In Europe he was viewed with much fascination and admiration – He was after all, in their eyes, their brother from the East. He was the first Malabari Christian in their midst and an ordained person at that, so one who could be trusted and taken seriously, at face value. The Italians, Spaniards, Venetians, the Portuguese, and all others viewed him with much curiosity and he

The two travelers Joseph & elder brother Mathias planned to go to Portugal, Rome, Venice,

Faced with the news that the Zamorin’s navy was after him, Cabral beat a hasty retreat with his fully loaded ship from Cochin with the two brothers from Cranganore and other hostages. They reached Cannanore on 15th, loaded up more spices, stopped over at the Cape of Good Hope on 4th April and Lisbon towards the end of June. Joseph was by then known as Jospehus Indius. After reaching Lisbon in June 1501, and meeting King Manuel, he stayed in Lisbon for 6 months as a royal guest (as the first Indian Christian to visit Europe) before proceeding to meet Pope Alexander VI in Rome. Then he left for Venice in 1502 and remained a guest of the Signoria of Venice and from there went on ‘probably’ to Jerusalem and Persia (Aramea and Babylon), discussing the socio economic conditions of Malabar. Some say he came back to Lisbon from Venice.

In 1518 or sometime later, the rector (apparently) returned to Cranganore after his visit, and was incensed when asked by Pentaedo to conform to Roman Catholicism.
Let us now get briefly to some of the important observations documented from the interviews with Fr Joseph.
Nestorians of Cranganore (Kodungallur area near Cochin)
The priests shaved their heads (or just the upper part). They summoned the faithful for prayers

Cranganore
The city is 90 miles from Calicut, and the town is some 15 miles away from the sea. The city is long, 30 mile sin length. Many rivers flow through the city and houses appear to be built on water. Christians, Jews, Arabs & Hindus lived there. The Hindus were of three categories, Nairs, dogs (pulayas) and Nuirinam (Fishermen-Mukkuvar). The lower classes had to flee when gentlemen approached. Women has separate temples from men.
The ‘velichapad’ is dutifully described. The King of Cochin has many wives. Sati was practiced. Marumakkatayam was in vogue. Writing was with an iron nail on palm leaves.
The houses are made with wooden walls in different floors. A conflict can be seen here that the longest day was stated to be 13.5 hrs and the shortest as 10 hrs (note that it said 60 hrs as the length of the day earlier – that must be the Malayalam 60 nazhika). Ships traversed the waters to Persia, Arabian red sea, China, Sumatra and Ceylon. Ships have matted palm leaf sails and big ships have canvas sails. The large ships have 12 sails and an infinite number of sailors. The small ones come from the Laccadive islands. The boats apparently were constructed of wood, caulking and used iron or wooden nails.
The three types of money used were Sarapho (gold), parante (Silver) and Tare (Silver). All the gold comes from the mountains (250-300 miles away – was it Wynad hills, then it was only 100 miles away – Perhaps Kolar - Mysore) where fair skinned holy men lived. Swords were made of iron and some weapons were made from hard fish (shark?) skin. Hens and other domesticated animals existed. Rice and sugar other than spices were the main produce. Wheat came from the islands. Most of the spices produced such as pepper went to Arabia & China.
Calicut
Countless Moorish merchants engage in trade, dealing with corals, zanbeloti, carpets and other merchandise. The other traders were Gujarati’s. In this city all of India comes together as well as Chinese, to trade. Around 1450 of so, the Chinese (also Christians like the Nestorians) had a factory in Calicut. They had a fall out with the Zamorin and left after destroying the city. They went to mailapatanam (Masulipatanam, Melacca or Mulapore). The Chinese traded Silk, 5 kinds of cloth, led tin porcelain and musk. They wore caps on their head. The Zamorin had a huge palace which housed 7000 men. 300 of them guarded the palace at night by taking rounds as it was not fortified. In the Zamorin’s palace there are four halls, one each for Hindus, Mohammedans, Jews & Christians. If a Hindu has to travel by sea he is not allowed to eat or else he loses caste. Men also practiced Sati, but I think from the wordings and references to Starbo that it was a feeling of the writer, not fact uttered by Joseph. Finally he mentions the great annual fair (mamankham) which is attended by Chinese, Syrians, Arabs etc
ReferencesIndia in 1500 AD- Antony Vallavanthara
Christianity in Travancore - Gordon Thomson MacKenzie
The accounts of Priest Joseph (Cabral’s voyages – WB Greenlee)
Lingerings of light in a dark land - Thomas Whitehouse
Travancore manual – Nagam Aiya
Notes
The Syrian Nestorians have been in Cochin & Travancore for a very long time. St Thomas arrived in the year 52 AD. The earliest records indicate that a merchant named Sabareso and two Syrian bishops Mar Chaboor and Mar Apprott came to Malabar in 825 AD & dwelt at Quilon. At that time the Jews and Arabs of that country were at war. The Jews and Nestorians were friends and the Arabs had commenced the war. They destroyed the city, slew two kings raja Vilyanvattale and burnt their bodies (lingerings of light –p75).
Pics
Europe 1500 – FIU
India 1500 – Columbia, Ptloemy
Mosul monastry - Wallis Budge paper, Monks of Kublai Khan
From this account may be some inferences could be drawn but cannot be fully relied upon. For instance the distance of Kodungalloor from the sea is stated to be 15 miles! The length of the town (30 miles) by that account might have included land south of Cochin as well. Amongst the Hindus who lived there, Brahmins have been excluded. There were temples exclusively for women!
ReplyDeleteWe learn that Buddhism and Jainism existed in Kerala till the advent of Hindu revivalism and then they perished. How could Christianity survive if you too believe in the 72 AD Syndrome.
may you have same document about the church of nestorian at the fansur or barus sumatra.
ReplyDeletelet me check around. i will get back on this..
ReplyDeleteHi PNS - sorry i forgot to reply you on this. Indeed Joseph's narratives had curiosity value at that time, but much of it is tainted by the people who transcribed what they thought he said. or they wrote what they felt like, in Latin of whichever language the first interview was recorded..
ReplyDeleteMaddy- This is a rather belated post. I had ignored Joseph of Cranganore till recently when I notice that serious academic historians have started quoting from him. I strongly feel that the character is an invention of the Portuguese who wanted to appropriate the St.Thomas tradition by trying to merge the Syrian orthodoxy with the mainstream Catholicism. In other words, this is a precursor to the Diamper Synod. Look forward to hearing your views.
ReplyDeleteThanks CHF..
ReplyDeleteThat Joseph went with cabral and through parts of Europe is relatively clear. His testimony and its contents are however a little murky for it is known that he talked in a form of malayalam and the people who listened made up their own translations, presumably as they saw fit. So a certain amount of leeway has to be given to his accounts.Certainly not good enough to be considered fact..