Dear Jackson, Thank you for your informative reply, …

Comment posted Lifestyle of Kerala Syrian Christians by Alphy.

Dear Jackson, Thank you for your informative reply, its good to hear that you are from close by Chalakudy. and Yes I am from Thazhekad and from the Koonthily Tharavad. I never heard my grandparents mention anything about Brahmin lineage. I do know that our ancestors where ‘nattupramanikal’, and one of my great-great grandfather was gifted gun by the Kochi maharaja to maintain law and also had kalari foot soldiers. He acted as the judge and held court in the immediate area and was assisted by a Nair. But that is more recent history of maybe 400-500 years back. About ancient past I don’t have much information.

But I do know that the Thazhekad sassanam gave special rights and privileges to two merchants. I had couple of questions regarding that, perhaps you or others in the community could help me answer them

1. I see different dates for the Sassanam, the dates I read varied from 340-360 AD to 800 – 1024 AD and some show it even later, what dates do you think they belong to.

2. The order gave rights to the two merchants, Irvi Chathan and Chathan Vadukan, of Manigrammam. What and where is manigrammam. I had initially thought that Manigrammam was a place, but some notes I read point to it being a Traders guild, and was not unique to one city but was found in many cities. Other similar guilds existed like Anjuvannam, Nagarattar, Aihole and Nanadesi in South India. Do you have more information on them?

3. What differentiated these guilds from each other, was it their trade speciality or ethnic composition.

4. From one of your posting, I gather that Manigrammam guild consisted of mixed backgrounds with both Christians and Hindu Chettiars. Do you have more information on this?

5. Was the Anjuvannam guild exclusively for the Jews or were others communities also part of it?

Thanks for you contributions.

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