in 1857,

of Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur, Metropolitan of Jerusalem. The West Syrian
Metropolitans of Jerusalem incidentally held in their titles the expression
“Fifth Patriarch,”33 referring to the ancient Pentarchy established, interestingly
enough, at the Council of Chalcedon34. From other sources, too, we know
about this visit of Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur to Kerala. We also know that
the monk Abdallah Sa†uf of ∑adad accompanied him35. In fact, of this visit
there are many memories, commemorating Mor Gregorios’s arrival at different
places, such as a colophon in a manuscript of the Kallunkathara family col-
lection, commemorating his visit in Kottayam, and another one in Kothaman-
galam, commemorating his arrival at the Cheriyapally (“Small Church”), by
the hand of Abdallah himself. Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur himself commemo-
rated his success in collecting alms for – in fact – the renovation of Saint
Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem in two Garshuni Arabic inscriptions placed in
the monastery and published by Andrew N. Palmer and Jan van Gelder36.
by the same authors. My reading differs from theirs in some details where the text can be seen
and in the reconstruction of the missing parts, permitting the identification of the author, the
dating of the inscription and a better understanding of its context. Without the generous help of
Prof. Hubert Kaufhold I could not have understood this difficult inscription, or its historical
circumstances.
32
See Tables 3 and 4.
33
On this issue, see Hubert Kaufhold, “Zur Bedeutung Jerusalems für die Syrisch-Orthodoxe
Kirche,” in Walter Brandmüller, ed., L’idea di Gerusalemme nella spiritualità cristiana del
medioevo: Atti del Convegno internazionale in collaborazione con l’Istituto della Görres-Gesell-
schaft di Gerusalemme / Atti e documenti; Pontificio Comitato di Scienze; 12 (Rome: Libreria
Editrice Vaticana, 2003), pp. 132-165, here p. 138.
34
The Pentarchy is that of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Jerusalem
was elevated to the Patriarchal rank in 451, at the Council of Chalcedon. The anti-Chalcedonian
Churches, while rejecting the dogmatic decisions of Chalcedon, incorporated the council’s canonical
decisions in their canon law collections.
35
See Mor Filoxinus Yuhanna Dolabani, Die Patriarchen der syrisch-orthodoxen Kirche von
Antiochien (Glane: Bar Hebraeus, 1990), p. 258 ff. (Syr.). Mor Dolabani once writes Makhluf
and once Sa†uf: this may be a confusion between Abdallah Sa†uf, the later Patriarch, and Rabban
Abdallah Makhluf, the scribe of MS Jerusalem Syr 189. Information received from Prof. Hubert
Kaufhold.
36
A. N. Palmer and J. van Gelder, “Syriac and Arabic Inscriptions at the Monastery of Saint
Mark’s in Jerusalem,” Oriens Christianus 78 (1994): 33-63, here pp. 46-48.

As to the author and scribe of the inscription, from the final note in the inscrip-
tion – “and his disciple, the monk Abdallah from ∑adad, brought them <…>;
and pray for the one who has written this, the feeble <and wretched>” – he can
be hypothetically identified as being Abdallah Sa†uf, a hypothesis that becomes
fully proven by a study of the aforementioned colophon, which is in the same
handwriting and presents a longer text with almost the same content37.
As to the date of the inscription, initially there are three possibilities, given
that Abdallah Sa†uf visited India three times in his lifetime: first in 1856-1858,
secondly in 1875-1877, accompanying Patriarch Ignatius Peter III, and thirdly
in 1909-1911, when he was already Patriarch of Antioch. I would categorically
exclude the first date, given that the inscription says, in the past tense, that the
monk Abdallah brought the alms collected by Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur back
to Jerusalem, which the scribe obviously could not say before it had happened.
I would also exclude the third date, not only because, in the inscription, there
is no trace of the fact that the author would be a Patriarch, which Abdallah was
in 1910, but also because of the inscription’s similarity to the aforementioned
colophon written during the second visit38. So there remains to date the inscrip-
tion to 1875-1877, which also corresponds to the parallel colophon. It is inter-
esting to see that Abdallah, when he returned to India, felt it important to
commemorate his previous visit in the company of Mor Abd al-Nur, whom
apparently he still revered very much, as his former malfono and whose see he
was holding by then after his teacher’s demotion from his rank in 187139.
The inscription is easily readable, but contains two lacunae, due either to
accidental erosion or to conscious erasure. The first lacuna could be filled on the
basis of the memories of the aforementioned Dr. A. V. Zacharia, who had seen
the inscription before the erasure of this part, as well as from a slightly later
document, namely the letter of Pulikkottil Joseph Mor Dionysius V, Malankara
Metropolitan (1864-1909) (MS Kadavumbhagam Syr. 2, f. 5r and ff.), to a
certain Mor Dilson, Bishop of Kolkata. This letter begins with the following
words:
37
See the presentation of this colophon in the next section of the present paper.
38
In fact, what the scribe remembers here is his state during the visit of 1856-1858.
39
In 1872 he was consecrated Metropolitan of Jerusalem under the name Mor Gregorios
Abdallah. As we will see, the Kothamangalam colophon is signed under this name and bears the
seal of his consecration to the Jerusalem Metropolitanate. However, Abd al-Nur, who was
demoted because of a difference with the newly elected Patriarch, Ignatius Peter III (or IV,
according to some sources), was restored to his see in 1874. According to Palmer and van Gelder,
op. cit., p. 49, the successor of Mor Abd al-Nur, after the latter’s death in 1877, was George of
Sadad, his other disciple. How should one interpret, in this context, Abdallah’s claim, formulated
in the Kothamangalam colophon shortly after Abd al-Nur’s demise, that he was the rightful
Metropolitan of Jerusalem? Be this as it may, from 1881 to 1885 we see him as holder of the
episcopal see of Homs in Syria (information from Hubert Kaufhold).

I. PERCZEL 299
‫ܐ‬ ‫ܣ‬ ‫ܝܕ‬ ‫ܘܬܐ ܕ‬ ‫ܐܕ‬ ‫ܪ ܘ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܕ ܐ‬ ‫ܒ‬

‫ܢ ܝ‬ ‫ܐܘܬ ܐ ܕܐܒ ܢ‬ ‫ܼ ܐ ܬ‬ ‫ܒ ܪ ܐ ܕ ܝ ܬܐܘ ܐ‬ ܿ ‫ܘܬ ܒܐ ܕ‬
ܼ
‫ܐ ܐ ܐ‬ ‫ܘ ܐ ܐ‬ ‫ܐ ܕ ܪ ܐ‬ ‫ܐ ܓ ܣ ܐ ܐ ܪ ܐ ܕܪ ̈ ܐ ܘܪ ܐ ܕܪ ̈ ܬܐ ܕܐ‬
‫ܐ ܕܗ ܘ‬ ‫ܐ ܐܪ‬ ‫ܐܕ‬ ‫ܢܐ‬ ‫ ܢ ܕ‬،،‫ܐ‬ ‫̈ ܬܐ ܕ‬ ‫ܕ‬
،،،‫ܐ ܘ ܒ ܐ ܘ ܒ ܐ‬
In the name of the mighty God, who protects us and exalts our priesthood, Mor
Dionysius the feeble and wretched Metropolitan of all Malabar, <which is> the
See of Mor Thomas the Apostle under the authority of our Father Moran Mor
Ignatius Patriarch, the Head of the Princes <of the Church> and Shepherd of the
shepherds, of Antioch, the Mother of all the Churches, which has jurisdiction over
us today, to our brother, Mor Dilson, Bishop of Kolkata, the capital of India, the
glorious, blessed and venerable…
This text not only indicates that our reconstruction of the damaged part of
the inscription, conforming to the memories of Dr. A. V. Zacharia, is correct,
but also indicates the ecclesiastical context of the expression “the See of Mor
<Thomas the Apostle of the Church> that is in Malabar.” As we have seen,
Abdallah Sa†uf wrote the Rakad inscription when, in 1874, he visited Malabar
a second time, accompanying Patriarch Ignatius Peter III. The aim of the visit
was to confirm the Antiochian allegiance of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox
Church against the Protestant tendencies, which had just called to existence a
separate Syrian Protestant Church, namely the Mar Thoma Church. The Patri-
arch, aged 74, and his attendant, Abdallah Sa†uf, then Mor Gregorios, Metro-
politan of Jerusalem, were invited precisely by Pulikkottil Mor Dionysius V,
who in 1874, after the demise of Metropolitan Mor Qurillos Yuyaqim, took over
the Malankara Metropolitanate. Apparently, in those times of anti-Protestant
strife, the idea – recurrent in Malankara Church history – that the Malabar
Church is of Apostolic origin and is the See of Saint Thomas gained fresh
importance. It is also clear that both Abdallah Sa†uf and Pulikkottil Mor
Dionysius understood the apostolicity of the Malabar Church as being compat-
ible with the idea that it is under the jurisdiction of Antioch, “the Mother of all
the Churches.”
However, some decades later the inscription, whose origin and author were
by then forgotten, got into the midst of further debates. Although the British
Government of South India accepted the spiritual headship of the Patriarch of
Antioch over the Indian Syrian Orthodox Diocese, it refused to give “tempo-
ral” power to the Antiochian See, that is, direct interference with the actual
affairs of the Church. This was expressed in several court decisions beginning
with 1889. While the aforementioned Pulikkottil Joseph Mor Dionysius V
ignored these court rulings, his successor Gewarghese Mor Dionysius VI Vat-
tasseril wanted to abide by them. Abdallah Sa†uf, by then Antiochian Patriarch
(1906-1915), came a third time to Malankara (1909-1911), during which visit,
in 1911, he excommunicated Metropolitan Gewarghese Mor Dionysius and
appointed Metropolitan Paulos Mor Qurillos Kochuparambil (1911-1917) to

replace him. From that time onwards the Indian Syrian Orthodox Church was
virtually split. The virtual schism evolved into an actual schism when, in 1912,
Ignatius Abd al-Masih II, Abdallah’s predecessor in the Antiochian See (1895-
1905) and also his rival, founded an autocephalous Catholicosate of Kottayam.
Although in 1905 Abd al-Masih was deposed by the Synod of the Syrian Ortho-
dox Church, and this deposition was confirmed by the Ottoman government, this
status quo was not accepted by the faction led by Gewarghese Mor Dionysius.
So representatives of this party argued that neither the Synod’s decision nor
the withdrawal of support on the part of the Ottoman government made Abd
al-Masih lose his spiritual power. In 1912 Abd al-Masih came to India and
consecrated Murimattam Mor Paulos Ivannios as a Catholicos under the name
Mor Baselios Paulos I (1912-1914), with wide-ranging rights, de facto grant-
ing autocephaly to him, while neither Patriarch Ignatius Abdallah nor the fac-
tion led by Paulos Mor Qurillos accepted this development, whence a lasting
schism originated40. Naturally, both groups look back to historical continuity
with the Indian Syrian Orthodox Church existing in India from the year 1665
and governed by the Malankara Metropolitans until 1912. In the ensuing debate
the claim that the Indian Metropolitan See is that of Saint Thomas had become
an important element of legitimation in the discourse of the Catholicos’s party.
Interestingly, they were also invoking the testimony of this inscription, whose
authorship had fallen into oblivion but which, by then, still contained the expres-
sion “the See of Mor <Thomas the Apostle of the Church> that is in Malabar.”
This fact might have led to the subsequent erasure, by zealous Jacobites, of this
part of the inscription.
My aim here was only to enlighten the content and the history of the Rakad
inscription, without entering the difficult issues of legitimisation involved. One
should take heed of Susan Visvanathan’s warning: “The history of this period
is difficult and unfixed… Official histories, divided about the truth, are unac-
ceptable, and academic historians have been wary of handling this period.”41
The second lacuna is at the end of the inscription. It can be filled on the
basis of the aforementioned Kothamangalam colophon, containing the same
formulae, which I will treat in the next section.
40
See the history of this split in John Joseph, Muslim-Christian Relations and Inter-Christian
Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition (New York:
SUNY Press, 1983), pp. 141-142, seeing the story from the Catholicos’s party’s side; for an alter-
native narrative, seen from the side of the Patriarchal group, see Rev. Dr. Curian Kaniamparampil,
The Syrian Orthodox Church in India and Its Apostolic Faith, pp. 160-177. However, see also the
non-partisan treatment of the question by Susan Visvanathan in her The Christians of Kerala:
History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba (Delhi – Calcutta – Chennai – Mumbai: Oxford
University Press, 1999), Ch. 1, “Forms of Historical Consciousness,” pp. 24-68, approaching the
story from the human side through historical memory and viewing the schism not from the point
of view of legitimacy but rather of its consequences.
41
Visvanathan, op. cit., p. 32.

I. PERCZEL 301
II.2. Colophons
These considerations naturally bring us to another genre, the colophon of

the manuscripts. The scribe, having completed the laborious work of copying a
manuscript, feels the need to add some data about himself. The Malabar colo-
phons are rarely as elaborated as some of the Middle Eastern ones. Normally
the scribes content themselves with communicating some simple data, their
names, their father’s name, their family names, parishes, the time of writing,
or some of the circumstances of the writing. As such, they contain very valua-
ble historical information and I will use some of these in what follows. How-
ever, in some exceptional cases the colophon becomes quite long, and even
becomes a literary work in and of itself. Here I will focus my attention on the
person and scribal activity of Abdallah Sa†uf, the author of the inscription
previously presented.
In Saint Thomas’s Church, Kothamangalam (Cheriyapally, that is, the “Small
Church”), being today the Cathedral of the Jacobite Catholicos, there are four
Syriac manuscripts preserved. Among them MS Syr 1 is a liturgical book cop-
ied by Abdallah in 1877. Its elaborate colophon42 says the following:
[152v]43 Our Father Mor Gregorios Abd al-Nur of Edessa, who was from Meso-
potamia, Metropolitan of the See of Jerusalem, Fifth Patriarch, visited this church
of the Apostle Mar Thomas in Kothamangalam, in the Small Church44, in the days
of our Father, the venerable Moran Mor Ignatios Yacqub the Second, Patriarch of
Antioch, Great Pontiff of God. And he collected alms and oblations from the
[153r] priests and the Christians of Malabar, who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ,
through the cares of the glorious high priests of Malabar, our Father Mor Qurillos
Yuyaqim of Îbob, who is from Tur Abdin, and of the others – zealous visitators
[chorepiscopas], priests, stewards. These alms were collected for the expenses of
the holy Church of Jerusalem, in which is placed the glorified Sepulchre of
Christ45. Let God bestow goods and blessings that will not pass and will not be
dissolved upon all those who have cared and laboured in support of this holy
place. Yes and amen. All this happened in the year 1857 of Christ, on the 2nd of
the month of Adar and to God be glory, verily. Amen.
42
MS Kothamangalam Cheriyapally Syr 1, ff. 152v-153v.
43
On the margin of f. 152v there is also a note by Abdallah: “The departure of this Father
Gregorios, Metropolitan of Jerusalem, Fifth Patriarch, who was Abd al-Nur, of Edessa, occurred
in the year 1877 of Christ, on the eighth day of the month of Nisan, and his body was placed in
Jerusalem [… the rest, unfortunately, was cut when the book was rebound].” This date corre-
sponds to the one read on the funerary inscription of Mor Abd al-Nur in Jerusalem. See Palmer
and van Gelder, op. cit., pp. 48-49.
44
“Small Church”: in Malayalam Cheriyapally, to be distinguished from the older “Great
Church,” Valliyapally, dedicated to the Mother of God.
45
As in fact the expenses were those of Saint Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem, which Abd
al-Nur renewed using alms of diverse provenience (Palmer and van Gelder, op. cit., pp. 46-48),
one should perhaps understand that the “holy Church” mentioned here means the congregation
of Jerusalem rather than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

And with him there was his disciple, the monk Abdallah of ∑adad, from the
blessed city of Funiqi46 in the land of Syria, and pray for the one who has written
this, the feeble and wretched47.
[153v] In the name of the eternal necessary Being, the Substance that holds all
things, Whom you will praise, Gregorios Metropolitan of the See of Jerusalem,
Fifth Patriarch, who is Abdallah of ∑adad from the city of Funiqi.
[after that there comes the seal of Metropolitan Abdallah, with his year of con-
secration, 1872]
In the will of God and His incomprehensible judgments, in the year 1875, I came
with Moran Mor Ignatius, Great Pontiff of God, Patriarch of the Apostolic See of
Antioch, who is Peter the Third from Niniveh, from the city of Mosul. And the aim
of the coming of our aforementioned Lord was to visit and to make peace among
our people who are found in these places of Malabar. In the year 1877 of Christ it
was the lot of our feebleness to visit our spiritual sons of the parishes of the holy
churches of Saint Mor Thomas, the divine Apostle, among which also those of the
parish of the Mother of God Mary, who are in this blessed city of Kothamangalam48.
We saw them and rejoiced in them with great joy. They also rejoiced in our feeble-
ness and showed a reverence that is due to and befitting their fervent zeal and their
profound love towards the Fathers of Antioch. Let the Lord God bestow upon them
heavenly goods and blessings and let Him write their names and the names of their
departed and of all the faithful departed in the Book of Life, together with our
Father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the righteous and just, through the
prayers of the Mother of God Mary and of all the saints. Yes and amen. All this was
written on the tenth day of the month of Ab in the year 187749.
Apparently, this colophon mirrors the thoughts of Abdallah, when he

returned to India for the second time. The long inscription that he wrote on
the eastern wall of the Rakad sanctuary is a summary of these. Thus it is this
colophon that permits not only the reconstruction of the text of the Rakad
inscription, but also the understanding of its historical circumstances. Through
the standard formulae that are used the feelings of the author shine through
perceptibly. When he first came, accompanying his teacher, Mor Gregorios
Abd al-Nur, he came to collect donations for the Church of Jerusalem, a mis-
sion that was very successful due to the magnanimity and the liberality of the
Malabar faithful, also commemorated in the Jerusalem inscriptions. When
Abdallah came for the second time accompanying his Patriarch, he came in a
much harder situation – to heal a schism, a part of the Jacobite Syrians having
joined the Anglican Church under the name of the Mar Thoma Church. He was
happy to get a good reception at the Valliyapally parish of Kothamangalam
Funiqi is present-day Homs. ∑adad is close to Homs (information from Prof. Hubert
46
Kaufhold).
47
Compare this to the final clause of the Rakad inscription: “and his disciple, the monk
Abdallah from ∑adad, brought them [there]; and pray for the one who has written this, the feeble
<and wretched>.”
48
This is the “Great Church”: Valliyapally.
49
See Table 5.

I. PERCZEL 303
(nothing is said here of Cheriyapally, where he stayed during the first time)
and we do not know whether this was the case everywhere.
What I find interesting in both the Rakad inscription and the colophon is
that they reveal, in whatever modest way permitted by the literary genres,
something about Abdallah’s personality. This controversial and – in a way –
divisive personality of modern Church history50, who comes to Malabar in a
period of intense strife, is apparently overwhelmed by the memories of his first
visit, when he came as a young monk in the company of his malfono to collect
donations for the Syrian churches of Jerusalem, and finds it important to com-
memorate on church walls and on paper both his first visit and his teacher.
Whether or not he was convinced that the peacemaking mission of Patriarch
Ignatius Peter III was successful is not revealed by this colophon. Be this as it
may, the schism persisted and a series of new schisms were to follow.
II.3. Teleological Church Histories
Another genre, which I find very interesting, is short apologetic Church

history. It is very well attested throughout the Indian manuscript material and
shows the importance of this genre for the local culture. Writings belonging to
this genre relate the history of the Indian Church, beginning with Saint Thomas
and ending with the period of the Bishop in whose time and for whose sake the
whole story was written. These writings present a linear history of the Indian
Church, showing that line, among the many competing ones, that remained
faithful to the true tradition of Saint Thomas, logically leading to the consecra-
tion of the last Bishop, for whose sake the whole story has been written. Besides
the fact that these histories contain many charming elements, they are very
precious tools for historical research, for every such story can be fairly pre-
cisely dated to the time of service of the Bishop who is presented at the end of
the history, and, therefore, through the recognition of analogous elements in
similar writings, it can be used for dating otherwise undated material. Moreo-
ver, while every such history necessarily presents a biased view, a critical study
of a number of these already yields important and reliable historical informa-
tion not only about their times of writing but also about the times that they are
treating. As this is an intricate matter and as I have abundantly dealt with this
genre elsewhere, I will not go into details here51, but just note that, interestingly
50
One should not forget that, later, there was also a time when Abdallah joined the Catholic
Church in 1896, before he returned to the Jacobite Church and became its Patriarch (see Das
heilige Land 60 [1910]: 187).
51
See Perczel, “Language of Religion,” quoted above, in the Appendix of which I have pub-
lished the English translation of two such histories, and I. Perczel and G. Kurukkoor, “A Malay-
alam Church History from the Eighteenth Century, Based on Original Documents,” forthcoming
in D. Bumazhnov, E. Grypeou, T. Sailors and A. Toepel, eds., Bible, Byzantium and Christian

enough, this genre has remained, up to the present day, one of the main ways
of writing Indian Church history.
II.4. Poetry
A fourth genre is that of poetry, partly for liturgical, partly for home usage.
The earliest extant example for this genre is the memre of Kadavil Chandy
Katthanar found in two manuscripts: MSS Mannanam Syr 63 and 9952. Chandy
Katthanar was also called Alexandros Hendwaya and, as he calls himself in two
of his recently discovered personal letters, Alexandros Lmenaya (“Alexander
of the Port”). Lmenaya is his own translation of his family name, Kadavil,
meaning in Malayalam “port.”53 Alexandros Lmenaya lived in the seventeenth
century (1588-1673) and was a priest of high standing. He had a rather trou-
bled relationship with the Jesuit missionaries, who did not like him. In 1653
he participated in the so-called Bent Cross Oath, when the representatives of
the Syrian Christian community swore that “thenceforward we have no love,
agreement or community with the Franks,” that is, the Portuguese54. He was
appointed one of the four advisers of the newly elected indigenous Metro-
politan, Mar Thoma, but in 1656, when the cousin of Mar Thoma, Parambil
Chandy, or Alexander De Campo, joined the Latin side, he also changed camp55.
Orient (Leuven: Peeters, 2009) and containing the translation of a third representative of the
genre, written in Malayalam; see also Perczel, “Four Apologetic Church Histories from India,”
referred to above.
52
Shelf marks: 090-264-S and 090-248-3PHE-S. The second manuscript contains only one
memra by Chandy Kadavil, his most famous poem on the Eucharist, which he sent to Pope Alex-
ander VII in 1657. His letter accompanying this gift is extant in MS Mannanam Syr 5 (090-227-S),
ff. 11v-13r.
53
The Syriac text of one of these letters, MS Thrissur Syr 7, ff. 113r-115r, will be published,
accompanied by an English translation and a study on Chandy Kadavil Katthanar, by Alexander
Toepel, in Bumazhnov, Grypeou, Sailors and Toepel, eds., Bible, Byzantium and Christian Orient;
see above, n. 42. I warmly thank Dr. Toepel for sharing the manuscript of his study with me.
54
On the Bent Cross Oath there are innumerable publications. See, among others, the follow-
ing: E. M. Philip, The Indian Church of St. Thomas (first published: Kottayam: E. P. Mathew
Edavazhikal, 1908; second edition by Kuriakose Corepiscopa Moolayil, Cheeranchira, Changa-
nessery: Mor Adai Study Centre, 2002), pp. 133-138; J. Thekedathu [J. Thekkedath], The Troubled
Days of Francis Garcia S.J. Archbishop of Cranganore (1641-1659) / Analecta Gregoriana; 187
(Rome: Università Gregoriana Editrice, 1972); Jacob Kollaparambil, The St. Thomas Christians’
Revolution in 1653 (Kottayam: The Catholic Bishop’s House, 1981); A. Thazhath, The Juridical
Sources of the Syro-Malabar Church (Vadavathoor/Kottayam: Pontifical Oriental Institute of Reli-
gious Studies, 1987), p. 171 ff.; J. Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, vol. 2: From the
Middle of the Sixteenth Century to the End of the Seventeenth Century (1542-1700) (Bangalore:
The Church History Association of India, 1988), pp. 91-96; C. Kaniamparampil, The Syrian Ortho-
dox Church in India and Its Apostolic Faith, pp. 80-90.
55
In 1657 he was the vicar of the church in Mangat; later, in 1663, he became the vicar-
general of Bishop Mar Chandy Parambil. See the following: J. Thekedathu, The Troubled Days
of Francis Garcia, p. 112; Thekkedath, History of Christianity in India, p. 104; A. Thazhath,
op. cit., p. 177 n. 107.

I. PERCZEL 305
According to Joseph Maria Sebastiani, an Italian missionary to the Malabar

Coast, Alexander was a famous preacher and a close friend of the king of
Purakad. He was an accomplished Syriacist whose Syriac hymns, occulted until
today, were much appreciated by the then Syriacists in Rome.56 According to a
contemporary document, he had learned his Syriac at the Vaipikotta Jesuit
Seminary from Francisco Roz, the first European Archbishop of Angamaly-
Kodungallur (1601-1624)57. He was entrusted with the completion of Fran-
cisco Roz’s Syriac translation of the Latin Pontifical, meant to replace the East
Syriac ordination book, which had been in use before the Latinisation58.
According to one of his letters, Kadavil Chandy sent a memra in Syriac
on the Eucharist to Pope Alexander VII59. The memra was recently discovered
by Father Emmanuel Thelly in MS Mannanam Syr 99, ff. 149r-160v, which
manuscript, on f. 149r, explicitly attributes the memra to Alexander60. During
the digitisation and cataloguing of the Mannanam collection, this volume was
naturally included in our work.
However, in the same library was also found another manuscript containing
Syriac and Malayalam texts of the liturgical services as established by Francisco
Roz. The same manuscript also contains the Syriac poetry of a very learned
man, residing in India, a disciple of Francisco Roz, whom I was able to iden-
tify with Kadavil Chandy. While Memra 7 is datable to 1624 AD, Memra 8,
on the Eucharist, is identical with the one contained in Mannanam Syr 99,
ff. 149r-160v, being precisely the memra that Chandy Kadavil, according to
his letter in Mannanam Syr 5, had sent to Pope Alexander VII; finally, the
style of same the poems is so unmistakably individual that the hypothesis of
multiple authorship should be excluded. So we have to conclude that the author
of number these poems is Kadavil Chandy Katthanar.
The memre are written upon the tunes of Church hymns, mentioned in their
headings, and in a very particular Syriac. The language of the poems is com-
plicated, being full not only of Latin and Greek terms, but also of Hebraisms
and Latin expressions, displaying much erudition of the European type. Besides
56
P. J. Thomas, Malayala Sahityavum Christyanikkalum [Malayalam Literature and the Chris-
tians] (Athirampuzha: St. Mary’s Press, 1935; second edition with additions by Scaria Zacharia:
Kottayam: D. C. Books 1989), pp. 143-144. I owe this information to the late Fr. Antony Valla-
vanthara, who looked for it and kindly translated the relevant passage for me. For an evaluation
of Alexandros Lmenaya’s personality and his role on the Jacobite side, see E. M. Philip, op. cit.,
p. 135 ff., and C. Kaniamparampil, op. cit., p. 90 ff.
57
Paragraph 20 of a memorandum submitted by Archdeacon Thomas to Dom Philip Mascaren-
has, Viceroy of Portuguese India in 1645 lists those Malayalee priests who learned their Syriac
from Roz. See Kollaparambil, The St. Thomas Christians’ Revolution in 1653, p. 82.
58
C. Kaniamparampil, op. cit., p. 90.
59
MS Mannanam Syr 5 (090-227-S), ff. 11v-13r; about this manuscript, see E. Thelly, “Syriac
Manuscripts in Mannanam Library,” Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56 (2004): 262, Literary
Works 9, and van der Ploeg, op. cit., pp. 121-123.
60
See E. Thelly, op. cit., p. 261.

theological subjects, there are three memre (memre 4, 5 and 6 on ff. 49v-81v,
81v-96r and 96r-106r) treating the merits of, respectively, the Arabic, the Syriac
and the Hebrew languages. The one on the Arabic also treats Islam, Muhammad
and the Qur’an, the one on the Syriac language identifies Syriac with Aramaic,
makes it derive from Hebrew as its mother, speaks about the Targums, the Jeru-
salem and Babylonian Talmuds, and the Sepher Zohar; it also speaks about the
Christian literature written in Syriac, mentioning the Gospels, Saint Ephrem
and Jacob of Edessa. Under the letter lamad it mentions that the Indian Church
uses this language. Under nun, it condemns the heretics, namely Nestorius,
Theodore of Mopsuestia and Joseph Busnaya, the “abominable and stupid
Hormiz,” “Abdisho the Belzebubish basilisk serpent,” and “Hananisho, who
is full of the dragon’s head”; under pe it praises the Pope. In the memra on the
Hebrew language the author emphasises that this is the holy language par
excellence, because this was the first language which Adam spoke, and also
the language used by Christ, his Mother and the Apostles.
Of particular interest is Memra 8 (ff. 106v-116r), which is a panegyric of
Francisco Roz SJ, first Latin Archbishop of Angamaly and, later, of Kodun-
gallur, written on the occasion of his death, that is, in 1624. The poem is a
double acrostic, going from Alap to Taw and, then, again, from Taw to Alap.
It begins with the following words:
،‫ܼ ܵܬܐ‬ ‫ܿܘܢ‬ ܿ ‫[ ܵ ܵ ܵܐ ܹ ܐ ܵ ܿ ܼܒ ܼ ܼ ܬܐ؛ ܒ ܿ ܼ ܕ‬v106]
‫ܕܗܘ ܼ ܬܐ؛‬ ܵ ‫ܼܿܗܒ ܼ ܿ ܼ ܐ ܕܕ ܼ ܬܐ؛ ܘܒ ܼ ܐ ܒ ܼ ܐ‬
ܿ
ܵ
‫ܼ ܬ ܵܐ؛‬ ‫ܼ ܵ ܐ ܵܕܒ ܼ ܼܪܘ ܵܬܐ؛ ܘ ܵܐ ܼ ܵ ܐ ܕ‬ ‫ܼ ܒ ܵܟ‬
ܿ
‫ܹ ܣ ܹ ܐ ܼ ܵ ܼ ܬܐ؛‬ ܿ ‫ܕ ܼ ܐ ܼܘܙ ܼ ܼܘܬܐ ܕ ܝ‬ ܿ ܵ
،‫ܐ‬ ‫ܬ‬ ‫ܪܘ‬ ܿ ‫ܕܙܕ ܵܬܐ؛ ܿܐܓ ܿ ܣ ܒ ܐ‬
‫ܕ‬ ܵ ܼ ‫ܕܒ ܐ‬
ܵ‫ܼ ܒ ܿܕܕ ܘܬܐ‬ ܼ ܼ ܵ ܼ ܼܵ ܼ ܹ
ܼ ܼ ܼ ܹܿ ܼ ܿ ‫[ ܘ ܐ ܿܕ ܵ ܼܘܬܐ؛‬107r] ‫ܸܐܙ‬
،‫ܼ ܐ‬ ܼ ‫ܼ ܐ ܘܒ ܘ ܵܐ ܕ‬ ‫܀ܐ܀ ܐ ܵ ܐ ܕ‬
‫ ܘ ܿ ܼ ܿ ܵ ܐ ܵ ܕ ܼ ܓ ܼ ܵ ܐ‬،‫ܼ ܪ ܵ ܐ‬ ܿ
ܼ ‫ܘ ܿ ܘ ܵܒܐ ܕ‬
ܵ‫ܐ‬ ܵ ܵ ܿ
ܼ ܼ ܵ ܹ ‫ܘܐܪ ܐ؛ ܕ ܕܥ ܼ ܒ‬ ܼ ‫܀ܒ܀ ܒ ܐ ܵ ܕ ܼܿ ܕ ܼܵܒ ܐ‬
‫ܐ܀‬ ܼ ‫ܼ ܒ ܵܐ‬ ܹ ‫ܘ ܼ ܿ ܹ ܪܒܐ ܼܘ ܼ ܐ؛‬
[106v] O, Lord full of joy, in Your incomparable mercy
give a mind of purity and a skilled discernment for intelligence
to me, Your feeble and ignorant servant, who is ill, weakened by sickness
– for singing a praise and hymn for Mar Franciscus, full of chastity,
from the righteous House of Ignatius61 a holy man [agios!], renowned for <his>
[virtue,
and [107r] a chant of joy about all the wondrous story.
Alap: To the exalted God of all things and the merciful Creator of all things,
the Donator of all salvation, the Vivificator of all the corporeal beings,
Beth: To the Maker of all that is in Heaven and Earth, who shows His beloved
[glory
and His great and overflowing power, to Him is due praise from all the minds62.
61
Beth Inash: the Jesuite Order. I owe this deciphering to Rev. Dr. Thomas Koonamakkal.
62
See Table 6.

I. PERCZEL 307
The poem gives a vivid picture of Roz’s career, beginning with his child-
hood, his entrance into the Jesuit order, his arrival in India and his activity as
Indian Archbishop. It pays homage to the immense erudition of this man, who,
besides Latin, knew well the Greek, the Hebrew, the Syriac and the Malay-
alam languages. It informs us that Mar Franciscus translated many works from
Latin into Syriac in India, precious information, enlightening the origins of a
specific corpus of translated works that can be found in Indian manuscripts.
The poem also informs us that, after his death, Francisco Roz was consid-
ered a saint. His Jesuit brethren took a bone from his dead body and placed it
in the sanctuary of the Saint Thomas Church in North Paravur where his body
rests to the present day.
The language of these poems is an otherwise non-existent entity, a blend of
East Syriac, Indian and European humanist elements, and testifies to a revival
of Classical Syriac, which has become, due to the interaction of the missionar-
ies, who had received and were keen on transmitting to their Indian disciples a
humanist education, and the local Syriacising elite, a kind of modern literary
language in South India. Kadavil Chandy’s poetry is certainly somewhat artifi-
cial because of the many elements alien to Classical Syriac that it uses (such
as an overabundance of the construct state in imitation of Hebrew grammar,
the number of Greek and other foreign words and the taste for rare, sometimes
non-existent, Syriac forms). Sometimes Chandy’s expressions are so specifi-
cally humanist and Hellenising that the scribe who copied his poetry was una-
ble to understand them and, instead, introduced grammatical absurdities.
All its oddities notwithstanding, this poetry displays a freshness that is very
much enjoyable and a real poetic talent.
The last such liturgical poetry written in India in Syriac that I know is
the Thousand Stanzas of Fr. Kurien Kaniamparambil, Great Malankara Mal-
pan, mentioned above. Father Kaniamparambil, now 94, learned Syriac as an
autodidact when he was thirteen. Apparently he had a very great talent for this
language, so much so that subsequently he began to write liturgical poetry. He
also made many translations for the Jacobite West Syriac liturgy into Malay-
alam, used in his church, as well as a new translation of the Peshitta Bible text,
and, therefore, by his necessary and much needed scholarly activity, he con-
tributed to the extinction of the great tradition of Syriac malfone in India, of
which he is one of the last representatives63.
II.5. Translations into Syriac, Made in India from Latin, Malayalam and
Arabic
Another important genre for Syriac literature in India is translation. Naturally,
one finds a number of translations from the Latin, but also from the Arabic,
63
Data from a personal communication by Fr. Kaniamparampil.

into which the original translation from Latin was made, either directly for the
usage of the Malabar Christians, or made for the Middle East, but also used in
India. There is a corpus of Latin works translated in India, which has become
identifiable due to information provided by Kadavil Chandy’s panegyric of
Francisco Roz. This is a corpus displaying similar linguistic features to those
observed in the poetry of Kadavil Chandy, among which the two most striking
elements are an exaggerated use of the construct state and the abundance of
Greek words. I conclude that these translations were made in India, by Roz
and his circle, for the use of the local Christians.
Among these translations outstanding are those of the glosses of Dionysius
the Carthusian on diverse Biblical books64. This interest in the glosses must be
connected to the fact that the Jesuits found the Malabar Christians’ reading of
the Bible heretical65 and were keen on transmitting to their disciples, perhaps
mostly seminarians, the “correct” interpretation of the Bible66. To this corpus
also belongs an interesting Syriac translation of the Mystical Theology of
Dionysius the Areopagite, made on the basis of Ambrogio Traversari’s (1386-
1439) Latin translation from the Greek67 and unique translations of two Latin
apocrypha, a Letter of Mary, the Mother of God, to St. Ignatius of Antioch,
and another Letter attributed to her, to the inhabitants of Messina, Sicily68.
Perhaps to the same corpus belongs also the translation of a catechetical trea-
tise by the Jesuit Pedro Gomez on the Seven Sacraments, found in many Indian
manuscripts69.
However, translations into Syriac were not only made from Latin in India.
Here I would like to present two quite extraordinary translations found recently,
which shed an interesting light on the role of Syriac as a lingua franca in India
during the colonial times.
The first of these two translations is that of a catechism found in no fewer
than four manuscripts of the aforementioned library of Saint Joseph’s CMI
64
His glosses on the Book of Genesis can be found in MSS Ernakulam MAP Syr 7 and in
Thrissur Syr 57; his glosses on St. Matthew are extant in MS Mannanam Syr 9. MS Mannanam
Syr 46 also contains some of his works.
65
See Action III, Chapter XIV, decrees II-III of the Synod in Synodo diocesano da Igreia e
Bispado de Angamale dos antigos Christaõs de Sam Thome das Serras do Malauar das partes
da India Oriental, celebrado pello Reverendissimo Senhor Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Arcebispo
Metropolitano de Goa, Primaz da India e partes Orientales Sede vagante do dito Bispado…
(Coimbra: Diogo Gomez, 1606), ff. 12-14, English translation by Michael Geddes in Scaria
Zachariah, The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper 1599 (Edamattam: Indian Institute of
Christian Studies, 1994), pp. 101-102.
66
My attention was drawn to the importance, in the West, of the glosses for a correct inter-
pretation of the Bible by Prof. Patrick Geary.
67
MS Ernakulam MAP 7, ff. 508r-512r and MS Cambridge Oo 1.29, pp. 192-198. The fact
that this translation is from Traversari’s Latin has been established by Prof. Sebastian Brock
(information in a personal letter of Prof. Brock to the author, dated October 21, 2004).
68
MS Ernakulam MAP 7, f. 507rv.
69
Such are MSS Mannanam Syr 11, 62, Thrissur Syr 89.

I. PERCZEL 309
Monastery in Mannanam70. The catechism bears the following title: A Succinct

Explanation of the True Law that All Christians Should Know. It is manifestly
a standard Latin catechism in question-and-answer form, containing the teach-
ing of the Catholic Church. One would assume that it had been translated from
the Latin. However, this is not the case, as the colophon71, otherwise written in
verse, states the following:
A man whose name is indicated in an encoding, in the collection of the number of
the letters, which are: 6 before 41 after 401 [Thoma]72, and whose election [that
is, ecclesiastical rank] is indicated in the collection of the number 40 and73 25,
which stands before 51 [mkahn<an>a=ordained priest74], which was hidden75
from knowledge and whose family is in what the numbers of 30 after 80 and 400
and 6 and 400 and 40 give in pronunciation [Palathotham]76, who translated this
brief succinct explanation of the law of the Living God, which all Christians
ought to know by all means in their intelligence, from the Indian [Hendwaya, that
is, Malayalam] to this Syriac language, for the instruction and learning of the
simple-minded children, asking from every person of discernment, every skilled
and learned brother who reads this translation from the language of Indiandom
[Hendwayutha] to this Syriac language, <that is,> to the language for teaching the
simple children, for the use of a Christianity77 that is to attain redemption, that if
any mistake or blunder or something else that is not in accord with the truth of the
faith would be found in truth, he [the reader] should not make an outcry against
him [the scribe] and should not cover him with mockery, and should not be grudg-
ing and enraged, but should recognise in truth that every creature is deficient and
nobody is perfect, but only the Living God, in Whom only perfection is to be
found. Rather he should correct these [faults] in love towards this wretched
brother of his, so that even the latter comes to the knowledge of writing what is
correct. And he should remember even the latter in his prayer, so that the Lord
takes pity on him <accepting him> in His love, and so even he may be deemed
worthy of the lot of His saints in the Kingdom78.
70
MS Mannanam Syr 44, 68, 70, 72.
71
The colophon is found on f. 75rv of MSS Mannanam Syr 44 and on ff. 90v-91r of
Mannanam Syr 68. I published a translation of this colophon in my “Language of Religion,”
quoted above. However, when writing that study I only had access to Mannanam Syr 44, which
the late Fr. Antony Vallavanthara kindly permitted me to photograph. As that manuscript has
been seriously damaged by silverfish, the colophon is not everywhere readable. A collation with
Mannanam Syr 68 has permitted a reliable reconstruction of the text. Another improvement upon
my previous reading is that, earlier, I reconstructed the encoded name of the scribe as Palthutam,
while the correct rendering seems to be Palathotham.
72
Based on the numeric value of the letters: 6 = ‫ܘ‬, 41 = ‫ ܐ‬, 401 = ‫ܬܐ‬, which, in the given
sequence, give ‫ܬـܐܘ ܐ‬.
73
“40 and” can only be found in Mannanam Syr 68. So the version of Mannanam Syr 44 is
kahna – priest.
74
40 = ‫ܡ‬, 25= , 51 = ‫ ܐ‬, which gives ‫ ܼܿ ܿ ܼܢـ> ܵ ـ<ܐ‬.
75
Gnida standing for gniza
76
30 = ‫ܠ‬, 80 = ‫ܦ‬, 400 = ‫ܬ‬, 6 = ‫ܘ‬, 400 = ‫ܬ‬, 40 = ‫ܡ‬, giving ‫ܘܬܡ‬ .
77
The clause “for the use of a Christianity” has been omitted, apparently due to a scribal
error, in MS Mannanam Syr 68.
78
See Table 7.

Quite astonishingly, this Catholic catechism was translated from the Indian,
that is, Malayalam, language into Syriac, as the translator, Thomas Palathotham,
most probably a seventeenth-century Malayalee erudite, says “for the instruc-
tion of the simple-minded children.” Who the “simple-minded children,” for
whose sake a Catholic catechism, originally written in Malayalam, had to be
translated into Syriac are, becomes clear from the expression “this translation
from the language of Indiandom to this Syriac language, <that is,> to the lan-
guage for teaching the simple children.” I was enlightened as to the meaning
of this sentence by Father George Kurukkoor, working at the Pastoral Orienta-
tion Centre in Ernakulam, a great erudite knowing old Malayalam Christian
literature and Church history. From Father George, who has done much study
on the missionary catechisms written in Malayalam, I have learned that there
were a series of catechisms written in Malayalam, published under the same
title or its variants, such as Catechism or Teaching that All Christians Ought
to Know. The first was perhaps written by Francisco Roz, the first Latin Arch-
bishop of Angamaly/Kodungallur (1601-1624)79, and subsequent Latin Arch-
bishops of Malabar re-edited this catechism. Recently, together with Father
George Kurukkoor, we also found one version of the Malayalam original on a
palm-leaf manuscript in the manuscript library of the Government Sanskrit
College in Tripunithura, Ernakulam.80 Now, as our text says that Syriac is the
par excellence language for “teaching the simple children,” this can only refer
to teaching in the Catholic Saint Thomas Christian seminaries, where the lan-
guage of instruction was Syriac. So the young seminarians needed a catechism
written in this language, for which purpose, apparently, Thomas Palathotham
translated the standard Malayalam catechism81.
Another astonishing translation was found in Piramadam, in the Gethsemane
Dayro, a Syrian Orthodox monastery in Pampakuda, Ernakulam district. This
translation was not made by any Indian Syrian malpan/malfono, but by one
who came from the Middle East and played an important role in Indian Church
history, namely Mor Iyovannis Hidayat Allah, Bishop of Niniveh and Antio-
chian Patriarchal delegate in India, who came to India in 1685, together with
79
See J. Castets, SJ, “Introduction” to the De erroribus Nestorianorum of Francisco Roz, in
I. Hausherr, ed., “De erroribus Nestorianorum qui in hac India orientali versantur auctore Fran-
cisco Roz S. I.: Inédit latin-syriaque de la fin de 1586 ou du début de 1587, retrouvé par le
P. Castets S. I., missionaire à Trichinopoly, annoté par le P. Irénée Hausherr S. I.” Orientalia
Christiana 11, 1 (40) (1928): 1-35, here p. 9.
80
Tripunnithura SC PL 4 [1181]) A.
81
In “Language of Religion,” where I first treated this question, I still gave a much more
complicated explanation. This was due, on the one hand, to the fact that, on the damaged copy
of MS Mannanam Syr 44, I was unable to correctly read the clause “to this Syriac language,
<that is, > to the language for teaching the simple children” and, on the other hand, to the fact
that I had not yet met my “guru,” Fr. George Kurukkoor, to teach me about Indian Church
history.

I. PERCZEL 311
Mor Baselios Yaldo. According to local Kerala Syrian Orthodox tradition, this
was the third mission of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox in India after that of
Mor Gregorios Abd-al Jalil in 1665, and the one of Mor Andrayos, who came in
1678 and died in Kallada in 169282. However, as we will see, in reality the
alleged second mission, that of Mor Andrayos, had a very problematic character.
The mission of Mor Baselios Yaldo and Mor Iyovannis confirmed the Antio-
chian Orthodox presence in India. Mor Baselios Yaldo and Mor Iyovannis (in
the Kerala tradition: Mor Ivannios) are both saints of the Syrian Orthodox
churches of Kerala. Mor Baselios Yaldo died soon after arriving in India and
is buried in the Saint Thomas Church in Kothamangalam, but Mor Iyovannis
remained active for another eight years, until his death in 1693.
Apparently, Mor Iyovannis was a great malfono, whose activity, all deployed
in Syriac, is very well attested in the manuscript tradition found in Kerala. The
Konat library in Pampakuda preserves a magnificent collection of the mimre
of Jacob of Sarug and other authors, copied by Mor Iyovannis in 1673, in the
monastery of Mor Yaqub near Mardin and in a monastery near Mosul. The
colophon also says that this was the fiftieth book restored by the scribe83. A
handwritten Qurbono text that he copied in his beautiful West Syriac handwrit-
ing for the usage of a certain Priest Jacob of Mulanthuruthy, being the oldest
attested West Syriac liturgical manuscript in India, was also found in the same
Gethsemane Dayro84; eight of his letters, together with a short confession of
faith, are preserved in two late nineteenth-century letter books in the Carmelite
St. Joseph Monastery in Mannanam, about which manuscripts I will say more
later85. His relics are venerated in the Jacobite Church of Mulanthuruthy.
Mor Iyovannis also brought with him in India the Arabic text of the apocry-
phal Revelations to St. Gregory the Theologian, containing a journey through
heaven and hell. In 1689, while he stayed in the church of Kadamattam, he
translated the text from the Arabic into Syriac86. This text apparently had some
82
On Mor Andrayos Bawa, his antagonism with Mor Iyovannis and his relationship to the
Thulassery Manappurath family, which received him in their family church at Kallada, see Arun
Babu Zachariah, op. cit., here pp. 54-56.
83
Van der Ploeg, op. cit., pp. 165-166, analyses the colophons, but misreads the name of the
scribe in the colophon on f. 387v, which the scribe himself gives as Hdayat bar Shamsho Bokhu-
daydoyo (Hedayat, son of Shamsho, from BoÌudaydo (= Beth Îudaydo, that is, Qaraqosh near
Mosul). On the Garhuni ways of writing Arabic and the meaning of the Arabic words I owe all
information to Professor Hubert Kaufhold.
84
This is MS Piramadam Syr 25.
85
These are MSS Mannanam Syr 5 and 51.
86
Cf. on this text G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur 1: Die Überset-
zungen / Studi e Testi; 118 (Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944), pp. 273-276. Accord-
ing to Graf, the Arabic work goes back to a Syriac original written in or around Edessa in the
seventh century at the earliest; cf. ibid., p. 274. Abdisho (d. 1318) mentions that Joseph Hazzaya
wrote a commentary to a “Vision of the Monk Gregorios,” which J. S. Assemani believes to be
identical with the Arabic book; cf. ibid., p. 274 n. 1 (Graf refers to Bibliotheca Orientalis 3/1,
103). Graf supposes that the author of the Apocalypse is a monk Gregorios from Edessa, who

success in India, because in the same Gethsemane Dayro we found one of its
copies, in East Syriac handwriting, in an early nineteenth-century manuscript.
Luckily, the scribe copied whatever he found in the model of his manuscript,
so also the colophon originally written by Mor Iyovannis, which says the
following:
The grace of God be on those who listen to this [story], on those who read it, on
those present and on those far away, and on the scribe, Mor Ivannios, the for-
eigner, Bishop of Niniveh, who has translated it from the Arabic to Syriac in the
church of St. George in Kodamattham (today Kadamattam), in the year 2000 of
the Greeks, in the month of Nisan, on the 24th day. May God have mercy on the
departed of the scribe for the ages of ages. Amen. Amen. End87.
Unlike in the case of the catechism translated from Malayalam, which was
needed because the official teaching language in the seminaries was Syriac,
although the seminarians’ mother tongue was Malayalam, here the translation
served an immediate need. Arabic, which was the mother tongue of Mor Iyo-
vannis, was an unknown language among the Kerala Christians, but, appar-
ently, in 1689, there were a sufficient number of erudite persons in India
knowing Syriac, for whom it was worth translating the Revelations of Pseudo-
Gregory. This has given us a hitherto unknown Syriac text of this work, whose
original, according to Graf, written in the seventh century, must have been
Syriac, but was lost.
II.6/a. Letter-Writing in Syriac and Letter Books for teaching Syriac Style
I can only superficially treat the rich epistolary material in Classical Syriac
that can be found in the Malabar libraries. Through this epistolary material
we are able to follow the entire course of the history of the Indian Church in the
period from the late sixteenth to the twentieth century. Given the standing of
Syriac as a lingua franca among the Christians of South India, the art of letter-
writing had become an important issue, a very fortunate development for any-
body who is interested in the history of this Church. In fact, in order to teach
how to compose Syriac letters, some malpane/malfone have compiled letter
books containing all the historical letters that they were able to find, in order to
use them as models for subsequent letter-writing. The earliest such letter collec-
tion can be found in MS Mannanam 46, a seventeenth-century manuscript.
lived at the turn of the sixth and the seventh century and to whom visions have been attributed;
cf. ibid., 274 n. 2. The Syriac works of this author have been edited by I. Hausherr, Gregorii
Monachi Cyprii de theoria sancta quae syriace interpretata dicitur visio divina / Orientalia
Christiana Analecta 110 (1937). The content of the Arabic Apocalypse is a journey through
heaven and hell led by an angel Yunaniel or Yuwail. Note written by Dr. Alexander Toepel,
whom I warmly thank for his contribution.
87
MS Piramadam Syr. 25, f. 41v. See Table 8.

I. PERCZEL 313
On ff. 192r-195v one finds a number of Syriac letters, copied in order

to teach Syriac letter-writing, so that the names and most of the other data
have been omitted; instead of the names one reads palan, that is, “so-and-so.”
Out of the letters four are dated to 1603, 1604, 1607 and 1608, respectively.
Letters 1 and 2 are addressed to the Archdeacon by a Catholic missionary
(or, rather, by two Catholic missionaries, because of their difference of style).
Letter 1 was apparently written in the time of Mar Abraham, whom the author
calls “an adversary of the Padri,” so the first terminus ante quem is 1597, the
death of Mar Abraham. A tentative closer dating becomes possible due to a
note in the letter about the inhabitants of Parur injuring a member of the Roman
Church. This probably refers to an event when non-Christians beat almost to
death the first Jesuit missionary of Indian (Malayalee) origin, Pero Luis. This
happened in 1579-158088. So the letter must have been written not much later
than 1580. Letter 2 mentions the recent “demise of the Metropolitan of Anga-
maly,” that is, of Mar Abraham, so it should be dated to 1597, perhaps to Sep-
tember, because it says “now, in September.” The event cannot be the death of
Francisco Roz, who was the first and last European Archbishop of Angamaly,
because in 1605 Roz was transferred to the see of Cranganore (Kodungallur).
Moreover, it seems that the letters are copied in chronological order.
The author of Letter 2 speaks in a very respectful voice to the Archdeacon,
that is, George of the Cross. Letter 3, dated 1603, is the ordination letter of a
priest, named Presbyter Paulos, giving him the permission to officiate in the
whole territory of India. One may surmise that the one who ordained him was
Francisco Roz, then Archbishop of Angamaly.
It is interesting to see that the letters use Garshuni Malayalam (or Suryani
Malayalam) for transcribing Malayalam place names. As the Syriac alphabet
contains 22 letters and sounds, while Malayalam has many more sounds, to
write Malayalam in Syriac script, a very widespread habit at least in the colonial
period, is strictly speaking impossible. So a specific script, called commonly
Garshuni Malayalam or Malayalam Karshon and locally Suryani Malayalam,
was developed at a date that cannot precisely be determined, using Syriac char-
acters mingled with, originally, additional characters taken from one of the ear-
lier versions, perhaps Thekken Malayanma, rather than Kolezhuttu, of the Malay-
alam script89. The letters of MS Mannanam Syr 46, together with the Garshuni
Malayalam prayers included at the end of the same MS, are among the earliest
88
See Rev. H. Hosten, SJ, “Peter Louis, S. J., or the First Indian Jesuit,” Kerala Society
Papers I (1928): 45-47, here p. 47.
89
In one manuscript (MS Ernakulam MAP Syr 7, ff. 515r-517r), one also finds the characters
ഭ (bha) and ജ (ja), borrowed from the Arya ezhuttu. See also Rev. Dr. Thomas Koonammakkal
[Koonammakkal Thoma Kathanar], “An Introduction to Malayalam Karshon,” The Harp 15
(2002): 99-106, here p. 104 (without concrete reference to the manuscript).

examples found to date, which use this script for writing Malayalam and so give
the end of the sixteenth century as a terminus ad quem of its creation90.
The habit of compiling such letter-books has apparently created a literary
genre on its own. I have found three such letter-books from the nineteenth
century, one in Thrissur (quite significantly, it is bound together with a Syriac-
Malayalam dictionary)91, and two in Mannanam.
The first Mannanam letter-book92 was compiled sometime after 1879 (the
date of its watermark), in order to teach Syriac letter-writing. Every letter is
called a “reading” (qeryana), meant to teach a certain letter-style. The letters
are provided with keywords, in Syriac and Malayalam Garshuni, indicating
the given letter’s style. Because the scribe wrote the book as a letter formulae
book, in many cases he omitted the ending sections of the letters with the dates
and the signatures. So he created a kind of historical puzzle for us.
The content is miscellaneous: it contains general blank formulae, usable in
given circumstances, historical letters found in Kerala in complete chronological
disorder, classified according to their style, and copies from the letter book of
Patriarch Timothy I, the Great (AD 790-820). Naturally, for us, the historical
letters will be of the greatest interest. Among them we find the following: a
letter by Kadavil Chandy Katthanar, alias Alexandros Hendwaya or Lmenaya,
to Pope Alexander VII from 1657, which was a cover letter of his poem on the
Eucharist sent to the Pope93; a letter of Mor Gregorios, Patriarch of India, being
Mor Gregorios Abd al-Jalil, Patriarch of Jerusalem, first Syrian Orthodox Patri-
archal delegate in India, who came in 1665 – this letter is there to represent
90
The discovery of these letters, and consequently the establishment of the end of the sixteenth
century, or even an earlier date, as the terminus ad quem for the creation of Garshuni Malayalam,
seems to decide an interesting scholarly debate based on divergent hypotheses. A. C. Burnell, Ele-
ments of South-Indian Palaeography from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D., 2nd ed.
(London: Truebner – Mangalore: Stolz & Hirner, 1878; reprint New Delhi – Madras: Asian Edu-
cational Services, 1994), p. 45, claimed that the additional Malayalam characters of the script are
from the Arya ezhuttu (the predecessor of Modern Malayalam) and are of recent introduction;
J. P. M. van der Ploeg (op. cit., p. 244) hypothesised that Garshuni Malayalam was introduced in
Malabar in the second half of the seventeenth century, by Maronites who, by then, were present
in India. However, Malayalee scholars, namely Fr. Emmanuel Thelliyil [Thelly] (“Catechism of
Dr. Joseph Kariatti,” The Harp 2 (1989): 45), and Fr. Thomas Koonammakkal (op. cit., p. 102),
have hypothesised that Garshuni Malayalam must have been of much more ancient origin. They
have definitely been proven right. Thus, Garshuni Malayalam is a more ancient script than the
Arya ezhuttu, introduced in the seventeenth century.
91
MS Thrissur Syr 11; see Mar Aprem, “Syriac Manuscripts in Trichur,” IIIo Symposium
Syriacum 1980: Les contacts du monde syriaque avec les autres cultures (Goslar 7-11 Septembre
1980), ed. René Lavenant, SJ, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 221 (Rome: Pontificium Institutum
Orientalium, 1983), pp. 356-374, here p. 358.
92
MS Mannanam Syr 5, original shelf mark: 090-227-S (olim 1732-10-A-36), Thelly, op. cit.,
p. 268, Literary Works 9, and van der Ploeg, op. cit., pp. 121-123; MS Mannanam Syr 51, original
shelf mark: 090-262-9-AUD-VI; literature: Thelly, op. cit., p. 268, Literary Works 5, and van
der Ploeg, op. cit., pp. 121-123.
93
About this poem, see above in section II.4.

I. PERCZEL 315
the urging-exhortative style of the letters; eight letters by Mor Iyovannis Hida-
yat Allah, Bishop of Niniveh and Antiochian Patriarchal delegate in India94;
letters of Mar Gabriel, an East Syrian Metropolitan sent by the Assyrian Patri-
arch Mar Eliah XI Maroghin, who arrived in Malabar in 170595 and who terms
himself “the Metropolitan of the Syrians in All India”; a couple of letters,
one dated 1712, once again in Syriac, from Cardinal Joseph Sagribanti, Prefect
of the Holy Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, making it known
in India that Mar Gabriel has no authority from the Pope; a letter that the Mala-
bar Syrian Catholic community sent to Rome with Joseph Kariattil and Thomas
Parammakkal in 1779; a letter of the Chaldean Patriarch John VII Hormizd
(d. 1838), to his faithful in India; a letter by the Chaldean Bishop YoÌannan
Mellus, dated 1875; a letter by Patriarch Joseph VI Audo from 1877, and so on.
II.6/b. What Do These Letter Books Teach Us?

As I mentioned before, these letter books represented a literary genre in the
Indian Syriac literature. They were there to teach how to write letters properly in
Syriac. However, for the author of the present study, primarily interested in his-
tory, they are interesting first and foremost for the amount of new information
they contain. Instead of explaining at length how the letter books can be used
for historical research, I am presenting here, as a case study, an astonishing
discovery from the second Mannanam letter-book, which is partly overlapping
with and partly different from the first. This example also has the merit to
show the variegated character of the groups that used Syriac as a lingua franca
at the Malabar Coast.
I have already mentioned that the Malabar Syrian Orthodox tradition knows
about three early Antiochian missions, that of Mor Gregorios abd-al Jalil in
1665, that of Mor Andrayos Bawa of Tur Abdin in 1678 and that of Mor
Baselios Yaldo and Mor Iyovannis Hidayat Allah in 1685. However, out of the
three, the second mission, that of Mor Andrayos Bawa, is highly controversial.
In fact, Mor Andrayos, who first resided in Mulanthuruthy, was expelled from
there with the contribution of Mor Iyovannis Hidayat Allah, a member of the
third Antiochian mission. Mor Andrayos had earned a bad reputation because he
was drinking toddy, that is, palm brandy (in order to cure his stomach, according
to the pro-Andrayos tradition) and was walking around in a layperson’s cloth.
94
About Mor Iyovannis, see above, in section II.5.
95
The received wisdom in Indian Christian history books is that Mar Gabriel arrived in India in
1709. See the following: van der Ploeg, op. cit., p. 258; Andrews Thazhath, op. cit., p. 182; Perc-
zel, “Have the Flames of Diamper Destroyed All the Old Manuscripts,” p. 95, n. 18. In that study
I, erroneously, still accepted the date usually suggested, without using all the available evidence.
However, an apologetic Church history published by Giamil (op. cit., referred to in note 8) and
written on behalf of Mar Gabriel, gives 1705, which date can also be confirmed on the basis of a
Syriac letter to India by Cardinal Joseph Sagribanti in the same MS Mannanam Syr 5, ff. 8v-10r.

So he was expelled from Mulanthuruthy, but was received by the Thulassery

Manappurath family in Kallada, where he ended his life, being drowned in the
nearby river. He is called the “Kallada Elder” and is venerated as a saint, and
the house where he had dwelled is a place of pilgrimage up to the present day96.
Now the aforementioned letter book, among others, contains the following,
quite astonishing, letter97:
In the strength98 of the Lord let this letter arrive in urgency in the city of Malabar
(sic!). Publicly99 all those who know this language should openly read [out] this
letter in calm and peace.
Ignatius, Patriarch of the city of Antioch, who is Peter100: divine peace and
calm and heavenly love, grace and concord to all my children and beloved, who
live in the blessed land of the Indians. May God bless you and fill you with all
good and virtuous deeds.
Know, oh, my spiritual children and, first of all, my beloved son, blessed Chore-
piscopa Bartholomew, and my other beloved children, that this evil man, Andrayo,
who made himself a Metropolitan among you, this wretched man, went to the city
of Aleppo101 in the time of Patriarch Andreos, before he [the Patriarch] fell asleep
and found rest102. He did all evil deeds because of his much drinking and blas-
pheming. And because Satan dwelled in him, he reneged against Christ, aposta-
tised and became a Muslim, that is, an Arab. And this is well known to all the
inhabitants of Aleppo, and all the Christians and Muslims and Jews. O, beloved
children, avoid him, do not tolerate him among you, do not listen to him even for
a small word or anything. Behold, we let you know that you should not become
negligent because of this wretched man who has destroyed his soul. And in this
discourse that we have told you there is no falsehood but it is entirely true. Know
this, avoid him and stay in peace all the days of your life. Amen. Written103 in the
month of Nisan, in the year 1684 of Christ.
96
See Arun Babu Zachariah, “Judeo-Christian Diaspora in Kerala: An Endeavour in Racial
Integration and Resource Sharing,” cited above, in n. 4, here pp. 54-56. I warmly thank Mr Arun
Zachariah not only for sharing his study with me, but also for guiding me to the yearly festivity
of Mor Andrayos Bawa at Kallada, where I also had the honour to participate in the yearly meet-
ing of the heads of the Thulassery Manappurath family.
97
MS Mannanam Syr 51, ff. 74r-75r. See Table 9. The riddle of this letter was solved by
Prof. Hubert Kaufhold, who identified its Middle Eastern protagonists and venues.
98
ܼ ‫ ܒ‬after correction; in the manuscript one reads ‫ܒ‬.
99
In the manuscript: ‫ܒ ܓ ܐ‬. I understand this word as standing for ‫ܒܓ ܐ‬.
100
This must be the Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Peter VI Khaahbadine (1677-1702),
residing in Aleppo. There seems to be a scribal error in the text, where we read: ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܐܓ ܣ‬
‫ܐ‬ ‫ܕܗܘ ܒ ܘܣ‬ܼ ‫ܕܐ‬. Apparently, by error, the scribe transferred ‫ܐ‬ to the end of the
clause. So we should read ‫ܕܗܘ ܒ ܘܣ‬ ܼ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܐ ܕܐ‬ ‫ܐ ܓ ܣ‬.
101
In the manuscript: ‫ܐ‬ ‫“ – ܒ ܘܐܐ‬the city of Beroia”. Beroia is Aleppo.
102
‫ ܼ ܡ ܕ ܼ ܘܐܬܬ‬. Patriarch Andreos seems to be the Syrian Catholic (uniate) Patriarch
Andrew Akhidjan (1662-1677), residing in Aleppo, founder of a short-lived West Syrian Uniate
Church (1662-1702). Indeed, it was after the death of this Patriarch, in 1678, that Mor Andrayos
Bawa went to India.
103
A word here, partially obscured by silverfish damage on the paper, must have read like
this: ‫ܐ] [ ܓ‬. According to the reconstruction of Hubert Kaufhold this might be a scribal error
for ‫ܓ‬ ‫“ ܐ‬I have written.”

I. PERCZEL 317
Now this letter not only teaches us about the personal character of Mor
Andrayos, who must have been quite an adventurer, even though the accusation
that he had become an apostate might well be false, but it also shows that, at
this early date of the Antiochian missions, another claimant had also appeared
on the Syriac-speaking scene of Malabar, namely the short-lived Syrian Catho-
lic Antiochian Patriarchate of Aleppo (1662-1702). From the way Patriarch
Ignatios Petros Khaahbadine addresses Chorepiscopa Bartholomew one under-
stands that there was an Indian community that recognised him as its leader or,
at least, which he knew and upon which he laid his claim of jurisdiction. How-
ever, as after the death of Petros Khaahbadine this church ceased to exist, it
has not left much memory in India.
That Mor Andrayos was not sent by the Jacobite Patriarch is also known
from other sources. According to the Carmelite missionary, Paulinus of St. Bar-
tholomew, Mor Andrayos was a Jacobite priest with no episcopal rank, who came
to India and pretended to be a Patriarch. Later, when he was ousted from Mulan-
thuruthy, he lowered his claims, pretending to be only a Metropolitan, and lived
as such in Kallada. Paulinus also mentions the drunkenness of Andrayos and says
that this was also the cause of his drowning in the river104. However, according
to the letter published here Paulinus might have been wrong saying that Mor
Andrayos was a Jacobite, Mor Andrayos being apparently a Syrian Catholic.
These conclusions are partly confirmed also by a letter of Patriarch Abd-al
Masih who sent the Jacobite missions of 1665 and 1685,105 preserved on the
last folios of a grammar book in the collection of the Samanvaya Ecumenical
Research Centre in Pampakuda, speaks only about these two and does not
know about any Mor Andrayos mission in between.
III. SYRIAC AS A MODERN INDIAN LINGUA FRANCA
What has been said until now finally permits me to address the main sub-
ject of my paper, being that of Syriac as a lingua franca in South India in
the early modern and modern periods. Syriac forcibly had to gain this status
because of the strong feeling of Syriac identity of the Christians of St. Thomas.
From the point of view of Rome Malayalam could have been a valid alterna-
tive, which the Jesuit missionaries, among whom such luminaries as Fran-
cisco Roz or, later, Johann Ernest Hanxleden106 (Arnos Padri: born in 1681 in
104
Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo, India orientalis christiana, continens fundationes eccle-
siarum, seriem episcoporum, missiones, schismata, persecutiones, reges, viros illustres (Rome:
Typis Salomonianis, 1794).
105
MS Samanvaya Syr 18, ff. 271r-272r.
106
On the importance of Arnos Padri for Malayalam literature, see Krishna Chaitanya, A His-
tory of Malayalam Literature (Bombay: Orient Longman, 1971, reprint 1995), pp. 200-202.

Ostercappeln107, died in 1732 in Palayur, Kerala), indeed practised. There are

traces indicating that in the initial stage of their activities, the Western mission-
aries even tried to create a Christian Malayalam literary vernacular (or to har-
ness an existing one?) to replace the original Syriac literature read by the local
elite and condemned at the ill-famed Synod of Diamper in 1599. A very inter-
esting example of such an attempt is a Malayalam collection of apocryphal Acts
of the Apostles translated from Latin, obviously destined to replace a similar
Syriac collection condemned in 1599 by the Synod of Diamper. Part of the col-
lection, among others the Malayalam Acts of Thomas, is extant in its original
sixteenth- or seventeenth-century language, in a Malayalam Garshuni manu-
script owned by Fr. George Kurukkoor108, while a larger collection, transcribed
into nineteenth-century Malayalam, is extant in a palm-leaf manuscript of the
collection of the Major Archbishop’s Palace in Ernakulam109. We photographed
this palm-leaf manuscript in the year 2005 and were wondering whether the
Acts were translated from the Syriac or the Latin110. However, after becoming
acquainted with the Garshuni version in Fr. Kurukkoor’s possession, reflecting
an earlier stage of the text tradition, I was able to compare the names and the
main expressions of the Acts of Thomas to those of the Syriac Acts and establish
that the apocrypha were translated from the Latin.
The comparison of the two versions (the seventeenth-century Garshuni
Malayalam and the nineteenth-century Modern Grantha) of the Malayalam
Acts of Thomas to their possible models also yielded some interesting results
concerning the status of Syriac in these centuries. It showed how much the
Christian Malayalam language, into which the Latin apocryphon was trans-
lated, presumably in the seventeenth century, was tributary to and saturated
with Syriac. So, for example, when translating the text, the author of the trans-
lation automatically used the Syriac names from the Acts, which he must have
remembered, only incidentally using the Latin forms. Moreover, by that time
“cross” in Malayalam was sliba (now it is rather kurishu from the Portuguese
cruz: however, even in the Malayalam Acts, once one finds kurishu instead of
sliba, while sliba is, incidentally, used to the present day, although rarely),
“angel” was malaka (which it remains to the present day), “our Lord Jesus
Christ” Maran Iso MsiÌa, while now it is Kartavay Iso MsiÌa, and “Indian lan-
guage” (Saint Thomas excusing himself for not knowing the Indian language)
was to become, when translated from Latin into Malayalam, lsana hendwaya.
107
According to Krishna Chaitenya, Hanxleden would have been born in Hungary (op. cit.,
pp. 200). I got Ostercappeln as a birthplace from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Ernst_
Hanxleden. The erroneous information that Hanxleden was a Hungarian comes from Paulinus of
St. Bartholomew, op. cit.
108
This is MS Kurukkoor Gar 1.
109
MS Ernakulam MAP PL 1.
110
I have expressed this doubt in “Language of Religion, Language of the People.”

I. PERCZEL 319
Naturally, all these Syriacising tendencies are gone in the nineteenth-century

transcript of the text. Although one should be cautious drawing too far-reaching
conclusions from these linguistic phenomena, perhaps it is not exaggerated
to consider these apocrypha, in their original linguistic form preserved by the
Garshuni text, as indirect testimonies to a deeply rooted Syriac Christian cul-
ture in India, at least among a learned elite.
As to the Syrian Orthodox mission, given that the Antiochian Patriarchate
had no institution comparable to the Collegium de Propaganda Fide in the
Vatican, where Malayalam could have been taught, nor any erudite order
comparable to that of the Jesuits, the only viable lingua franca for the Antio-
chian delegates remained Classical Syriac. Many literary works testify to the
degree of excellence to which members of the Malabar Syrian Orthodox com-
munity practised Syriac, some of the hierarchs, such as the late Catholicos
Baselios Paulos II (1975-1996), speaking a pure and fluent West Syriac111
and Malfono Curian Kaniamparampil fluently composing in Syriac even in
our day.
We have seen that, apparently there have also been some attempts at
establishing jurisdiction at the Malabar Coast, by the West Syrian Catholic
Patriarchate of Antioch, residing in Aleppo for the forty years of its exist-
ence (1662-1702). Once again, the language of communication could only be
Classical Syriac.
The same also holds for another Middle Eastern mission, which was present
during the entire, or almost the entire, modern period, that of the East Syrian
Patriarchates and especially their Al-Qoshian Baith-al-Ab line, which in the
eighteenth century remained Nestorian and in the nineteenth became Chaldean.
This Patriarchate, which, according to the studies of Mar Aprem112 and to the
documents that we have recently discovered, remained in almost constant con-
tact with the Malabar Christian community throughout the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, and did not renounce until 1877, when Patriarch Joseph Audo
was forced to do so, to its jurisdiction over the Syrian Christians of Malabar. In
fact, there is a bulk of correspondence of original and copied letters, testifying
to an intense contact between the Catholicos Patriarch of the East becoming,
with Yohannan Hormiz, Chaldean, and the Malabar Christians, whose Catholic
faction apparently, until the end of the nineteenth century, considered itself
Syrian Catholic, that is, Chaldean, and did not give up its aspiration to a reunion
with the Chaldean Church of Babylon113. Even the creation of the indigenous
111
Information received from Dr. Thomas Joseph.
112
See Mar Aprem’s D.Th. thesis, to be published by Mar Narsai Press. Part of the thesis was
published in 1977: Mar Aprem, The Chaldean Syrian Church in India (Thrissur, Kerala: Mar
Narsai Press, 1977).
113
See Samuel Giamil’s study and document collection in the Appendix of his Genuinae
relationes, cited above in n. 8 and passim.

Syro-Malabar Church in 1887, which, apparently, was the alternative compro-

mise in which the local Christians agreed with the representatives of the Vatican
after the failure of the Chaldean cause at Vatican I, did not immediately quench
these aspirations. Some of the liturgical books of the first Syro-Malabar Bishops,
preserved in the library of the Major Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam, came
from Iraq and were Chaldean. Almost innumerable are also from the nineteenth
century the Chaldean Psalters and prayer books for weekdays (the so-called
Qdam wad-batar).
In the collection of the Church of the East in Thrissur is preserved an Apol-
ogy for the Chaldean Rite in Malabar, written in Mosul in 1896, almost ten
years after the establishment of the Syro-Malabar Church, by Deacon Joseph
Turutyapally from Palai114. This aspiration to a Chaldean Catholic jurisdiction
died out only due to the gradual separation of a minority, led first by Mar Abdisho
Thondanatt, who joined the Assyrian Church of the East in 1862, and later
by Mar Timotheos Abimalek (1908-1941) from the majoritary Syro-Malabar
Catholic Church, which, with the introduction of the liturgy in the Malayalam
vernacular, has finally ceased to be actively Syriac-speaking. The descendants
of those members of the erstwhile Chaldean faction who, starting with 1862,
joined the Nestorian Church constitute the present Chaldean Syrian Church of
Thrissur.
Thus the Kerala Christian dioceses constituted, throughout the early modern
and modern periods, an ideological battleground between a number of parties,
gathering from India, the Middle East and Europe, while here, in Christian India,
forcibly, the culture war had to be conducted by every opponent in Syriac. This
explains the extraordinary role that Syriac played in India in modern times, up
to the present day, a role that I have tried to illustrate with just a few examples
in this paper.
Captions for the tables:
Table 1: Syriac inscription on a granite cross in Muzhikulam

Table 2: Syriac inscription on a granite cross in Koratty
Table 3: Detail of an inscription in the sanctuary of Saint Mary’s Jacobite
Church, Rakad, by Mor Gregorios Abdallah Sa†uf
Table 4: The damaged part of the Rakad inscription
Table 5: MS Kothamangalam Syr 1, f. 153v: Colophon by Mor Gregorios
Abdallah Sa†uf
Table 6: MS Mannanam Syr 63, ff. 106v-107r: Beginning of Kadavil
Chandy’s panegyric of Francisco Roz
114
MS Thrissur Syr 39.

I. PERCZEL 321
Table 7: MS Mannanam Syr 68, ff. 90v-91r: Colophon of a catechism entitled

A Succinct Explanation of the True Law that All Christians Should Know
Table 8: MS Piramadam Syr 25, f. 41v-42r: Colophon of the translation of
Pseudo-Gregory the Theologian’s Revelations by Mor Iyovannis Hidayat
Allah
Table 9: MS Mannanam Syr 51, f. 74v-75r: Second and third pages of a
letter by the Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Peter VI Khaahbadine

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ARAM, 21 (2009) 289-321. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.21.0.

CLASSICAL SYRIAC AS A MODERN LINGUA FRANCA IN

Dr. ISTVÁN PERCZEL

I. INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF SYRIAC IN INDIA BEFORE THE

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 289 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 290 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 291 21/04/10 09:06

from Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India, revised, at http://econpapers.repec.org/

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 292 21/04/10 09:06

evidence14. Earlier, F. C. Burkitt had come to a similar conclusion. He had

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 293 21/04/10 09:06

wooden cross at Muttuchira by a granite one in 158019. As, moreover, we only

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 294 21/04/10 09:06

II. THE ROLE OF SYRIAC IN INDIA IN EARLY MODERN AND

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 295 21/04/10 09:06

The modern epigraphic material in Kerala, as presented by Desreumaux,

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 296 21/04/10 09:06

So this inscription commemorates the visit to the Rakad church, in 1857,

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‫ܐ‬ ‫ܣ‬ ‫ܝܕ‬ ‫ܘܬܐ ܕ‬ ‫ܐܕ‬ ‫ܪ ܘ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܐ‬ ‫ܕ ܐ‬ ‫ܒ‬

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 299 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 300 21/04/10 09:06

These considerations naturally bring us to another genre, the colophon of

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 301 21/04/10 09:06

Apparently, this colophon mirrors the thoughts of Abdallah, when he

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 302 21/04/10 09:06

II.3. Teleological Church Histories

Another genre, which I find very interesting, is short apologetic Church

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 303 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 304 21/04/10 09:06

According to Joseph Maria Sebastiani, an Italian missionary to the Malabar

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 305 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 306 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 307 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 308 21/04/10 09:06

Monastery in Mannanam70. The catechism bears the following title: A Succinct

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1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 311 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 312 21/04/10 09:06

On ff. 192r-195v one finds a number of Syriac letters, copied in order

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 313 21/04/10 09:06

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 314 21/04/10 09:06

II.6/b. What Do These Letter Books Teach Us?

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 315 21/04/10 09:06

So he was expelled from Mulanthuruthy, but was received by the Thulassery

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 316 21/04/10 09:06

III. SYRIAC AS A MODERN INDIAN LINGUA FRANCA

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 317 21/04/10 09:06

Ostercappeln107, died in 1732 in Palayur, Kerala), indeed practised. There are

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 318 21/04/10 09:06

Naturally, all these Syriacising tendencies are gone in the nineteenth-century

1675-08_Aram21_15_Perczel.indd 319 21/04/10 09:06

Syro-Malabar Church in 1887, which, apparently, was the alternative compro-

Captions for the tables:

Table 1: Syriac inscription on a granite cross in Muzhikulam