By M.C MADHAVAN
Like the United States, India is constitutionally a secular country with separation of church and state. What is unique about India is that secular way of life enunciated in Sanatan Dharma allowed them to accept willingly religions that came into India from outside to grow and live harmoniously with their followers.
Like the United States, India is constitutionally a secular country with separation of church and state. What is unique about India is that secular way of life enunciated in Sanatan Dharma allowed them to accept willingly religions that came into India from outside to grow and live harmoniously with their followers.
The lure of spices attracted traders from the Middle East. Both Arabs and Jews were well aware of southwest India where spices are grown. It is not surprising that three of the four religions discussed here begin India, in Kerala.
Christianity
Christianity took root in the first century AD when St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in 52 AD on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Southwest coast of India and established seven churches. Christians now number close to 30 million, of which about 7 million live in Kerala.
First people who became followers of Jesus were some high caste Hindus and Indian Jews. Saint Thomas is said to have established seven and half Christian communities or churches in Kerala. Church in Palayoor is believed to be the first church built in India. His teachings “eventually got integrated into the beliefs and traditions of the local communities, into their family history, into their songs and dances”. St. Thomas Christians were considered high caste, along the Hindu tradition, with special privileges granted by the kings. Their churches were modelled after Hindu temples. In short, the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala had blended well the ecclesiastical world of the East Syrian Church with the socio-cultural environment of their homeland. Thus, the East Syrian Church was Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Syro-Oriental in worship.
In 1498, when the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama landed on the Malabar Coast, there were an estimated two million Christians across the land, and they had 1,500 churches under the jurisdiction of a single Metropolitan who lived in Angamale. Besides, the Church had, by then, expanded to the neighboring areas as well as northward along the Arabian Sea coast to Goa, Gujarat and as far as Sind, now a part of Pakistan. This, indeed, was the Golden Age of the East Syrian Church.
The arrival of Vasco da Gama, however, marked the start of a turning point and heralded a new struggle for the East Syrian Church. Because the Portuguese, who later established trading posts in Goa, Daman and Diu north of Kerala, moved against the East Syrian Church leading to tragic, ecclesiastical incidents.
According to Joas de Castro, the Portuguese Viceroy in Goa in 1548, the sword of the Portuguese was wielded "mainly against the centuries-old Christians of Kerala". This was because only in Kerala did the laity stand steadfast against Western colonization, and maybe the Portuguese, who were under the Roman Church, considered everything outside Roman as heretic.
The first European Church was built in Kochi (Cochin) in 1503. The move against the Syrian Church was followed by Western Church establishing a European diocese in Goa in 1534. This Europeanization process led to divisions in the Church, as there was considerable resistance against Western domination. The Christian communities then split into many groups - East Syrian Catholics, West Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Jacobite Syrian Orthodox, Marthoma (those who accepted the Anglican Church but with the Eastern Liturgy), Church of the East (those who accepted the Nestorian Patriarch), and the Latin Church. Today, there are 23 dioceses in India. Eleven of them are in Kerala with a number of priests from Kerala working in many parts of the world.
ISLAM
Islam came to India long before the Mughals came in from the northwest. Cheraman Jum'ah Masjid in Kodungallur town, just 30 km north of Kochi, is not just the oldest in India and the subcontinent but one built during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad in 629 AD by an Arab propagator of Islam, Malik Ibn Dinar
The entry of Islam into India was smooth and Muslims enjoyed the full patronage of the locals irrespective of their religions. In fact, in a manifestation of India's cultural syncretism, many non-Muslims are its devotees and hold "Vidhyarambham", or the commencement of education ceremony for their children at this mosque. During Ramadan, iftaar offerings are often made by the non-Muslim communities in the area. The original mosque looked more like a Hindu temple than like a traditional mosque. After renovations in 1974 and 2001, minarets and tomb were added to look like a mosque. Yet they have kept the Kerala Style lamp in sanctum sanctorum and the pulpit has some intricate carvings and lacquer work in traditional Kerala style. In true style of temples in the south, the mosque also has a pond.
“There are several legends surrounding the Cheraman Jum'ah mosque. As one goes: It was built under the patronage of the last Chera king, Cheraman Perumal, who is also believed to have abdicated his throne and embraced Islam upon meeting the Prophet at Mecca. But before he died at Dhufar in Oman due to some illness on the way back to India, he wrote some letters asking the local rulers, to whom he had handed over his empire, to extend all help they could to some Arab merchants who were planning to visit India. One such merchant, Malik Ibn Dinar, was given permission by local chieftains to build Islamic places of worship around the area. The mosque accordingly is called the Cheraman Mosque in recognition of the help extended by the last Chera ruler”.
Muslim population in India may be estimated at about 188 million in 2016, second largest in the world after Indonesia.
Judaism
Traders in King Solomon's time carried out regular sea voyages to the South Indian coast, bartering for ivory, apes, and silver, and the first Cochin Jews may have been the children of Israelite sailors and local women. It has been claimed that following the destruction of the First Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem (537 BC) some Jewish exiles came to India. But it was after the destruction of Second Temple in 70 AD that the first wave of large numbers of settlers came to an ancient port near Cochin, now called Kodungallur. This city was so important to Jewish community that it was referred to "a substitute Jerusalem in India”.
Central to the history of the Cochin Jews is their close relationship with Indian rulers, and this was eventually codified on a set of copper plates granting the community special privileges. The date of these plates, known as "Sâsanam", is contentious, with local tradition setting it as long ago as 379 AD, although paleographic evidence suggests the mid-eighth century.Whatever the date, the Jewish leader Joseph Rabban was granted the rank of prince over the Jews of Cochin, given the ruler ship and tax revenue of a pocket principality in Anjuvannam and rights to seventy-two "free houses". The Hindu king gave permission in perpetuity for Jews to live freely, build synagogues, and own property "without conditions attached". Rabban was also referred to, "the king of Shingly".
The oldest gravestone of a Cochin Jew is written in Hebrew and dates to 1269 CE. It is near the Chendamangalam Synagogue, now a museum
In 1341 a disastrous flood silted up the port of Kodangallur, and trade shifted to a smaller port at Cochin (Kochi). Many of the Jews moved quickly, and within four years the first synagogue had been completed.
Shortly thereafter, the Portuguese occupied the Kingdom of Cochin and suppressed the Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The new Protestant rulers were more tolerant of the Jews than the Catholics had been.
The Paradesi Jews ( also called "White Jews,"), came to Kodangallur in sixteenth century after Sephardic Jews were exiled from the Iberian peninsula, where they had thrived for centuries. The European Jews had good trade links with their countries of origin, and useful languages to conduct international trade, which helped their position both financially and politically. When they were attacked by Muslims with the support of another ruler on the pretext that they had an advantage with the pepper trade, they fled south to the Kingdom of Cochin, seeking the protection of the Hindu Rajah of Cochin. He gave them asylum, exempted from taxation and bestowed on them all the privileges enjoyed by the tax payers.
The Paradesi Jews brought with them the Ladino language and their Sephardic customs. They found the existing Black Malabari Jewish community quite different, and tensions between the two communities existed from early on.
For centuries the Cochin Jews were divided by the color line. The White (Paradesi) Jews were dismissive of the Black (Malabari) Jews, and denied them access to the Paradesi Synagogue. There were moves against this discrimination dating back to the 1520 but persisted until early 20th century. The White Jews also considered themselves racially distinct from the more numerous Black (or Malabari) Jews who had preceded them. Interestingly enough few meshuchrarim belonging to the White Jewish community were discriminated by other White Jews preventing meshuchrarim marrying other White Jews and relegating them to a subordinate position in the synagogue and the community.
Abraham Barak Salem, known as Jewish Gandhi, fought against this by boycotting the synagogue for a time and utilized satyagraha as a means of combating discrimination within the community. Salem's efforts were successful, and by the mid-1930s and many of the old taboos had fallen. The Black Jews had seven places of worship; the White Jews had only one, the Paradesi Synagogue, which for centuries had been barred to those whom they considered impure. One writer called it "a bastion of white purity". Pardesi Synagogue still functions and is a great tourist attraction. Jewish population has declined over the years mainly due to emigration to Israel. Much of the Core Indian Jewish population is now estimated at about 5,000 (enlarged population of 7,000) and they live mostly in Mumbai and Kolkata.
Zoroastrianism
Due to Muslim persecution in the 10th century, a group of Zoroastrians left Iran as refugees in search of some where they can practice their religion freely. They finally ended up in the shores of Gujarat, India where they were granted permission to stay, thus founding the Parsi community in India. The immigration of Zoroastrians continued until 1477 when their contact with Iran ended.
Zoroastrian traders flourished in India due to liberal atmosphere while they faced execution in China and many were killed during the Guangzhou massacre.
The Zoroastrian community in India remains one of the most recognized groups that contributes in a significant way to India’s development in industries, education, high technology, health sectors. It also participated in Indian freedom movement Zoroastrians are regarded either Parsi or Irani depending on the time of migration to India. One of the conditions of their initial refugee status was that they would not convert people to their religion or marry outside their community. Marrying within this small community has created special health issues afflicting the community. They number less than 100,000 and yet it is almost half of their population in the world.(Madhavan is, professor of Economics and Asian Studies Emeritus, San Diego State University, prepared this summary from various sources as an introduction to understanding how India welcomed those who were persecuted in other countries)
Christianity
Christianity took root in the first century AD when St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in 52 AD on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Southwest coast of India and established seven churches. Christians now number close to 30 million, of which about 7 million live in Kerala.
First people who became followers of Jesus were some high caste Hindus and Indian Jews. Saint Thomas is said to have established seven and half Christian communities or churches in Kerala. Church in Palayoor is believed to be the first church built in India. His teachings “eventually got integrated into the beliefs and traditions of the local communities, into their family history, into their songs and dances”. St. Thomas Christians were considered high caste, along the Hindu tradition, with special privileges granted by the kings. Their churches were modelled after Hindu temples. In short, the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala had blended well the ecclesiastical world of the East Syrian Church with the socio-cultural environment of their homeland. Thus, the East Syrian Church was Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Syro-Oriental in worship.
In 1498, when the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama landed on the Malabar Coast, there were an estimated two million Christians across the land, and they had 1,500 churches under the jurisdiction of a single Metropolitan who lived in Angamale. Besides, the Church had, by then, expanded to the neighboring areas as well as northward along the Arabian Sea coast to Goa, Gujarat and as far as Sind, now a part of Pakistan. This, indeed, was the Golden Age of the East Syrian Church.
The arrival of Vasco da Gama, however, marked the start of a turning point and heralded a new struggle for the East Syrian Church. Because the Portuguese, who later established trading posts in Goa, Daman and Diu north of Kerala, moved against the East Syrian Church leading to tragic, ecclesiastical incidents.
According to Joas de Castro, the Portuguese Viceroy in Goa in 1548, the sword of the Portuguese was wielded "mainly against the centuries-old Christians of Kerala". This was because only in Kerala did the laity stand steadfast against Western colonization, and maybe the Portuguese, who were under the Roman Church, considered everything outside Roman as heretic.
The first European Church was built in Kochi (Cochin) in 1503. The move against the Syrian Church was followed by Western Church establishing a European diocese in Goa in 1534. This Europeanization process led to divisions in the Church, as there was considerable resistance against Western domination. The Christian communities then split into many groups - East Syrian Catholics, West Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Jacobite Syrian Orthodox, Marthoma (those who accepted the Anglican Church but with the Eastern Liturgy), Church of the East (those who accepted the Nestorian Patriarch), and the Latin Church. Today, there are 23 dioceses in India. Eleven of them are in Kerala with a number of priests from Kerala working in many parts of the world.
ISLAM
Islam came to India long before the Mughals came in from the northwest. Cheraman Jum'ah Masjid in Kodungallur town, just 30 km north of Kochi, is not just the oldest in India and the subcontinent but one built during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad in 629 AD by an Arab propagator of Islam, Malik Ibn Dinar
The entry of Islam into India was smooth and Muslims enjoyed the full patronage of the locals irrespective of their religions. In fact, in a manifestation of India's cultural syncretism, many non-Muslims are its devotees and hold "Vidhyarambham", or the commencement of education ceremony for their children at this mosque. During Ramadan, iftaar offerings are often made by the non-Muslim communities in the area. The original mosque looked more like a Hindu temple than like a traditional mosque. After renovations in 1974 and 2001, minarets and tomb were added to look like a mosque. Yet they have kept the Kerala Style lamp in sanctum sanctorum and the pulpit has some intricate carvings and lacquer work in traditional Kerala style. In true style of temples in the south, the mosque also has a pond.
“There are several legends surrounding the Cheraman Jum'ah mosque. As one goes: It was built under the patronage of the last Chera king, Cheraman Perumal, who is also believed to have abdicated his throne and embraced Islam upon meeting the Prophet at Mecca. But before he died at Dhufar in Oman due to some illness on the way back to India, he wrote some letters asking the local rulers, to whom he had handed over his empire, to extend all help they could to some Arab merchants who were planning to visit India. One such merchant, Malik Ibn Dinar, was given permission by local chieftains to build Islamic places of worship around the area. The mosque accordingly is called the Cheraman Mosque in recognition of the help extended by the last Chera ruler”.
Muslim population in India may be estimated at about 188 million in 2016, second largest in the world after Indonesia.
Judaism
Traders in King Solomon's time carried out regular sea voyages to the South Indian coast, bartering for ivory, apes, and silver, and the first Cochin Jews may have been the children of Israelite sailors and local women. It has been claimed that following the destruction of the First Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem (537 BC) some Jewish exiles came to India. But it was after the destruction of Second Temple in 70 AD that the first wave of large numbers of settlers came to an ancient port near Cochin, now called Kodungallur. This city was so important to Jewish community that it was referred to "a substitute Jerusalem in India”.
Central to the history of the Cochin Jews is their close relationship with Indian rulers, and this was eventually codified on a set of copper plates granting the community special privileges. The date of these plates, known as "Sâsanam", is contentious, with local tradition setting it as long ago as 379 AD, although paleographic evidence suggests the mid-eighth century.Whatever the date, the Jewish leader Joseph Rabban was granted the rank of prince over the Jews of Cochin, given the ruler ship and tax revenue of a pocket principality in Anjuvannam and rights to seventy-two "free houses". The Hindu king gave permission in perpetuity for Jews to live freely, build synagogues, and own property "without conditions attached". Rabban was also referred to, "the king of Shingly".
The oldest gravestone of a Cochin Jew is written in Hebrew and dates to 1269 CE. It is near the Chendamangalam Synagogue, now a museum
In 1341 a disastrous flood silted up the port of Kodangallur, and trade shifted to a smaller port at Cochin (Kochi). Many of the Jews moved quickly, and within four years the first synagogue had been completed.
Shortly thereafter, the Portuguese occupied the Kingdom of Cochin and suppressed the Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660. The new Protestant rulers were more tolerant of the Jews than the Catholics had been.
The Paradesi Jews ( also called "White Jews,"), came to Kodangallur in sixteenth century after Sephardic Jews were exiled from the Iberian peninsula, where they had thrived for centuries. The European Jews had good trade links with their countries of origin, and useful languages to conduct international trade, which helped their position both financially and politically. When they were attacked by Muslims with the support of another ruler on the pretext that they had an advantage with the pepper trade, they fled south to the Kingdom of Cochin, seeking the protection of the Hindu Rajah of Cochin. He gave them asylum, exempted from taxation and bestowed on them all the privileges enjoyed by the tax payers.
The Paradesi Jews brought with them the Ladino language and their Sephardic customs. They found the existing Black Malabari Jewish community quite different, and tensions between the two communities existed from early on.
For centuries the Cochin Jews were divided by the color line. The White (Paradesi) Jews were dismissive of the Black (Malabari) Jews, and denied them access to the Paradesi Synagogue. There were moves against this discrimination dating back to the 1520 but persisted until early 20th century. The White Jews also considered themselves racially distinct from the more numerous Black (or Malabari) Jews who had preceded them. Interestingly enough few meshuchrarim belonging to the White Jewish community were discriminated by other White Jews preventing meshuchrarim marrying other White Jews and relegating them to a subordinate position in the synagogue and the community.
Abraham Barak Salem, known as Jewish Gandhi, fought against this by boycotting the synagogue for a time and utilized satyagraha as a means of combating discrimination within the community. Salem's efforts were successful, and by the mid-1930s and many of the old taboos had fallen. The Black Jews had seven places of worship; the White Jews had only one, the Paradesi Synagogue, which for centuries had been barred to those whom they considered impure. One writer called it "a bastion of white purity". Pardesi Synagogue still functions and is a great tourist attraction. Jewish population has declined over the years mainly due to emigration to Israel. Much of the Core Indian Jewish population is now estimated at about 5,000 (enlarged population of 7,000) and they live mostly in Mumbai and Kolkata.
Zoroastrianism
Due to Muslim persecution in the 10th century, a group of Zoroastrians left Iran as refugees in search of some where they can practice their religion freely. They finally ended up in the shores of Gujarat, India where they were granted permission to stay, thus founding the Parsi community in India. The immigration of Zoroastrians continued until 1477 when their contact with Iran ended.
Zoroastrian traders flourished in India due to liberal atmosphere while they faced execution in China and many were killed during the Guangzhou massacre.
The Zoroastrian community in India remains one of the most recognized groups that contributes in a significant way to India’s development in industries, education, high technology, health sectors. It also participated in Indian freedom movement Zoroastrians are regarded either Parsi or Irani depending on the time of migration to India. One of the conditions of their initial refugee status was that they would not convert people to their religion or marry outside their community. Marrying within this small community has created special health issues afflicting the community. They number less than 100,000 and yet it is almost half of their population in the world.(Madhavan is, professor of Economics and Asian Studies Emeritus, San Diego State University, prepared this summary from various sources as an introduction to understanding how India welcomed those who were persecuted in other countries)
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