The Persian crosses kept inside Kottayam Valiapally are the most scholarly investigated crosses in Kerala (see here for photos). In this post, we will discuss about the free standing open-air cross of the church, located behind it's sanctuary on the east side. Usually open-air crosses are positioned in front of the church (west side), but we have already seen exceptions, one in Kaduthuruthy behind the altar (east direction) and the other in Chengannur north of the church. Like the North Paravur Jacobite cross, the Kottayam cross also has a small cross beam on the top giving it a double-T shape appearance, but the small cross arm has the form of a scroll with folded ends.
Syriac Inscriptions
West Side of the Cross with Large and Small Cross-Beams
Enlarged View of the Small Cross-Beam with Syriac Inscriptions and Symbols
How Old is the Cross?
There are no inscriptions on the cross to date its establishment period. However, an old song, the 'Kottayam Valiyapally's Song of the Cross', gives us a specific date. According to this song collected in 'Purathanapattukal' (Lukas, 1910, p. 74), the cross was installed under the guidance of Vattakad Pothan Kuriathu Kathanar on Sunday, Medam 9, 754 Malayalam Era, and if this was the old reckoning method, the Gregorian date would correspond to April 19, 1579.
Stanza 5, Lines-8 to 12
"കോട്ടയകം നഗ൪ പുകിന്തു ക൪ത്താവു തന്നരുളാലേ
ഇട്ട ചട്ടം കൊല്ലമെഴൂറ്റമ്പതു നാലുങ്കൽ (754 Malayalam Era)
തൊട്ട മേടമൊൻപതൊടു പുകിന്താർ നല്ല ഞായറാഴ്ച (Medam 9, Sunday)
വട്ടമൊത്തു മേളങ്ങൾ പെരുക്കിയിഷ്ടമാം വണ്ണം
ഇട്ടു നല്ലയടിസ്ഥാനത്തിൽ നാട്ടി നല്ല സ്ക്കീപ്പായു൦ (കുരിശ്)"
The Church Songs
The 'Valiapally Church's Song' (Lukas, 1910, p. 71) dates the first church of Kottayam to Minam, 725 M. E. (March, 1550), describes it as a wooden structure, built under Cherian Mathu Kathanar and Veerakerala Adithyavarma, the King who donated the land. Furthermore (p. 71), the song adds that in Kumbam, 752 M. E. (February, 1577), the wooden church was replaced by a fine stone church and to which was added mammoth church walls, gatehouse (gopuram), halls (malikas) and a large well. Similarly, the Kottayam Cheriaplly's Song has its establishment on Thursday, Makaram 13, 754 M. E. (January 23, 1579) when Godavarma was the Thekkumkoor Raja and Ouseph Kathanar was the Vicar (Lukas, 1910, p. 177). Thus, based on these 'Old Songs', there were two churches in Kottayam, the Valiapally (Knanaya) and Cheriapally (Orthodox) by the year 1579. This can also be corroborated by the observation made by Gouvea in Jornada (1606), when Menezes visited and spent four days at Cotette (Kottayam) in 1599, where he finds two churches and many Christians (Malekandathil, 2003, pp. 305, 307).
In addition, the land deed (Adharam) obtained by Valiapally from Adithyavarma, the Thekkumkoor Raja, written originally in Vattezhuthu script, has the same date of Minam, 725 M.E. (March, 1550). The Malayalam translation of the deed is given by Onattu (2013, pp. 45-46), the details include permission granted by the Raja for 'Maho Thevar Pattanathu' (Kodungallur?) Cherian Mathu Kathanar and Nasranis (Christians) to build a church, a wall and a gatehouse on the north of the 'Vettar Hills' (Myladumkunnu) of Kottayam. The priest is identified as Moozhiyil Cherian Mathu Kathanar, the first Vicar of Kottayam church (Onattu, 2013, p. 46) or Cherian Mathen Kathanar, Vicar of Kaduthuruthy church by others. Assuming these dates are reliable, the earliest origin we can attribute to the cross should be around mid-16th century when the first church was built. However, if we consider the 'Song of the Cross', it was installed two years after the stone church was completed. There is even a tradition that the two ancient Persian crosses along with the open-air cross came from an earlier church in Kodungallur! Pereira (2000, p. 370) classifies the open-air granite crosses of Kerala into three categories depending on how their pedestals evolved from single (square) to double (square and round) and finally to triple mouldings (square, octagonal and round), the Kottayam Cross he includes in the first group. James (1979, p. 71) also attributes a 16th century date, however, more recent studies are uncertain of the chronology of the cross (Chatonnet et. al., 2008, p. 97; Perczel, 2009, p. 293).
The Structure of the Cross
The cross is 5.4 m tall including the pedestal (3.8 m cross + 1.6 m pedestal) and the large cross-arm of single stone measures 1.8 m (Jose, 2017, pp. 164, 167-168). The pedestal is made or successive layers of square mouldings. The top three square layers used as lamp stands currently are later additions. Today, there are provisions for 48 lamps (5x4 + 4×4 + 3x4), or 44 lamps according to Onattu (2013, p. 63). The original slopped structure for holding the lamps can be observed in a black & white (1968) and a colour (undated) photographs of the cross uploaded below. The bottom square layer has retained carved images, supposedly three each on every side. However, today only the south and to some extent the west panels have fairly preserved motifs. The north panel is severely damaged and the images are hardly recognizable, while in the east side only a floral motif is visible. The faint remains of a few engravings can be detected on upper layers too, but it may require strenuous efforts to bring them back.
Views of the Pedestal from Corners
South Side of the Pedestal and Enlarged View of the Panel with Images
West Side of the Pedestal and Enlarged View of the Panel with Images
The Upper Three Layers for Lamps
Some images have permanently lost and cannot be retrieved such as the two cross motifs at the bottommost layer on the west side of the pedestal in the 1968 photo (marked 3 and 4). Another interesting feature to be noted in the 1968 photograph is the shape of the uppermost cross beam, the ends appear more flat compared to the current cross with rounded scroll like terminals. In the 1908 image also it looks different, but a conclusive statement cannot be made. Has there been alterations carried out on the cross when the lamp layers were replaced? At least it is certain that the pedestal has undergone significant changes over the past few centuries of it's existence.
Comparison of Cross with a 1968 Image
An undated colour photograph of the of cross showing the sloped lampstands (see yellow arrow)
The Steps to the Cross
The steep steps leading from the cross to the eastern arched entrance of the church need to be mentioned. Apparently, these steps have caught the interest of a visitor way back in early 20th century and a photograph was taken and published. The image appeared in the 1908 work of Rev. William Joseph Richards entitled "The Indian Christians of St. Thomas". It seems the author was so impressed with the steps that he didn't bother adding the name of the church as the caption reads "Old Church Steps". Nevertheless, you can easily identify the site from the T-shaped cross. Compare a modern photograph taken from the same angle and you will notice that not much have changed in the overall structural level. Currently, there are two flights of steps on the site, one with 15 broad steps and another with 18 narrow steps near the north-east corner. The 18 steps may have a religious significance, after all the famous Pathinettampadi (the 18 divine steps) of the Hindu Temple of Sabarimala is well known. However, in 1908, there was only one flight of steps and you can count 15 steps from the photograph, the partition and narrow steps therefore was only a later addition.
The Steps Leading to the Cross
Comparison of Steps with a 1908 Image
References
Chatonnet, Francoise Briquel; Desreumaux, Alain and Thekkeparampil, Jacob (2008)-Recueil Des Inscriptions Syriaques, vol. i: Kerala
James, E. J. (1979)-The Thomas Christian Architecture of Malabar- Ancient and Medieval Periods, Ph. D. Thesis
Jose, Cyriac (2017)-Cultural Landscape and Architecture of Medieval Churches in Kerala, Ph. D. Thesis
Lukas, P. A. (1910)-Malayalathe Suriyani Christhianikalude Purathanapattukal
Malekandathil, Pius (2003)-Jornada of Dom Alexis de Menezes: A Portuguese Account of the Sixteenth Century Malabar
Onattu, Jacob Simon (2013)-Charithra Prasidhamaya Kottayam Valiyapally
Perczel, Istvan (2009)-Classical Syriac as a Modern Lingua Franca in South India between 1600 and 2006
Pereira, Jose (2000)-Baroque India-The Neo-Roman Religious Architecture of South Asia: a Global Stylistic Survey
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ReplyDeleteThe upper portion of the pedestal of the Kottayam cross was sloped until a decade back similar to what is seen in the 1968 photograph, but not exactly the same. The sloped upper portion of the pedestal was in fact a very rare feature seldom seen anywhere else. Too bad that they had altered the pedestal since it lost it’s unique appearance. Meanwhile, the upper portion of the pedestal in the 1908 image looks like it was tiered at the time. It was either two tiered or single tiered with lamp stands underneath.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1968 photograph, the shape of the uppermost cross-beam looks like having flat ends only because of the angle from which the photo was taken. Still the curved scroll like ending in the left side could be easily identified.
I’ve noticed the table includes a date of AD890 as the date of establishment for the church. Curious to know where this is from? Never before heard of such a tradition.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just can't recall the source now, but it is most probably from an online site. Will get back to you as soon as I figure it out. The early dates included in the table are mostly based on pure traditions without any historical, archaeological or epigraphical support. Nevertheless, I have included them so that all claims can be brought to the table, no matter how odd it may sound. The earliest and perhaps the weirdest is regarding Piravom Valiapally claiming it's establishment by one of the Three Wise Men who visited Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the early date for Kottayam church (890 AD), an article in NSC (nasrani.net) has this detail. I also don't know how the author arrived at such an early date when all the traditional accounts assign only a 16th century origin to the church. Since I thought of including all the claims in a common platform, this date was also added. You may find similar additional cases in the table, but it is usually the latter dates that are reliable.
ReplyDeleteLink for the aforementioned article is:
https://www.nasrani.net/2007/01/16/ancient-stone-crosses-of-kerala-saint-thomas-cross-nazraney-sthambams-persian-crosses/
A similar date is also assigned to Kottayam church (i.e. 9th century A.D.) by Pius Malekandathil -see the "Introduction" Chapter, p. XLIII of his English translation of Jornada, LRC Publications, 2003.
ReplyDeleteAhh interesting perhaps this confusion is due to the Pahlavi inscribed crosses housed there. The smaller one has been dated to ~9th century so Malekandathil may have assumed the church dates to the same period.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Jacob Kollaparambil the Pahlavi crosses from Kottayam were originally housed in one of the Kodungalor churches and were brought to Kaduthuruthy Valiyapally during the beginning of the 16th century. They were later transferred to Kottayam Valiyapally, probably during the conflict between Cochin and Vadakkumkur in the middle of the 16th century which is when the Kottayam church was most likely established.
Yes, it is a valid point, but the general consensus is that the Persian cross was brought to Kottayam from outside in the 16th century. I don't know if there are any traditional accounts relating the 9th century arrival of Mar Sabor and Short with Kottayam region.
ReplyDeleteSabor and Aphrot
ReplyDeleteOne possibility is that "church" here refers to Christian congregations and need not be a structural building. It is certain that Kottayam had Christian presence before the Valiapally was established (1550) as corroborated mainly by family records and oral traditions. However, whether Christianity reached Kottayam as early as 9th century is a matter of investigation.
ReplyDelete