|
Home
>>
Places To Visit >>Churches of Kerala
Kodangallore Church - Kerala
Kodangalur
or Cranganore became the centre of Christianity, the Mother Church
of Malabar; it was there that the Apostle established the first
bishopric with Xanthipus as Bishop.
we can call it "THE CRADLE OF
INDIAN CHRISTIANITY"
This coastal town, situated 40 Kms.
to South-West of Trichur, Kerala, lies in 10o 100 North latitude and
76o 10o East longitude.
Ancient
Musiris or Kodungallur where St. Thomas Arrived
The
schematic map of the region around Kodungallur gives only a faint
suggestion of the landscapes of the area, which is hardly above sea
level and abounding in canals and lagoons and prone to flooding in
the rainy season.
The
landstrip, 5 to 10 Km. broad near the sea shore, shows every sign of
being newly formed by the sea receding in recent times.
It is now not possible to locate
the ancient site of Musiris
harbour, nor that of Mahodayapuram of the Chera Kings precisely at
any of the present sites of the environs of Kodungallur.
No structure or building
existing today in the area can be dated
back to more than 6 centuries.
Kodungallur
of today is not even a shadow of its glorious secular past. We have
sufficient historical testimonies to Muziris as a magnificent
harbour and the seat of the Chera Kings under the name of
Thiruvanchikulam, which bring us down to about 8th century AD but
the data are too scanty to enable us to reconstruct a continuous
story of the city even upto that period. After that we experience a
long period of darkness. We only know that Kodungallur continued to
be a city of considerable importance, so that the Portuguese and the
Dutch and later the English thought it worthwhile to make it one of
their main bastions of power.
The
Hindu compiler of the Travancore State Manual has no doubt about the
Malabar tradition:
"There
is no doubt as to the tradition that St. Thomas came to Malabar and
converted a few families of Nambudiris, some of whom were ordained
by him as priests such as those of Sankarapuri and pakalomattam.
For, in consonance with this long-standing traditional belief in the
minds of the people of the Apostle’s mission and labours among
high caste Hindus, we have it before us today the fact that certain
Syrian Christian women particularly of a Desam (place) called
Kunnamkulam wear clothes as Nambudiri women do, move about screening
themselves with huge umbrellas from the gaze of profane eyes as
those women do, and will not marry except perhaps in exceptional
cases, and those only recently, but from among dignified families of
similar aristocratic descent."
Archaeology
& Roman Coins in The Area
The
Church of Ollur, Thrissur was founded only in 1718. Before that they
used to go for Mass to Pazhuvil church which was founded in 960.
Before that, the tradition goes, they used to go to Enammavu founded
in 500. The Enammavu church recognises the unimportant Noth Pudukad
church as its mother church (400 A.D).
This
church in its turn originated from the Mattam church (Ca. 140 A.D),
which traces its origin to the Palayur church
founded by St. Thomas. What is important is that the people of all
these places unanimously subscribed to the truth of the chronology,
although time has brought about great changes in the status of each
place, and yet the traditions concerning the origin of each church
is recognised by all the churches unanimously. Similarly almost all
the churches of Kerala trace their beginnings to one or other of the
St. Thomas Churches or to churches which derive from one of those
churches. Thus these traditions have no less value than documents
written on paper or stone.
Large
numbers of Roman coins have been discovered on the Malabar coast
(e.g. from Eyyal between Cranganore and Palayur, and from Kottayam
in North Kerala). Just two years back more than a thousand Roman
gold coins were found buried in Parur, also not very distant from
Cranganore. What is interesting is that the majority of these coins
belong to a period of some 80 years from Augustus to Nero (B.C. 27
to A.D. 68).
Large
numbers of Roman coins have been discovered on the Malabar coast
(e.g.
from Eyyal between Cranganore and Palayur, and from Kottayam in
North Kerala). Just two years back more than a thousand Roman gold
coins were found buried in Parur, also not very distant from
Cranganore. What is interesting is that the majority of these coins
belong to a period of some 80 years from Augustus to Nero (B.C. 27
to A.D. 68).
The Periplus has this
remark, "There are imported here (the Malabar Ports), in the
first place a great quantity of coin, ....".
Churches
St.
Mary's Church || St. Francis
Church || Kodangallore
Church
Niranam
Church || Holy Virgin
Mary Church
|
