Many historians also believe that St. Thomas came to kerala in search of some Jews. This was the time when they were converted to Christianity. There were also local conversions, but some one from the higher class was unlikely to follow suite, since caste system at that time was the back born of even the local governance.

Hence to keep them self secure the so called conversions needed a shadow (during which namboothiries were an elite class in the governing mechanism)which started as a whistle blowing. It has been argued that as an Apostle of the ‘Circumcision’ St. Thomas’s first converts would have been Jews who were settled there, and that the possibility of him converting Hindus into Christianity is unlikely. Those who adhere to this argument assert that some St Thomas Christians believe that hyper orthodox Brahmins like Namboodhiries were converted by Saint Thomas into Christianity based upon attempts by the St Thomas Christians to enter the caste system of India. As they were Jewish by heritage, they remained outside the Indian caste system while at the same time unable to return to their home nation of Israel because of strong political and religious reasons. These Saint Thomas Christians also grew through integration of Jewish Christian immigrants of the 4th century AD led by Thomas of Cana and later by Mar Sapro in the 8th century AD. As Judeo-Christian communities are said not to have integrated with other faith communities, especially those of the hyper orthodox Namboodhiri Brahmins of Malabar, it has been argued that this tradition is unlikely. It has been further argued that there is a strong case for the St Thomas Christians to have taken Hindu women in marriage, as this may explain why St Thomas Christian men are called “Mappilai”, meaning “bride groom”, by the Hindus.

cheers

BG

I wish I could. But being one of them PIGS(Poor Indian Graduate Students), Supercuts is all I can afford right now.

I think I can empathize, ‘cuz for half the nanosecond in between reading “I’m Malayalee…” and then going on to read “…and I’m not Christian.”, I assumed you were Christian, .

I’ve found more than one source (i.e. not just my parents) that says Kerala is about 60% Hindu, 20% Christian, and 20% Muslim. I think everyone assumes Christian because more Mallu Christians than non-Christians migrated.

Even I have read/heard it, but having studied there for around 2 years and having visited Kerala on innumerable occassions, I have always come away with the feeling of a majority Christian presence. Anyways I do know a number of Hindus from Kerala and if I might add I find the Keralites far more genteel and erudite. Ok, now I gotta scram before I get pummeled by the likes of him.

:+:

hear ye, hear ye– on behalf of two other vexed mallus, one of whom i’m excessively fond of:

not every christian girl is a “mona darling” and not every malayalee is christian, got that?

:+:

juslandednmissinhome-

you’re lucky. many moons ago, when i was at my punjabi-saturated college, they thought i was guju “or something”, since “everything south of punjab is south india”. suuuure. b/c there are ass-loads of christians in gujurat, right?

i’ve never run into someone who assumes i’m goan, though the vast majority of people i met in college had no idea where kerala was, nor how to pronounce it (“ka-re-la”? no. you make sabji out of that. idiot. “karla?” sigh.) i also don’t watch bollywood, so i’m not familiar with the fascinating stereotypes you mentioned.

chin up, if i could be the only mallu at a major american university, you can survive your identity crisis too.

Anyways I just thought I might add in an anecdote as well. Going in for a haircut at a Supercuts in LA, I was asked how I wanted it done. And I go blah-blah… and she rolls her eyes and says, “Where are you from?”. And I say I am from India. And she says, “Well most of the Hindus that come in here have it this way…yada-yada…and not how you want it”. So I say I am not Hindu, I am actually Catholic (but I am thinking inwardly what does religion have to do with a haircut, unless of course if you are Sikh:). So finally she asks me if I am sure, ‘cuz you know all the Hindus get their hair cut differently. Finally it dawns on me that she means Indians, and I go with the Hinduism-is-a-religion-and-not-a-national-identity speech until she looks all confused. Well she then goes on to tell me that there are Indians in the US too, so calling Indians from India, Hindu and I am guessing native Americans, Indian was her way of sorting out Columbus’s mess.

mmmmyeah….try being a Mallu NON-Xtian. As my favorite SM’er knows, I’ve started saying, “I’m Malayalee…and I’m not Christian.” EVERYONE thinks Mallu = Christian.

I’ve found more than one source (i.e. not just my parents) that says Kerala is about 60% Hindu, 20% Christian, and 20% Muslim. I think everyone assumes Christian because more Mallu Christians than non-Christians migrated.

-D

As far as I can gather, the history of christianity in kerala is as follows. It’s been around since the first couple of centuries (maybe starting with St.Thomas in AD52, maybe not). Until the arrival of the portuguese, kerala christians were affiliated with the persian (a.k.a Nestorian) church. The portuguese saw them as heretics. They convinced many to come under the authority of the Pope (i.e. the eastern rite catholics). Some of those who resisted tried to reconnect with the mother church in the middle east. Only, by this time the persian church was weak so they instead connected with the syriac church (a.k.a Jacobites, Monophysites or East Syrians) instead. And a much smaller number remained with the Nestorian church. Even if they didn’t convince everybody to become catholic, the portuguese left their mark on church architecture. The arrival of the british resulted in more bifurcations (Mar Thoma, CSI etc). I think it is fair to say that all this constitutes a ‘significant impact’ .

Peace, ashvin

That’s not correct dude … Most of the Catholics from kerala have been converted from the Orthodox and other traditions. I would know since i have descended from one of those converts. Also, the catholic and orthodox traditions have become very similar in the ideology and beliefs so much that their is a great deal of intermarriage