{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 62,
  "chapterName": "1800. Francis Buchanan on the Malabar Christians",
  "pageFrom": 73,
  "pageTo": 74,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 73,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n73\nlife; to fear nothing, for no evil would follow her refusal to burn.\nBut she in the most calm manner mounted the pile, and danced on\nit with her hands extended, as if in the utmost tranquility of spirit.\nPrevious to her mounting the pile the relation whose office it was\nto set fire to the pile, led her six times round it, at two intervals, -\nthat is, thrice at each circumambulation. As she went round she\nscattered the sweet meat above mentioned among the people, who\npicked it up and ate it as a very holy thing. This being ended,\nand she having mounted the pile and danced as above mentioned\n(N.B. The dancing only appeared to be to show us her contempt of\ndeath, and prove to us that her dying was voluntary), she lay down\nby the corpse, and put one arm under its neck and the other over\nit, when a quantity of dry cocoa-leaves and other substances were\nheaped over them to a considerable height, and then Ghee, or\nmelted preserved butter, poured on the top. Two bamboos were\nthen put over them and held fast down, and fire put to the pile,\nwhich immediately blazed very fiercely, owing to the dry and\ncombustible materials of which it was composed. No sooner was\nthe fire kindled than all the people set up a great shout-Hurree-\nBol, Hurree-Bol, which is a common shout of joy, and an invoca-\ntion of hurree, or Seeb. It was impossible to have heard the\nwoman had she groaned, or even cried aloud, on account of the\nmad noise of the people, and it was impossible for her to stir or\nstruggle on account of the bamboos which were held down on her\nlike the levers of a press. We made much objection to their using\nthese bamboos, and insisted that it was using force to prevent the\nwoman from getting up when the fire burned her. But they dec-\nlared that it was only done to keep the pile from falling down.\nWe could not bear to see more, but left them, exclaiming loudly\nagainst the murder, full of horror at what we had seen.\n62. FRANCIS BUCHANAN ON THE\nMALABAR CHRISTIANS (1800 A.D.)\nFrancis Buchanan visited Malabar in the early part of December,\n1800. He describes here the social status and practices of the Syrian\nChristians. F. Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the\nCountries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, pp. 391-393.,\n9th December :-... Opposite to our encampment was a Nazaren\nvillage, named Cunnung colung curry Angady, which looks very\nwell, being seated on a rising ground amid the groves of the Betel-\nnut palm. The Papa or priest waited on us. He was attended by\na pupil, who behaved to his superior with utmost deference. The\nPapa was very well dressed in a blue robe; and, though his ancestors\nhave been settled in the country for many generations, he was very\nfair, with high Jewish features. The greater part of the sect,",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 74,
      "ocrText": "74\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nhowever, entirely resemble the aborigines of the country, from\nwhom indeed they are descended.\nThe Papa informed me that his sect are dependent on the\nJacobite patriarch of Antioch; but that they have a metropolitan,\nwho resides in the dominions of Travancore, and who is sent by the\npatriarch on the death of his predecessor. None of the Papas, or\ninferior clergy, go to Antioch for their education, and all of them\nhave been born in the country. My visitor understood no language\nin the latter;\nbut all the ceremonies of the church are performed\nIn their churches they have neither image nor pictures, but the\nNazarens worship the cross. Their clergy are allowed to marry;\nmy visitor, however, seemed to be not a little proud of his observing\ncelebacy, and and a total abstinence from animal food. He said that,\nso far as he remembers, the number of the sect seems neither to be\nincreasing nor diminishing. Converts, however, are occasionally\nmade of both Nairs and Shanars; but no instance occurs of a\nMoplay having been converted, nor of a Namburi, unless he had\npreviously lost cast.\nThe Papa says, that the Nazarens were introduced 1740 years\nago, by a certain saint named Thomas, who, landing at Meila-pura,\ntook up his residence on a hill near Madras, and which is now\ncalled after his name. He afterwards made a voyage to Cochin,\nand in that neighbourhood settled, a church, which is now the\nmetropolitan, as the Portuguese drove all the Nazarens from the\neastern coast. St. Thomas afterwards returned to Meila-pura,\nwhere he died. At that time Malayala belonged to the Brahmans,\nwho were governed by a Raja sent by Shulun Permal, the sovereign\nking of the south. The Papa then related the history of Cheruman\nPermal, nearly as I have given it (page 348,9) on the authority of\nthe Namburis; only he says, that this traitor, after having divided\nhis usurped dominions, died before he reached Mecca. It was in\nhis reign that the Mussulmans first arrived in India. They landed\nat Challiem, a place near Vaypura. The Papa says, that the metro-\npolitan has an account of all his predecessors, from the time of\nSaint Thomas, with a history of the various persecutions that they\nhave been subjected to by the governing powers, the worst of which\nwould appear to have been that inflicted by the Portuguese. He\npromised to send me a copy of this kind of chronicle, but has not\nbeen so good as his word.\ngive\nA Brahman of the place says, that when any slaves are converted\nby the Nazarens, these people bestow on them their liberty, and give\nthem daily or monthly wages. He said also, that the Nazarens\nare a very orderly, industrious people, who live chiefly by trade\nand agriculture.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}