General - Monday, May 4, 2009 0:57 - Read 1320 times, 7 so far today - 7 Comments
Margam Kali – History, Theme, Early References and Modern Developments

Margam Kali (Maargamkali) is one of the ancient round group dance of Kerala practiced by Saint Thomas Christians. It is difficult to trace the exact origin of the dance form and the compilation of the lyrics.But these dance form was in practice among the Saint Thomas Christians before the arrival of Portuguese missionaries in Kerala.
In the traditional style, the performance of Margam Kali is divided into two parts, Vattakkali ( round dance) and Parichamuttu kali ( sword and shield dance) with singing a particular ballard known as Margam Kali pattu ( The Song of the Way). This dance form describes the introduction of Christianity or the Christian way ( Marga) of worship into Kerala.
Margam Kali pattu text comprises of fourteen stanzas which narrate the life and work of Saint Thomas the Apostle in Kerala. It retells how the Apostle landed in Malabar, how he healed the sick, won converts, how he established churches or communities and undertook missions to China and how in the end died a martyr in Mylapore.
Maargam Kali, as a performance art form of Saint Thomas Christians has undergone changes in its structure, appearance with the Portuguese influence and with the developments among the Christians due to the emergence of ecclesiastical jurisdictions.
History
The literal translation of the word Margam ( Maargam ) is ‘way’ or ‘path’. In olden days those who embraced the new faith was called ‘ Margamkar’ or ‘Margam Vasikal”. The term ‘Maarga’, is a derviation of the Pali word ‘Magga’ and has always been use among Saint Thomas Christians of India.
It is very difficult to fix the origin of this dance form. It has been suggested that, the Maargam Vaasikal ( followers of Maargam, ie, Saint Thomas Christians ) in order to propagate and sustain their faith performed the elements of their passage in Pattu tradition and then gradually resorted to dance traditions. The earliest form of these dancing traditions of the native Christians involves circular movements while singing in gathering. Pallippaattu, MaargamKali, Vattakali, were some of these performing traditions of the early Saint Thomas Christian community.
Margam Kali – Text and Theme
In both the Margam Kali and Parisamuttu Kali, an old-fashioned brass lamp was placed on the floor, and the dancers, usually 12 in number, used to go round the same, with measured steps, singing religious songs on St. Thomas, the Apostle, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Some of the songs now used are rather modern, or better, modernized versions with additions to ancient songs.
The song tells the story of how our Lord sold Thomas to Avan ( Habban) to build a palace for the Chola king. Thomas accepted the work but said he must go for his tolls, and would be back in a year. He received an advance payment and went off preaching first in the Chola country and then outside. In the course of this work Thomas was in touch with local ruling houses and performed many miracles. Thomas went far afield, to Malacca and China, but came back and stayed in the Chola kingdom for another year. Continue…
Other Recent Articles
- The Indian Christians of St. Thomas by Dr. Leslie Brown
- Jornada of Dom Alexis de Menezes: A Portuguese account of the Sixteenth century Malabar edited by Dr. Pius Malekandathil
- Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited
- Letters of St. Thomas the Apostle to Edessa from India
- St. Thomas Christians and Nambudiris, Jews and Sangam Literature – A Historical Appraisal’, Bosco Puthur (Editor)
- Prelates of Nasranis till the Synod of Udayamperoor
- Hymns of Saint Ephraem (Ephrem) the Syrian, on Apostle Thomas and India
- Lifestyle of Kerala Syrian Christians
- Kerala Nazranee Pesaha Receipes
- Analogical review on St Thomas Cross- The symbol of Nasranis
- The Syrian Christian Church – An Architectural Overview
- Thomas-Malabar Connection & The Jewish Heritage, A Biblical & Analytical Approach
- Save Syriac
- A Syrian Christian Family Portrait – Circa 1620 A.D.
- Museum- Christian Cultural Centre Golden Jubilee Museum at Pala
- Focus – II- Cheppad St. George Church
- What Every Nasrani Needs to Know–And Doesn’t
- The Nazranies by Prof. George Menanchery
- East of the Euphrates- Early Christianity in Asia by T.V. Philip
- Role of Archdeacons, the tomb of Archdeacons and Kappalottam at Kuravilangadu
- St.George- Geevarghese Sahada traditions and rituals among Nasranis
- Hindu Traditions of St. Thomas –Thondacchan and the Four Silver Coins
- Names, Middle Names and Last Names among the Syrian Christians
- The Tiger and the Syrian Christians: Tipu Sultan’s ‘Padayottam’
- Churches on demolition line – Ramapuram Twin Churches
- The Mural tradition of Kerala Churches
- Raja Thoma Villarvattam – King of the Nasranis
- The Muziris Heritage Project- News
- Focus I- Ramapuram twin churches, Role, History & Rituals
- Church feast and festivals in Central Kerala-Kottayam
- Palm Sunday ( Kuruthola Perunnal), Maundy Thursday( Pesaha), Good Friday (Dukha Velli) and Easter among Saint Thomas Christians of India
- Book Review- The Syrian Christians of Kerala, Demographic and Socio-Economic Transition In The Twentieth Century by K. C. Zachariah
- The Lost tomb of Jesus- The Jesus Family Tomb- Discovery Channel -News Analysis
- SRITE- Project for Preserving the Manuscripts of the Syrian Christians in India
- Snapshot of services of Syrian Churches
- Glimpses of Nazraney Heritage by Prof George Menachery
- Glimpse from History-Gondophares, Roman and Venetian gold coins
- The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India , Chief Editor Prof.George Menachery
- Ancient maritime route between India and Egypt
- Origin of Christianity in India by Dr.Benedict Vadakkekara
- Familytree – Syrian Christians DNA Project Information
- Historical references about Southist Community (Tekkumbhagar – Knanaya )
- Saint Thomas The Apostle,The Bartholomew Mission,Thomas of Cana, The Ornamental Umbrella and Sapir Iso
- The Plates and the Privileges of Syrian Christians
- Detailed study on Muziris- the Muziris Heritage Project
Get Article Updates / Enter your e-mail address
Nasrani Syrian Christians NETWORK Snapshot
- Margam Kali – History, Theme, Early References and Modern Developments
- The Indian Christians of St. Thomas by Dr. Leslie Brown
- Jornada of Dom Alexis de Menezes: A Portuguese account of the Sixteenth century Malabar edited by Dr. Pius Malekandathil
- Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited
- Letters of St. Thomas the Apostle to Edessa from India
- St. Thomas Christians and Nambudiris, Jews and Sangam Literature – A Historical Appraisal’, Bosco Puthur (Editor)
- Prelates of Nasranis till the Synod of Udayamperoor
- Hymns of Saint Ephraem (Ephrem) the Syrian, on Apostle Thomas and India
- Lifestyle of Kerala Syrian Christians
- Kerala Nazranee Pesaha Receipes
- Analogical review on St Thomas Cross- The symbol of Nasranis
- The Syrian Christian Church – An Architectural Overview
- Thomas-Malabar Connection & The Jewish Heritage, A Biblical & Analytical Approach
- Save Syriac
- A Syrian Christian Family Portrait – Circa 1620 A.D.
- Museum- Christian Cultural Centre Golden Jubilee Museum at Pala
- Focus – II- Cheppad St. George Church
- What Every Nasrani Needs to Know–And Doesn’t
- The Nazranies by Prof. George Menanchery
- East of the Euphrates- Early Christianity in Asia by T.V. Philip
- Role of Archdeacons, the tomb of Archdeacons and Kappalottam at Kuravilangadu
- St.George- Geevarghese Sahada traditions and rituals among Nasranis
- Hindu Traditions of St. Thomas –Thondacchan and the Four Silver Coins
- Names, Middle Names and Last Names among the Syrian Christians
- The Tiger and the Syrian Christians: Tipu Sultan’s ‘Padayottam’
- Churches on demolition line – Ramapuram Twin Churches
- The Mural tradition of Kerala Churches
- Raja Thoma Villarvattam – King of the Nasranis
- The Muziris Heritage Project- News
- Focus I- Ramapuram twin churches, Role, History & Rituals
- Church feast and festivals in Central Kerala-Kottayam
- Palm Sunday ( Kuruthola Perunnal), Maundy Thursday( Pesaha), Good Friday (Dukha Velli) and Easter among Saint Thomas Christians of India
- Book Review- The Syrian Christians of Kerala, Demographic and Socio-Economic Transition In The Twentieth Century by K. C. Zachariah
- The Lost tomb of Jesus- The Jesus Family Tomb- Discovery Channel -News Analysis
- SRITE- Project for Preserving the Manuscripts of the Syrian Christians in India
- Snapshot of services of Syrian Churches
- Glimpses of Nazraney Heritage by Prof George Menachery
- Glimpse from History-Gondophares, Roman and Venetian gold coins
- Re Southists and Northists in SMC,
As the Vicar General of Changanacherry, Nidheerikal Mani Kathanaar had plans to aboli...
- It's not just wikipedia of course.
Recently, as some one pointed out earlier, there was a website of a SMC Knanaya diocese or p...
- RF/BG
Its good that you realized your folly and for the first time changed your IP address. Rest of your post doesn’t deserve a...
- Hi admin
With few active members it’s just like a piece of cake to track info. You are wrong again and you are doing exactly what...
- Dear All
I wanted to add what Scholars such as J S Assemani, S Giamil, Lequien, Mingana writes about the historicity of Thomas ...
- Dear John Mathew
I don’t think there is anything wrong in being blunt. In fact, you have also corrected me many times and based...
- Anna: It is in spam. It says – “Came to this site accidently.. Involved are fanatical individuals who are losers in life”...
- Admin,
Thanks for clarifying. I am trying to locate post 9690... how can I do that?
Anna...
- Dear Anna
I don’t have any mechanism to verify that the posts are indeed from the same person. After there were some posts impe...
- Dear BG/RF
Please don’t flatter me with your salutation. I am just the administrator of the site, who knows who posts from wher...
- Dear Varghese Paul,
Are you the E3b tested person with family name Kuttikadan ? Just curious as this is one of my relatives fam...
- Dear SV and Varghese Paul,
The presence of E3b (E1b1b1) clearly resolves the confusion (if any) of West Asian (particularly Jew...
- Dear Admin
“Serious problems in understanding early Christianity”
To start with I am not worried about your proxy and avatars, t...
- Regarding getting "torn to bits", being rude, name calling, etc.
I want to reply because I'm often blunt in some of my response...
- Thomas Antony’s remarks from S N Sadasivam
Thomas actually wanted to show that the Malankara Nazranies also did conversion. But...
- Admin:
I think the Protestant refusal to accept their own role in ruining or attempting to ruin old churches is partially due t...
- Admin,
If I remember correctly, I have posted only 2-3 comments on this site. I have been an occasional visitor on this site an...
- thanks @johan for the information.I have another doubt if the knowledged people here can answer if possible. Does the Changanasser...
- Dear John Mathew
On the last point- While discussing about Colonial interaction, almost everyone criticize what Portuguese did ...
- I just saw the E3b entry in our ftdna. I guess that adds more weight to the West Asian hypothesis. Well let's even wait for more ...
- Varghese Paul:
Religion and culture adapt and have continuously changed throughout history --- in fact, I doubt it is possible ...
- Dear Varghese Paul
Next time, before you air your expert opinions on topics such as Liturgy, kindly refer some good books and g...
- Dear friends,
I am going away. As you can guess I my parents are SC/RC-SMC but I am becoming more and more attracted to COE in ...
- Avirachen:
You can read Whitehouse's "Lingerings of Light ..." which talks about some groups that were originally affiliated wi...
- Hello All,
Please Help me find a reference which I read some time back.
This was about a piece of information that : "During S...
- Dear All
These are some of the studies about the origin, development of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari. One can see the general...
- Dear John
I agree with you. Most of the Protestants are very mis informed about Syriac Christianity.
Anaphora of Addai and M...
- Varghese Paul:
Your advice makes no sense. But soon, if you read and study more about the Syriac rite (as opposed to BS propaga...
- Dear Joseph Mathew,
I too have an advice for you. Don’t be like Esau who sold his inheritance for some savory soup.
Anyway,...
- Varghese Paul:
Just a bit of advice. It is good that you are pursuing various sources, and studying the liturgy. But don't be s...
- Dear Admin,
There are several good books sold on this site: www.aramaicbooks.com
I have bought some.
They have given the tra...
- Dear Admin,
Thanks for the response and for the references.
They are useful....
- Dear Varghese Paul
It was interesting to read your posts and the list of reforms for Syro Malabar Church. It would be very inte...
- Dear RF/ DJ/BG/ Anna
Kindly stick to one avatar. There will not be any encouragement for multiple proxies. It has been mentione...
- Dear Admini,
What was the custom of the Kerala Nazaranies at the time of the Udayamperoor synod? Did they wore ...
- Thomas Didymus (the Twin) aka Judas Thomas or Jude Thomas
Grand traveller, seen everywhere from Parthia to Kerala in south Indi...
- Varghese Paul:
You're talking about the Syro-Malabar *Catholic* Church, right? If so, your so-called "reforms" defy reason. The...
- HERE IS MY LIST OF REFORMS:
1) Use the oldest (as far as one can go) form of Addi & Mari liturgy just as it was during the ...
- Dear Admin,
Here are some answers to your questions.
1. The silken cowl, embroidered with crosses of MARTOMA IV resemble the...
- Just Got this news from Jacob Admin
I am Jacob Admin of the Syrian Christan dna project on familytree dna. I welcome you to our...
- This forum is primarily a pro oriental forum, intended to showcase articles from members of the community about Nasranis and St. Thomas Christianity.
- We features different authors, with different opinions,with a passion to express them.
- The primary objective is to build awareness about Nasrani culture, traditions, heritage and for sharing different perspectives of history / relevant information’s concerning the community
- We promise to do our part in delivering the most informative, interesting articles possible, but we need a strong community to help nurture it. So subscribe today, and let us know what you think.
-
Objectives
↑ Publish, Share, Publicities articles concerning heritage, traditions, culture and historical research.
↑ Provide an overview of history from contributing articles and citing books of well known authors.
↑ Publicities and provide review for works of well known authors, historians and projects concerning the community and society at large.
↑ Providing review of articles published by authors about the community.
↑ Highlighting the contributions of the community to the society.
↑ To provide awareness about the community, history, pilgrim centers and analysis of news concerning the Syrian Christian community.
↑ To build unity among different denominations of St. Thomas Christian community through collective efforts. -
Guideline
↑ Posts aligned with our objectives are most welcome, regardless of opinion.
↑ Please, post your opinions on relevant articles. Its good to have related discussions along with the article for the benefit of readers. Complete list of the articles are listed in the Archives page and please use that for identifying discussed topics.
↑ Posts concerning issues which are of importance and on general topics, please use the relevant discussion pages.
↑ We encourage comments, critiques, questions, additional/ related/missing information, suggestions and corrections.
↑ We also encourage participants to provide answers to questions raised on article or on posts.
↑ Please stay on topic, respect other people’s opinions, avoid profanity, offensive statements or anything else that might otherwise violate our policy - We are more than happy to welcome you to write here.If you would like to inquire about writing an article, please turn to our About Us page, and tell us about what topic is in your mind !
History - Sep 20, 2008 22:36 - Read 2691 times, 5 so far today - 13 Comments
Letters of St. Thomas the Apostle to Edessa from India
The definite statement that Apostle Thomas sent letters from India, which were preserved and read in the Church services, occurs in the Syriac Doctrine of the Apostles.
It can be read in W. Cureton’s “Ancient Syriac Documents” , p.32. Continue…
More In History
- Prelates of Nasranis till the Synod of Udayamperoor
- Hymns of Saint Ephraem (Ephrem) the Syrian, on Apostle Thomas and India
- Analogical review on St Thomas Cross- The symbol of Nasranis
- Focus – II- Cheppad St. George Church
- The Tiger and the Syrian Christians: Tipu Sultan’s ‘Padayottam’
- Raja Thoma Villarvattam – King of the Nasranis
- Focus I- Ramapuram twin churches, Role, History & Rituals
- Historical references about Southist Community (Tekkumbhagar – Knanaya )
- Saint Thomas The Apostle,The Bartholomew Mission,Thomas of Cana, The Ornamental Umbrella and Sapir Iso
- Defining a Kerala Syrian Christian
Heritage - Oct 31, 2008 2:01 - Read 2847 times, 3 so far today - 4 Comments
Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited
The liturgical music tradition among Syriac Christians is unique. Though the Syriac churches flourished in Indian culture for nearly 2000 years, they continued using Syriac language and Syriac musical Continue…
More In Heritage
- Kerala Nazranee Pesaha Receipes
- Thomas-Malabar Connection & The Jewish Heritage, A Biblical & Analytical Approach
- Save Syriac
- What Every Nasrani Needs to Know–And Doesn’t
- Role of Archdeacons, the tomb of Archdeacons and Kappalottam at Kuravilangadu
- Churches on demolition line – Ramapuram Twin Churches
- SRITE- Project for Preserving the Manuscripts of the Syrian Christians in India
- Ancient maritime route between India and Egypt
- Familytree – Syrian Christians DNA Project Information
- The Lost Aramaic Bible of Syrian Christians of Kerala
Culture - Mar 16, 2009 3:30 - Read 1121 times, 2 so far today - 6 Comments
The Indian Christians of St. Thomas by Dr. Leslie Brown
Note about the Author
Dr. Leslie Brown came to Kerala as a missionary of the Church Missionary Society. In his fourteen years of service in India, Dr Bown was instrumental in developing Continue…
More In Culture
- Lifestyle of Kerala Syrian Christians
- The Syrian Christian Church – An Architectural Overview
- A Syrian Christian Family Portrait – Circa 1620 A.D.
- Names, Middle Names and Last Names among the Syrian Christians
- The Muziris Heritage Project- News
- Church feast and festivals in Central Kerala-Kottayam
- Glimpse from History-Gondophares, Roman and Venetian gold coins
- The Plates and the Privileges of Syrian Christians
- Detailed study on Muziris- the Muziris Heritage Project
- Nasrani Syrian Christians – Demography