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Tharakan. [1] The title of Tharakan is an honorific hereditary title which was bestowed upon a few prominent Saint Thomas Christian families in the former Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin, currently the State of Kerala in India.
The word Tharakan literally means the holder of document of Raja. They are so called because they were the recipients of Tharaku or writ of social privilege. [2]
Thachil Mathoo (18th/19th century), was an influential Syrian Catholic tharakan from the town of Alangad. He was given the rank of tharakan and served as the minister of the Kingdom of Travancore. Mathoo is noted to have greatly supported the mission of Mar Ouseph Kariattil to Rome in order to express tribulations of the Syrian Catholics to the pope. [3]
Kuriakose Kunnassery (16th century), was an important Knanaya Tharakan from the town of Kaduthuruthy. Kunnassery was a tharakan of the Kingdom of Vadakkumkur and served as a minister at its capitol of Kaduthurthy. In 1550, the Kingdom of Cochin allied with the Portuguese had won a battle against the Kingdom of Vadakkumkur, subsequently slaying its king Veera Manikatachan. [4] [5] Blaming the Syrian Christians as co-religionists of the Portuguese, the remaining army of Vadakkumkur hunted the Syrians after the death of their king. Kunnassery is most noted for leading the mass exodus of the Syrian Christians in Kaduthurthy to the town of Mulanthuruthy in order to escape the rage of the Vadakkumkur army. Upon arriving to Mulanthuruthy, Kunnassery sanctioned the rebuilding of Mulanthuruthy St. Thomas Church. [4]
Pachikara Punnoose (17th century), was an influential Knanaya tharakan from the town of Chunkom. Punnoose is most noted for his actions after the Koonan Kurishu Satyam in 1653. During this time period the Portuguese missionaries were strongly attempting to reunite the Saint Thomas Christians under the Roman Authority of the Catholic Church. [6] After the Koonan Kurishu Satyam, the Thomas Christians had largely remained in rebellion from the Portuguese missionaries, swearing to only abide by their native hierarch and communal head Archdeacon Thomas, now ordained as Mar Thoma I. Punnoose and the majority of the Knanaya community (except for Anjilimootil Ittythommen and Kallisserry church) had remained staunchly faithful to the Portuguese hierarchs, viewing Thoma's ordination as invalid. [7] Punnoose would meet with Bishop Joseph Sebastiani in 1663 who was sent by Rome to reconcile the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic fold. Punnoose Tharakan would pledge the support of the Knanaya community and work closely with Sebastiani to ordain Mar Thoma I's cousin and rival Mar Chandy Parambil Parambil would become the be ordained the first Syrian Catholic bishop of the Saint Thomas Christians at Kaduthuruthy Knanaya Valiyapally on February 1, 1663. [7]
Poothathil Ittikuruvilla (18th century), was a wealthy Knanaya Tharakan from the town of Neendoor. Ittikuruvilla was a tharakan of the Kingdom of Travancore and a spice merchant. Ittikuruvilla is most noted for his support and funding of the mission of Mar Ouseph Kariatill and Mar Thoma Paremmakkal to Rome in 1778 in order to hear the grievances of the Syrian Catholics of Kerala. [3] Ittikuruvilla is noted to have paid 30,000 chakrams to finance the journey of the two priests. The mission of the two priests began from Ittikuruvilla's home in Neendoor, from which they travelled on his country boat to the coast of India. [8]
The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani, Malankara Nasrani, or Nasrani Mappila, are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Kerala, who, for the most part, employ the Eastern and Western liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity. They trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Saint Thomas Christians had been historically a part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East but are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions. They are Malayalis and their mother tongue is Malayalam. Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East.
The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024. It is the largest Syriac Christian church and the largest Eastern Catholic church. Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac liturgy and origins in Malabar. The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.
The K'nānāya, also known as the Southists or Tekkumbhagar, are an endogamous ethnic group found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. They are differentiated from another part of the community, known in this context as the Northists (Vaddakkumbhagar). There are about 300,000 Knanaya in India and elsewhere.
The Malankara Metropolitan or the Metropolitan of Malabar is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of the Malankara Syrian Church. It evolved from the title of the sixteenth century East Syriac metropolitans of India who were also styled the Metropolitan of Malabar. Since the division among the Saint Thomas Christians following the Synod of Diamper, the title has been mostly employed in association with the West Syriac branch of the community, usually known as the Malankara Church, among whom the office of the Malankara Metropolitan became the continuation of the local dynastic Archdeaconate.
The Coonan Cross Oath, also known as the Great Oath of Bent Cross or Leaning Cross Oath, was taken on 3 January 1653, in Mattancherry, by a significant portion of the Saint Thomas Christian community in the Malabar region of India. This public declaration marked their refusal to submit to the authority of the Jesuits and the Latin Catholic hierarchy, as well as their rejection of Portuguese dominance in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.
Margamkali is an ancient Indian round dance of the St. Thomas Christians community- based in Kerala state, mainly practiced by the endogamous sub-sect known as the Knanaya or Southist Christians. The dance retells the life and missionary work of Thomas the Apostle, based on the 3rd-century apocryphal Acts of Thomas.
Kaduthuruthy is a town in Kottayam District in the state of Kerala, India.
The Archeparchy of Kottayam is a Syro-Malabar Church metropolitan archeparchy of the Catholic Church in India. The archeparchy is exclusively for Knanaya faithful who claim to be the descendants of Syriac Judeo-Christians who migrated from South Mesopotamia to Kodungallur (Muziris) in South India in 4th century A.D.
Mar Thoma I, also known as Valiya Mar Thoma and Arkkadiyakkon Thoma in Malayalam, and referred to as Thomas de Campo in Portuguese, was the first native-born Metropolitan bishop of the Malankara Church in the 17th century. He was the last Archdeacon of the undivided St. Thomas Christians of Malankara.
This article lists the various old and ancient churches that exist among the Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala.
Thomas of Cana was a Syriac Christian merchant magnate who arrived to the Chera Dynasties capital city of Kodungallur between 345 A.D. and 811 A.D. Thoma brought with him Jewish-Christian families and clergymen from Persian Mesopotamia.
Mor Gregorios Abdal Jaleel Bawa was the Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem from 1664 until his death in 1681. He is chiefly remembered for his 1665 mission to India, by which he established ties between the Malankara Church and the Syriac Orthodox church of Antioch. He is venerated as a saint by his church.
The Malankara Church, also known as Puthenkur, is the unified body of Saint Thomas Christians using the West Syriac Rite who claim origins from the missions of Thomas the Apostle. This community, under the leadership of Thoma I, opposed the Padroado Jesuits as well as the Propaganda Carmelites following the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653, which was taken to resist Western Catholic influences.
Kariattil Mar Iousep, alternatively written as Mar Joseph Kariattil, was the first native Indian to be appointed as Metropolitan of Kodungalloor (Cranganore) for Syrian Catholics in the territory now comprising Kerala, India.
The Mulanthuruthy Marthoman Malankara Orthodox Syrian Cathedral is an ancient church located at Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam district in Kerala, India. This church was founded and established in the 11th century A.D,the church was consecrated on 3rd Karkkidakkam (July), in between 1100 and 1125 A.D. The church was modified in the 16th century A.D. The carvings on the main door of the church, made of granite, on which is inscribed in Syrian script, read as ʹʹthe door of the Mar Thoman Church was re-erected on 9th Thulam 1575 A.D.ʹʹ It is one of the ancient Churches in Kerala.
Parambil Chandy was an Indian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cranganore from 1663 to 1687. He was the first known native Indian bishop.
The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are Christian denominations from Kerala, India, which traditionally trace their ultimate origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" as well. The Syriac term "Nasrani" is still used by St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. It is part of the Eastern Christianity institution.
St. Mary's Jacobite Syrian Soonoro Cathedral, or Angamaly Cheriyapally, is an ancient Jacobite Syrian church located in Angamaly. Founded in 1564 by Archdeacon Giwargis of Christ, it is one of the most prominent and ancient Syriac Orthodox churches in Kerala. In the seventeenth century it was the residence of Archdeacon Thomas Parambil, who eventually got consecrated as bishop Mar Thoma I following the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. It was initially the seat of the Archdeacon and later the Marthoma methrans, the local heads of the Malankara Church and hence held an important position in the church for several centuries.
Kadavil Chandy Kathanar, also known as Alexander the Indian was a Kathanar (priest) and a celebrated scholar, orator, hymnographer and syriacist from the Saint Thomas Christian community in India. He was a prominent face of the Saint Thomas Christians and lead their Catholic faction during a turbulent period of divisions in the community after the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653. He was from Kaduthuruthy, Kottayam in Kerala state of India. He often reacted vehemently against the colonial Padroado latin subjugation over his community and resisted their ecclesiastical and cultural dominance. He was widely reputed for his knowledge in Syriac language and literature, and was often praised, both among his own community and the European missionaries who wrote about him in their letters addressed to the Portuguese monarch and to the Pope. His acrostic poems propagated even among West Asia's Syriac-speaking communities. Although he stood against the Latin colonialists, he commanded respect from the Portuguese and the local Hindu kings alike.
The Paḻayakūṟ, also known as Romo-Syrians or Syrian Catholics of Malabar, are the Saint Thomas Christians who use the East Syriac Rite and claim apostolic origin from the Indian mission of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century AD.