5) OPEN-AIR GRANITE CROSS OF CHENGANNUR OLD SYRIAN CHURCH

 

Introduction

One of the most beautiful open-air granite cross in Kerala is the free standing monolithic monument standing in front of the Chengannur Old Syrian Church. There are very less free standing rock crosses in Kerala having carvings on the vertical pole and cross-arms, and even if present, they are bare minimum. Chengannur is a rare exception, where the entire surface of the cross facing west is intricately carved with low relief of crucifixion symbols, winged angels and other Christian religious motifs, all arranged in a belt of floral work. Carvings are also visible on the cross-beams and vertical shaft facing the eastern, the northern and the southern borders of the cross, though less intensive in amount. The engravings are more prominent at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal members. The artistic excellence of the cross has made Ramanatha Ayyar (1931, p. 151) to call the specimen as the most beautifully designed cross in Travancore. The cross is positioned on a street in the northern side, a few feet outside the church compound. 

How tall is the cross?

James (1979, p. 66) assigns a height of 13 metres for the cross and 3.5 metres for the pedestal. The other figure which is often quoted is 33.5 feet (10 metres) single stone cross (eg. Cherian, 2009, p. 176; Kaduvettoor, 2019, p. 46). The more reliable data is however provided by Jose (2017, pp. 163, 167) and according to his estimate, the cross along with the pedestal measures 8.93 metres (cross-6.45 metres and pedestal- 2.48 metres); the cross-beam 2.5 metres; and the vertical pole at the base with a thickness 40 x 40 cm.

4) OPEN-AIR GRANITE CROSS OF NORTH PARAVUR, ST. THOMAS JACOBITE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH.

The open-air granite cross of North Paravur Jacobite church is traditionally dated from the pre- Diamper period (i.e. before 1599). Scholars like Jose Pereira (2000, p. 369) even considers Paravur cross as the oldest monumental cross in Kerala. This is mainly based on a stone inscription displayed near the western main entrance of the church. However, it is highly unlikely that the current structure is from the 16th century, at the most it may have retained some elements from the original structure.

The Vattezhuthu Inscription of the Cross (1566)

The 17-lined Malayalam Vattezhuthu inscription is about the installation of a cross in 1566 under the guidance of a Bishop named Joseph. Translations in modern Malayalam and English are also provided along with the original inscription in the western wall of the church. A Tamil transliterated version of the full inscription is given by A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar in Travancore Archaeological Series (1931, Vol. VII, Part-2, pp. 144-145). I am giving an English transliteration of Ayyar's Tamil text here:

1) Maran Echo Michi-

2) ha Pirannittu 1-

3) 566 Kalam Vr-

4) ricchika Njayar 16-

5) nu Pattamane Para-

6) vuru Marth Thomma Pa-

7) lli Veppan Mar You-

8) vseppu Methran-

9) um Mattum Pala Thesathu-

10) lla Pattakkarerum

11) Inangarum Koo-

12) ti Kurichu Natti-

13) Sammathichu Kuruva-

14) nayum Cheythu Annu

15) Thanne Kollam 7- 

16) 42-amathu Vricchika Nja-

17) yar 16- nu + வ

3) OPEN-AIR GRANITE CROSS OF CHUNGAM (THODUPUZHA), ST. MARY'S FORANE KNANAYA-CATHOLIC CHURCH

The open-air granite cross, the broken old cross and the old church of Chungam

The granite cross of Chungam St. Mary's church near Thodupuzha is dated from early decades of 17th century. There are no inscriptions in the cross to substantiate the date, but we get the information from an old song. The "ചുങ്കത്തിൽ പള്ളിയുടെ പാട്ട്" (the Song of Chungam Church) and the "ചുങ്കത്തിൽ പള്ളിയുടെ  കുരിശ്ശിന്‍റെ പാട്ട്" (the Song of Chungam Church Cross) appeared for the first time in print when Lukas P. U. published "Purathanapattukal' (Ancient Songs of the Syrian Christians of Malabar) in 1910. This  important work has seen 11 editions so far, which is an indication of its wide acceptance. Many of the traditional songs were copied from old palm-leaf manuscripts which otherwise would have been lost by now.  Lukas died at Chungom in 1959, the memorial stone displayed near the southern entrance of the old Chungam church says, "Puthenpurackal Uthuppu Lukas, Collector of the Ancient Songs of Malayalathe Syrian Christians (1910)".

Song of Chungam Church (4th Stanza)

ആണ്ടു൦പുകൾ കൊല്ലമെഴുന്നൂറ്റൻപത്തുനാലുങ്കൽ

അന്നവിടെ നിന്ന തിങ്ങൾ രണ്ടു ചെന്നവൃശ്ഛിക൦

(Lukas, 1910, p. 76)

Song of Chungam Church Cross (5th Stanza)

കൊല്ലമെണ്ണൂറ്റഞ്ചു ചെന്ന മിഥുന൦ മൂന്നോടിരുപത്

കോമളമാ൦ നൽവരവു൦ മാർത്തോമ്മാന്‍റെ ദുക്റാന

അന്നു നിറവേറി കുരിശാലാഹാ തന്നരുളാലെ

ഭക്തിയൊത്തവരൊക്കെ പണി ചമച്ചു വെച്ചാറെ

(Lukas, 1910, p. 79)

The songs inform us that Chungam church was established in 754 Malayalam era (1579 A. D.), Vrischikam 2; and the cross was erected 50 years later in 805 M. E. (1629 A. D.), Mithunam 23-both the dates based on old reckoning (Julian calendar). The dates become November 12, 1579 and July 3, 1630 under the new reckoning (Gregorian date). The original Chungam church (1579) does not exist today. The current old church

2) OPEN-AIR GRANITE CROSS OF HOLY GHOST FORANE CATHOLIC CHURCH (RUHA D'QUDISHA CHURCH), MUTTUCHIRA

1-Open-Air Granite Cross and Lithic Inscription (Stele) of Muttuchira

In the courtyard between the Holy Ghost Forane and the St. Francis Assissi churches at Muttuchira stands an open air granite cross. The cross is dated from 1623-24 period (M.E. 799) based on a Vattezhuthu inscription on its pedestal. However, we have another inscription in the form of a stone tablet from the same church, also in Vattezhuthu script that testifies the erection of a granite cross at Muttuchira in 1581, Minam (March) 24 or 29. This stone inscription of Muttuchira dated 1581 (or later) has been extensively studied. Earlier studies of A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar (1930, pp. 75-79), T. K. Joseph (1929, p. 17, Appendix IV; 1930, pp. 253–54), Fr. Henri Hosten (1936, pp. 341-363), and recent works by Martin Thomas Antony (2016, pp. 286-316) and Istvan Perczel (2018a, pp. 94-104; 2018b, pp. 201-206) are important in this regard. The stele was erected by Chaldean Bishop Mar Shimon (d. 1599) and his archdeacon, a native priest from Muttuchira, Jacob Nadakkal (d. 1593 or 1596) in 1581 to commemorate the erection of a granite cross in front of the church. 

2- Crosses described in the Muttuchira Stele

The Muttuchira lithic inscription measures 30" x 40" (Hosten, 1936, p. 350) and is divided into two sections. The contents of the inscription stone are essentially about the installation of four crosses at four different periods of the 16th century, along with names of the people involved in the process. The type of the crosses and date of erection differ depending on how one reads the script. The four crosses installed according to the stele are dated:

1) 1528

2) 1580, 13 Kanni (September)

3) 1580, at the Feast (of the Bleeding Cross) of the 18th of the same time (i,e, 18 December, 1580)

4) 1581, 24 or 29 Minam (March)

1) OPEN-AIR GRANITE CROSS OF KADUTHURUTHY ST. MARY KNANAYA CATHOLIC CHURCH (VALIYAPALLY)-The largest free standing granite cross of India.

INTRODUCTION

Kaduthuruthy cross is the tallest free-standing rock cross in India and often cited as the highest open-air cross in Asia, made out from a single block. The Travancore Archaeological Series (Volume 7, 1931) refers to the Kaduthuruthy cross as the best of its kind in Travancore. Typically, open-air granite crosses in Kerala are erected in the western courtyard facing the façade and the main entrance of the church. However, Kaduthuruthy cross is positioned in the eastern courtyard at the rear end, i.e. behind the main altar of the Kaduthuruthy St. Mary's Knanaya Catholic Forane Church (Valiyapally). No doubt the cross was considered an impressive monument at the time of its erection. In the old song of the cross, the author asks "is there any cross in Kerala like this?”. Miraculous stories are often associated with the cross such as, at the time of its foundation, Mother Mary herself appeared as an old woman to help the struggling devotees to erect the tall massive structure; and the Vadakkankur king, who, when denied the chalice of the church for the marriage feast of his daughter, attacked Kaduthuruthy church, but the effort of king's elephants and men to destroy the cross failed miserably (Menachery, 1973). 

OPEN-AIR ROCK CROSSES

Open-Air Granite Cross, Udayamperoor (Diamper) Synodal Church

In the upcoming several posts, I will be uploading photographs of a religious structure that you will easily notice in many churches of the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala. These are unique monumental rock crosses generally erected in front of the traditional churches of Kerala at the western side facing the main entrance. The structure usually made of granite, consists of a huge monolithic cross and an elaborate and massive pedestal at its base. The pedestals or basements of the cross are decorated with square, circular, rectangular or octagonal layers or mouldings one above the other. The uppermost moulding is topped usually with a hemispherical dome in the shape of a lotus bud, over which the monolithic square shaft (vertical pole) is erected. The sides of these multi-tiered pedestals are normally adorned with intricate carvings of floral and faunal motifs, geometrical designs, religious symbols representing the Life of Christ and Biblical narratives, celestial bodies, mythical creatures, angelic figures etc. The horizontal shaft (cross arm) of the cross have flat ends, which are sometimes tapering and finely decorated. The top of the vertical pole is usually blank, but in a few types they have a small plaque positioned parallel to the horizontal beam, which gives a double T-shaped appearance to the cross. The cross as such is generally devoid of any images, but rare exceptions are still to be noted (eg. Chengannur). 

CHURCH LISTS OF ST. THOMAS SYRIAN CHRISTIANS FROM 17th & 18th CENTURIES

In the previous post, we discussed about churches mentioned in Jornada (1606) and the list compiled by Fr. Bernard Thoma. In this post, I will introduce some other church lists of St. Thomas Syrian Christians from the 17th and the 18th centuries. A majority of them have appeared in the reports and documents of Portuguese missionaries. The lists may not be perfect in the sense that they might be incomplete or represent churches from a particular group or diocese only. Some of the sites are unidentifiable because of the various modes of spelling accounted for by foreign languages, and there are a few repetitions of the names as well. Nevertheless, these lists have been very useful in getting an overall picture of the churches, their geographical distribution, the local kingdoms to which they were subjected, their affiliation to the major denominations, the patron saints to which they were dedicated etc. It should be noted that most of these lists are contributed by Catholic Portuguese authors, who consider the non-Catholic Syrians as a heretical group, and usually address them as Schismatici, Schismatique, Schismaticae etc. However, the more acceptable and correct expressions would be, Romo-Syrians (Catholics), Syrian-Jacobites and Latin (non-Syrian Catholics). Similarly, although the term Malabar refers to the northern districts of Kerala, the Portuguese authors use the “Church of Serra” (Malabar) to indicate the general habitat of the St Thomas Christians. At first, we will see three church lists of the 18th century that are more detailed and elaborate.

LIST OF ST. THOMAS SYRIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AT THE TIME OF THE SYNOD OF DIAMPER (1599)-BASED ON 'JORNADA' (1606).

The earliest well authenticated statement about the numerical strength of the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala is from a Syriac letter sent by four Chaldean bishops ordained for India, viz. Mar Yahballaha, Mar Denha, Mar Jacob and Mar Thomas to the Catholicos and Patriarch of the East (Babylon), Mar Elijah. The letter dated 1504, reports about 30,000 Christian families in Malabar. The original Syriac letter is reproduced with a Latin translation by Joseph Simonius Assemanns in 1725 (Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino Vaticana, 1725, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 590-594). Similarly, one of the first reports that specify the number of churches in Malabar, is provided by P. Francisci Dionysios, rector of the Jesuit college of Cochin on the St. Thomas Christians. According to his narrative dated Cochin, 4 January 1578, the St. Thomas Christians have 50 large settlements and many houses, and over 60 churches and almost 80,000 Christian souls, scattered around Malabar (in Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol. XI, p. 140). 

EARLY PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF SYRIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF KERALA

Let's explore some of the pre-20th century portraits of the Syrian Christian churches of Kerala. We will first go through four sketches from 1806 by Rev. Claudius Buchanan followed by three drawings by Rev Josiah Bateman, published in 1860. More engravings from 1855 to 1887 are discussed. A rare  photograph of a church from Kerala dated 1868 is also added. I will be comparing all these sketches and photograph with the current images taken from the same location for a better understanding of how these structures have changed over time.

Four Sketches of Syrian Christian Churches of Kerala from 1806

One of the first images of Kerala's Syrian Christian churches were contributed by the Scottish Theologian, Rev. Claudius Buchanan in 1806. Buchanan paid two visits to Kerala between October, 1806 to February, 1807 and December, 1807 to January, 1808, and during his first trip, he made sketches of four Syrian churches -viz., the old church of Paroor (North Paravur), those of Candenad (Kandanad), Udiamper (Udayamperoor), and that of Mangatte or Alangatta (Alangad). These sketches are faithfully reproduced in 1817 by the English cleric, Rev. Hugh Nicholas Pearson, in the second volume of his "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan". 

Pearson writes: "In the course of his tour, Dr. Buchanan made drawings of several of the Syrian churches on the spot; of which, though extremely simple, and with one exception exhibiting only the principal front of each building, it has been thought desirable to obtain engravings, as an accompaniment to this part of his Memoirs"; and he further elaborates: "The sketches of these venerable buildings can scarcely be contemplated without exciting some tribute of applause to the Christian zeal and energy which prompted Dr. Buchanan to explore the recesses amidst which they had been for ages concealed, and to shed around them that scriptural light which poverty and neglect had well-nigh extinguished.” To the best of my knowledge, these 1806-sketches are the earliest known images of any Syrian Christian churches from Kerala. 

1) OLD PAROOR/NORTH PARAVUR CHURCH (Syro-Malabar)

Buchanan visits Paroor on 9 December, 1806 and he specifically mentions about taking a sketch of the church. Quoting his own words from this visit: "Not far from Cranganore is the town of Paroor, where there is an ancient Syrian Church, which bears the name of the Apostle Thomas. It is supposed to be the oldest in Malabar, and is still used for Divine Service. I took a drawing of it" (Christian Researches in Asia, 1811). The sketch represents a church whose structure shows certain features that you rarely find in a Syrian church of Kerala. Rev. Thomas Whitehouse who visited Paravur in 1859, finds Buchanan's drawing atypical. His skepticism is reflected in his observation that "If it be at all a correct representation, it was very unlike all other Syrian Churches now existing in Malabar, especially in its having no raised chancel, but a round tower at the extreme end of the building-towers of any kind being very unusual in their churches" (Lingerings of light in a dark land, 1873).

OLD PAROOR/NORTH PARAVUR CHURCH (1806)

Three Sketches of Syrian Christian Churches of Kerala from 1860

About three decades after Buchanan visited Kerala, Rev. Daniel Wilson, the Bishop of Calcutta (1832 to 1858) made a trip to the region from 15 November to 25 November, 1835. When Rev. Josiah Bateman, a chaplain to the Bishop of Calcutta, wrote "The life of the Right Rev. Daniel Wilson" in 1860, he published drawings of three Syrian Christian churches from Kerala, viz. Kottayam Cheriapally, Kottayam Valiapally (interior) and Karingachira, which were part of Wilson's itinerary.

1) KOTTAYAM CHERIAPALLY (Syrian Orthodox)

Bateman finds "These Syrian Christian churches, both (Valiapally and Cheriapally) as to their exterior and interior presented a certain degree of similarity with one another, and were constructed on a thoroughly primitive model" (vol. 2, p. 50).

KOTTAYAM CHERIAPALLY  (1860)

A Few More Sketches of the Syrian Christian Churches of Kerala from 19th Century

1) A SYRIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH (1855)

In an 1855 issue of the 'Wesleyan Juvenile Offering', we find this beautiful picture of ‘A Syrian Christian Church’ from Kerala, but the church is not named. [Don't miss the very insightful comments to this post by George Lino.]

An 1868 Photograph of a Syrian Christian Church of Kerala

A special mention needs to be made of this photograph of ‘Vypin Church’ taken by Lady Anne Jane Charlotte Napier, wife of Lord Francis Napier, the Governor of Madras from 1866 to 1872. According to the Royal Collection Trust, which has acquired the photograph, it was taken during Lady Napier's visit to Travancore in 1868, and was sent to Queen Victoria. It is perhaps one of the earliest known photograph of a church from Kerala.

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF HOPE (Latin Catholic), VYPIN  (1868)

CHURCHES (NO: 1-23) ASSOCIATED WITH ST. THOMAS LEGENDS (1st CENTURY A. D.)

 I have included photographs of these sites in previous posts, hence not repeating here. 

CHURCHES SUPPOSEDLY ESTABLISHED BETWEEN 2nd & 15th CENTURIES (101-1498 A. D.) No: 24-133

 

CHURCHES ESTABLISHED IN 16TH CENTURY (BETWEEN THE ARRIVAL OF PORTUGUESE, 1498 & THE SYNOD OF DIAMPER, 1599)-NO: 134-170

CHURCHES ESTABLISHED IN 17th & 18th CENTURIES (NO: 171 to 233)