16th Century traditions, Early History, Medieval History, Nasrani History, Thomas Christians - Saturday, June 5, 2010 9:25 - 10 Comments

The Story of Joseph, the Indian; A Historical Appraisal of the Affairs of St Thomas’ Christians in the Pre Portuguese period

1 INTRODUCTION

Joseph, the Indian is a famous character in the History of Medieval India. He was a Christian priest from Malabar who had travelled to Mesopotamia, Europe, visited the Holy Patriarch of the East and ordained as a Priest by Him, and also visited the Holy Patriarch of the Western Church- the Pope of Rome and declared the identity and ecclesiology of the St Thomas’ Christians to western Christianity. Joseph was interviewed by the Signoria of Venice and his accounts were written by an unknown European and have been published as 25 editions in seven different European languages. These accounts are considered as jewels in the history of that time period.

The narrations of Joseph, the Indian throw light into the history of St Thomas’ Christians in the immediate pre-Portuguese period. The pre-Portuguese history of St Thomas Christians is not well documented. Many accounts have been found from various writings; letters of Patriarchs and Prelates, inscriptions and oral accounts. Many books have been written about the history of early Christianity in Kerala in 16th and 17th centuries but all of them are Western in origin. The narrations of Joseph are the only available account from a native source who was a Prominent Priest at the period and hence these accounts are historically very significant.

Many authors have cited the narrations of Joseph, the Indian in their books. Rev. Fr Antony Vallavanthara C. M. I. has done a very unique research on narrations of Joseph, the Indian and their original publications. He has traced all the available texts and versions of narrations and has conducted a critical study about its contents, the authorship, and the original text and published a book “India in 1500 A D, The narrations of Joseph, the Indian.” published by Gorgias Press, USA. He has presented the initial sources of the narrations in Italian, Latin and Dutch with English translations in the book with his detailed analysis.

2.THE HISTORICAL JOSEPH THE INDIAN

We see Joseph in a number of different occasions in history. Authors like Germann and Mathias Mundadan have identified and connected the different citations about Joseph from different sources with logical arguments and made the story complete.

2a.Joseph’s first jouney to Babylon in AD 1490

Joseph was a member of the delegation of St Thomas’ Christians who went to the Patriarch of Babylon to bring Bishops for Malabar. St Thomas’ Christians did not have Native Bishops, for unknown reasons. They depended on the Church of the East for Prelates. There are periods where there were no prelates in Malabar. One such period was the time just before the arrival of Portuguese. ¹

There are hints in the writings of Francisco Dionysio, the rector of the Jesuit College in Cochin, in 1578 that St Thomas’ Christians did not have any Prelates for about 40 years due to some differences among them and when they settled their differences, they sent delegates to Babylon to fetch Bishops in 1490. Joseph was among one of the three delegates who travelled to meet Mar Simeon, the Patriarch of Babylon (1437-1497).One delegate died on the way but Joseph and George arrived there safely. Both of them were ordained Priests by Mar Simeon at the Holy Church of St George at Gazerta. They were then sent to a Monastery of Blessed Eugenius where they found two monks with the same name, Rabban Joseph and the Catholicose Patriarch consecrated them as Bishops – Mar Thomas and Mar John for Malabar. Cathanaars Joseph and George returned with Mar Thomas and Mar John back to Malabar.² Continue…

1. 1.Mathias Mundadan, The St.Thomas Christians 1498- 1552, p55 [↩]
2. 2.Rev. H Hosten, St Thomas Christians of Malabar, Kerala Society papers, Series 5, 1929, Trivandrum, p 226, quoting the historic letter by four Bishops from Malabar in AD 1504, Codex Syriacus III, Tom II Bibliotheca Orientalis, p 488 [↩]