{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 27,
  "chapterName": "1349. John de Marignolli on the St. Thomas Christians and their Traditions",
  "pageFrom": 18,
  "pageTo": 19,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 18,
      "ocrText": "18\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nextendeth for a good eighteen days' journey, and in that forest\nthere be two cities, the one whereof is called Flandrina (Pandarani)\nand the other Cyngilin (Cranganore). In the city of Flandrina\nsome of the inhabitants are Jews and some are Christians; and\nbetween those two cities there is always internal war, but the\nresult is always that the Christians beat them and overcome the\nJews\nFrom this realm 'tis a journey of ten days to another realm\nwhich is called Mobar, and this is very great, and hath under it\nmany cities and towns. And in this realm is laid the body of the\nBlessed Thomas the Apostle. His church is filled with idols,\nand beside it are some fifteen houses of the Nestorians, that is to\nsay Christians, but vile and pestilent heretics.\n26. AMR THE SON OF MATHEW ON THE TOMB\nOF ST. THOMAS AND THE TRADITION OF\nST. BARTHOLOMEW (1340 A.D.)\nAmr was a Christian Arab historian. Joseph Simon Assemani,\nBibliotheca Orientalis, Vol. IV. 34. Cited in A. C. Perumalil, The\nApostles in India, p. 73.\nThomas' tomb is in the island of Meilan (Mylapore) in India\non the right hand side of the altar, in his monastery (dair).\nAssemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, Vol. IV. (3.2.) 19. Cited in A. C.\nPerumalil, The Apostles in India, pp. 133-134.\nLikewise Bartholomew journeyed through these (Nisibis and\nAssyria) and other regions and preached in Major Armenia;\nbut he did not remain there; he betook himself to the regions of\nIndia where he was flayed.\n27. JOHN DE MARIGNOLLI ON THE ST. THOMAS\nCHRISTIANS AND THEIR TRADITIONS (1349 A.D.)\nJohn de Marignolli gives an account of his travels through the\nareas of India occupied by the St. Thomas Christians. Yule-Cordier,\nCathay and the Way Thither, Vol. III, pp. 216-218, 249-254.\nAnd sailing on the feast of St. Stephen, we navigated the Indian\nSea until Palm Sunday, and when arrived at a very noble city of\nIndia called Columbum (Quilon) where the whole world's pepper\nis produced. Now this pepper grows on a kind of vines, which\nare planted just like in our vineyards. These vines produce clus-",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 19,
      "ocrText": "3\nSOURCE MATERIALS\n19\nters which are at first like those of the wild vine of a green colour,\nand afterwards are almost like bunches of our grapes, and they\nhave a red wine in them which I have squeezed out on my plate\nas a condiment. When they have ripened, they are left to dry\nupon the tree, and when shrivelled by the excessive heat the dry\nclusters are knocked off with a stick and caught upon linen cloths,\nand so harvest is gathered.\nThese are things that I have seen with mine eyes and handled\nwith my hands during the fourteen months that I stayed there.\nAnd there is no roasting of pepper, as authors have falsely asserted,\nnor does it grow in forests, but in regular gardens; nor are the\nSaracens the proprietors but the Christians of St. Thomas. And\nthese latter are the masters of the public steel-yard, from which I\nderived, as a perquisite of my office as Pope's legate, every month\na hundred goldfan, and a thousand when I left.\nThere is a church of St. George there, of the Latin communion,\nat which I dwelt. And I adorned it with fine paintings, and taught\nthere the holy Law. And after I had been there some time I went\nbeyond the glory of Alexander the Great, when he set up his\ncolumn (in India). For I erected a stone as my landmark and\nmemorial, in the corner of the world over against Paradise, and\nanointed it with oil! In sooth it was a marble pillar with a stone\ncross upon it, intended to last till the world's end. And it had\nthe Pope's arms and my own engraved upon it, with inscriptions\nboth in Indian and Latin characters. I consecrated and blessed\nit in the presence of an infinite multitude of people, and I was\ncarried on the shoulders of the chiefs in a litter or palankin like\nSolomon's...\nThe third province of India is called Maabar, and the church\nof St. Thomas which he built with his own hands is there, besides\nanother which he built by the agency of workmen. These he\nmade with certain very great stones which I have seen there, and\nwith a log cut down on Adam's Mount in Seyllan, which he caused\nto be sawn up, and from its sawdust other trees were sown. Now\nthat log, huge as it was, was cut down by two slaves of his and drawn\nto the seaside by the saint's own girdie. When the log reached\nthe sea he said to it, 'Go now and tarry for us in the haven of the\ncity of Mirapolis'. It arrived there accordingly, whereupon\nthe king of that place with his whole army endeavoured to draw\nit ashore, but ten thousand men were not able to make it stir.\nThen St. Thomas the Apostle himself came on the ground, riding\non an ass, wearing a shirt, a stole, and a mantle of peacock's feathers\nand attended by those two slaves and by two great lions, just as\nhe is painted, and called out, 'Touch not the log, for it is mine'\";\n'how', quoth the king, 'dost thou make it out to be thine?\"",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}