{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 13,
  "chapterName": "6th or 7th Cent. Stone Cross Inscriptions",
  "pageFrom": 9,
  "pageTo": 9,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 9,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n9\n(Socotra), which is situated in the same Indian sea, and where the\ninhabitants speak Greek having been originally colonists sent\nthither by the Ptolemies who succeeded Alexander the Macedonian,\nthere are clergy who receive their ordination in Persia, and are:\nsent on to the island, and there is also a multitude of Christians..\nI sailed along the coast of this island, but did not land upon it.\nI met, however, with some of its Greek-speaking people, who had\ncome over into Ethiopia. And so likewise among the Bactrians,\nand Huns and Persians, and the rest of the Indians, and throughout\nthe whole land of Persia there is no limit to the number of churches.\nwith bishops and very large communities of Christian people, as.\nwell as many martyrs, and monks also living as hermits.\n13. STONE CROSS INSCRIPTIONS (6th or 7th Cent. A.D.)\nFive stone crosses, probably the earliest physical remains of Chris-\ntianity in India, have been discovered in South India of which three\ncrosses bear inscriptions on them. Two of these are in the Valiya-\npally, Kottayam, and one is at the traditional site of the martyrdom\nof St. Thomas at St. Thomas Mount, Madras. The design of these\ncrosses as well as the inscriptions on them are identical. Dr. Burnell\nassigns them to the sixth or seventh century A.D., on palaeographical\ngrounds. A translation of the Pahlavi inscriptions, by Burnell, may\nbe seen in M. Labbe Hue, Christianity in China, Tartary and Tibet,\nVol. I, p. 27, cited in E. M. Philip, The Indian Church of St. Thomas,\np. 92.\nIn punishment by the cross (was) the suffering of this one;\nHe who is true God, and God above, and guide ever pure.\nA different translation is given by C. P. T. Winkworth in 'A New\nInterpretation of the Pahlavi Cross-Inscriptions, Kerala Society Papers\nSeries 3, pp. 166-168.\nMy Lord Christ, have mercy upon Afras, son of Chaharbukt,.\nthe Syrian, who cut this.\nThe second cross at the Valiyapally bears a Syriac verse from St. Paul's..\nEpistle to the Galatians, Chapter 6, vs. 14.\nLet me not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nIn 1922 a stone cross at Kadamattam Orthodox Church caught the.\nattention of scholars. The Pahlavi inscription on this cross is differents\nfrom that on the others. A translation by Jivanji Jamshedji Modi is cited\nin H. Hosten, Antiquities from San Thome and Mylapore, p. 332.\nI, a beautiful bird from Nineve, (have come) to this country.\nWritten by Mar Shapur.\nHoly Messiah, the forgiver, freed me from thorn (i.e., affliction)",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}