Tarisappalli

() or () was a Persian Syrian Christian church in Kollam. The first written mention of this church comes from the Tarisappaḷḷi Copper Plates of Venad. Tradition has it that this ancient church in Kollam is one of the seven churches founded by the disciple of Jesus Christ, Thomas the Apostle.

Kollam is one of the most prominent of the (seven churches) traditionally believed to have been founded by the Apostle Thomas in the 1st century AD. This is the second church among the seven according to the . However like most other churches in Malabar, its later history is unclear. The recorded history of the church begins with the Tarisappaḷḷi Edict issued by the King of Venadu in 849 AD. It is traditionally believed among the Saint Thomas Christians that the Persian saints Sabor and Aproth, who came to Malabar at that time rebuilt this ruined church. This church was also mentioned in the writings of Western missionaries and travelers who visited Malabar. This church was located at the site of present-day Kollam Tangasseri Fort.

Etymology

The Malayalam hybrid word 'Tarisappaḷḷi' means the church of the 'Tarisas' ( ). The word '' is derived from the Pahlavi word . It was one of the names given to Christians in the Persian Sassanian Empire.

Tarisappaḷḷi Copper Plates

Tarisappaḷḷi Copper Plates were issued by the Venad king, , a vassal king of the Chera Emperor Sthanu Ravi Varma who ruled from . This edict was given to a Persian merchant magnate named . This edict was issued in the name of the church of the Tarsas in Kollam, which was built and administered by , who founded the city () of Kollam.

Tradition and historians have concluded that the '' mentioned in this edict is the same person as ''. '' was one of the words used to call the Christian community in Persia. There are differences of opinion regarding the origin of the word ''. There is a strong argument that this is a form of the Syriac word '', which is used to address the bishops and saints of the Syriac Christians. Another opinion is that this name was used because he was a member of a Christian trading community called '' in the Persian Gulf. They have been mentioned by East Syriac catholicos-patriarch Ishoyahb III in his letter to Simeon of Rev Ardashir, the Metropolitan of Pars.

According to the calendar, the city of Kollam was founded in 825 AD. The Kollam Tarisappalli Edict is a royal decree that granted land, property, servants, the power to collect taxes, and the right to self government, to Tarisappalli and its community. This is one of the most important archaeological documents found in Malabar. This is also the first indigenous document that provides information about the Christian community in the subcontinent.

Early European Accounts

Roman Catholic Missions in the 13th and 14th Centuries

The earliest extant historical records about the Christian presence in Kollam and their church after the Tarisappalli Edict date back to the 13th and 14th centuries. The first of these is the one by the Italian traveler Marco Polo. Later, Jordanus Catalani and Giovanni de Marignoli also wrote about the Nasrani or Suriyani Christians they met during their visits to Kollam.

The Venetian traveler Marco Polo arrived in Kollam in the latter half of the 13th century. He has noted strong Christian and Jewish communities in Kollam.

Jordanus Catalani, a Roman Catholic missionary sent to the Middle East and Persia, was appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Kollam in 1329 by Pope John XXII. His writings also mention the presence of Syrian Christians in Kollam. He also wrote that the Christians there paid great veneration to the Apostle Thomas. The Pope wrote a letter addressed to the leader of the 'Nasrani Christian' community in Kollam on 5 April 1330, requesting his cooperation with the new bishop. These are recorded in Jordanus' book ''. These indicate a strong Syrian Christian community with an organised leadership in Kollam at that time.

Giovanni de Marignolli, an Italian Catholic missionary, while returning home in 1347 after his work in China, reached Kollam and came into contact with the Christians there. He has left a vivid description of the Nasrani Christians of Kollam. He notes that the Nasrani are very influential in Kollam and that they are the ones who cultivate and trade pepper. He adds that prominent Nasranis in Kollam were called ''. He also describes his experience of living with them. He writes that they helped him with money and that they carried him in a royal palanquin like that of Solomon.

Sixteenth Century

The detailed recorded history of the Kollam Church is available from the 16th century.

Early Sixteenth Century

The next mention of the Syrian Christians in Kollam is found in the early 16th century, in a letter sent by Mar Yahbalaha, Mar Thomas, Mar Jacob, Mar Denha to the East Syriac Catholicos Eliyah V. Along with Koṭungallur and Pālayūr, Kollam is recorded in it as one of three main centers of the Syrian Christians in Malabar. During the tenure of Mar Yahbalaha, who held the position of Metropolitan of India, Mar Jacob and Mar Denaha worked based in Koṭungallur and Kollam, respectively.

The Nasranis of Kollam, who had mainly made a living from trade, were going through various crises. Since the traders from Arabia, Persia and China were mainly Muslims, they had stronger trade relations with the Muslim traders of Malabar and with the Zamorin of Kozhikode, who sympathized with them. This hampered Kollam and its Jewish and Christian merchants in commercial and trade endeavours.

Portuguese Interactions

Arrival of the Portuguese

The Portuguese sailor Afonso de Albuquerque, who arrived in Malabar in 1503, described the Kollam church and the Christians in detail in his writings. In the same year, he also obtained permission to establish a factory (warehouse) in Kollam to facilitate trade for the Portuguese. He describes the Kollam church as one that is dedicated to 'Our Lady of Mercy' and has three altars and each one has a cross, one in the middle is made of Gold and there are one on each side, made of silver. He recorded the Christians told him that their church was built by two saints who had previously arrived in Malabar, and that they were buried in two chapels in the church. These saints are Sapor and Proth, unique saints of the Syrian Christians of Malabar. Albuquerque explains that the Christians of Kollam have a number of special powers granted to them, and that they have their own autonomous legal system based on this. Along with this, the Christians who controlled the church also had the right to possess the town's seal and official weights and measures. However, Albuquerque adds that due to the displeasure of the local king, those rights were taken away at that time and they sought his help to have them restored.

Relations between the Portuguese and the Syrian Christians were initially very cordial. The Syrian Christians asked Albuquerque for help in regaining their lost rights and wished to present the Portuguese King with the golden cross from their church. However, Albuquerque refused this and instead, upon returning home, took one of their silver crosses with him and presented it to the Portuguese king. Pleased with this, the king sent some chandeliers and decorations for the Kollam mosque to Albuquerque in return for the Christians. Albuquerque gave the Christians a gift of a picture and a bell of Saint James the Apostle, known as the Apostle of the Iberian Peninsula. He assigned Rodrigo, a Dominican friar, to assist the religious needs of the Christians in Kollam. Rodrigo administered baptism and other sacraments to the Syrian Christians in Kollam, and also spread the religion among the non-Christians of the area, converting many of them. It is also believed that he renovated and rebuilt the oldest church in Kollam. Giovanni d'Empoli, an Italian sailor and Albuquerque's companion, says that there are about 3,000 Christians in Kollam and they told him that their church dates back to the time of Thomas the Apostle.

Syrians losing control of the church

The initial cooperation between the Portuguese and the indigenous Christians did not last long. The indigenous Christians, who had become alienated from the Portuguese for various reasons, gradually withdrew from the region and began to settle in more remote areas. Following this, the Portuguese took complete control of the old Syrian church in Kollam. There were several reasons for this. Francisco Roz, the first Latin Metropolitan of the Syrian Christians after the Synod of Diamper in 1599, gives a description in this regard. The Portuguese often engaged in conflicts with the local people. A dispute between some Portuguese and Muslim traders in the area became a major problem, after they killed a Muslim man. Following this, a number of Nairs and Muslims, led by local authorities, attacked and destroyed the Portuguese trading post in order to take revenge on them, and looted the market there. Following this, six or seven Portuguese sought refuge in a Syrian Christian church. The attackers demanded the Syrian Christians to get them out of the church and allow the punitive measures against the Portuguese to be carried out. But not only did the Portuguese not flee the church, but the parishioners were not ready to expel them as they had sought refuge in the church. Unable to trespass into the church and capture them, the opponents arsoned the church from outside. Everyone in the church, including a deacon and some Syrian Christians along with the Portuguese, died in the fire. This incident probably happened sometime after 1505. After this, the Portuguese rebuilt the burnt-down church and it gradually came under the complete control of their Bishop of Cochin. After 1519, they built a a fort, engulfing the area where the church was located. They had already renamed the church after the Apostle Thomas. Hence, the fort also came to be known by the name of Thomas the Apostle. After this, the Syrian Christians left the church and the place and moved to the interior of Kollam and established a new church there. But there was other reasons that forced the Syrian Christians to abandon their old church. By this time, the Portuguese had begun to assert that the Syrian Christians were followers of the Nestorian heresy and false customs and that they needed to be Latinized, and had already initiated a wave of latinization campaign against the local christians and their traditions. p: 61–64

Following these events, the Latin faithful in the area under the control of the Cochin Bishop attempted to seize the rights granted in the Tarsappalli plates. However, the local ruler, who ruled that the rights in that edict belonged not to the church building but to the community represented by the church at the time of its granting, declared that those rights are to be enjoyed only by the Syrians in Kollam. Alexis de Menezes, the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa, visited in Kollam both the original Tarsappalli that was then occupied by the Portuguese and the new church in the interior that the Syrians had established, as part of his travels throughout Malabar following the Synod of Diamper. Gouvea also records that he visited the church in Thevalakkara, which was also under the rule of the Kollam ruler.

Later history of Tarsappalli

In the 17th century, the Dutch, who seized control of the entire Malabar from the Portuguese, took control of the Tangasseri Fort and the buildings therein, including the church. This old church can also be seen on a map of the fort from the Dutch period and in their depiction of Kollam. In the last decade of the 18th century, the British captured the fort and its surroundings from the Dutch. This fort was later demolished to a large extent. When British missionary Thomas Whitehouse, who visited Kollam in 1863, learned of the importance of the Kollam Tarisappally Church and went to the site where the fort stood to find it, he found no traces of the church there. He concluded that the church might have been swept away by the invading sea.

References

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Churches in Kerala
History of Kollam
History of Christianity
Ancient churches of the Saint Thomas Christians (pre-1606)
9th-century establishments in India
9th-century churches
Saint Thomas Christians