Heritage, Manuscripts, Syriac - Saturday, April 7, 2012 0:02 - 3 Comments

MS Vatican Syriac 22 & MS Vatican Syriac 17: Syriac Manuscripts copied in South India

1. Introduction

There are many documents available from 14^th century onwards which gives precise information about the Indian Christian community and the Bishops of India. Some of these were copied locally in South India. Amongst these, the MS Vatican Syriac 22 and MS Vatican Syriac 17 are the most well known Syriac MS from India.

MS Vatican Syriac 22, the oldest known Syriac MS from India,  contains a lectionary of the Pauline Epistles according to the Peshitta version. It was copied in 1301 AD ( 1612 A Gr) in Estrangelo Script at Cranganore, South India by a deacon named Zakharya bar Joseph bar Zakharya at the Church dedicated to Mar Quriaqos .

MS Vatican Syriac 17 was completed on 6^th March 1510 AD (1821 A Gr) and copied by Mar Jacob “ Bishop of Hindo”, who arrived in South India in 1504 AD. According to the colophon, this was copied in the blessed and famous place Cranganore, South India at the Church of Saint Thomas. It contains the complete Estrangelo Script New testament. This is the oldest extant locally copied New Testament in India.

 

1. MS Vatican Syriac 22

Folios	Dimension	Lines	Columns	Language	Copied by	Copied at
94	35 ½ X 24 ½ cms	22	2	Estrangelo Script	Zakharya bar Joseph bar Zakharya	Church of Mar Quriaqos, Cranganore, South India

a)      About the MSS

This MS is a volume of 94 folios, of these 1 folio is from a rebound of 16^th century. According to the colophon of the MS Vatican Syriac 22, this was copied on 1301 AD in Cranganore ( 1612 A Gr) at the Church dedicated to Mar Quriaqos . This MS is written in Estrangelo Script by a very young decon named Zakharya bar Joseph bar Zakharya  who was just 14 at the time of writing. This is the oldest known Syriac MS copied in India. Though from the manuscripts it is evident that the scribe Zakharya knows Syriac very well, Zakharya is very apologetic about his knowledge of Syriac in the MS.¹

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1. J P M Van Der Ploeg, The syriac manuscripts of Saint Thomas Christians [↩]