Dear Sungeo, I too have read that the “Jewish …

Comment posted Lifestyle of Kerala Syrian Christians by John Mathew.

Dear Sungeo,

I too have read that the “Jewish origin” myths of the Knanaya (and the Syrian origin ones before that, and the Persian origin ones, etc.) are only a few centuries old (at most). I believe 50 years ago (or so) some people with good imaginations in the Southist community (both Orthodox and Catholic) started publishing some fantastic accounts about the Jewish origin of the Knanaya — I believe the Knanaya Catholic bishop even discouraged the publication of those accounts (advice which was unheeded) … and now we have a grossly distorted Syrian Christian history.

So that I can do my due diligence and check sources, could you please point me to your references that indicates the Knanaya were Manichaeans? This is incredibly interesting to me … I’ve always wondered what happened to the Manichaeans in Kerala, and found very little info.

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• Names, Middle Names and Last Names among the Syrian Christians
• ‘The Indian Christians of St. Thomas’ by Dr. Leslie Brown
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