Acts of Apostle Thomas

XX RECENT HISTORY : M. M. NINAN
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AD 1816
Arrival of the British Missionaries
The Malayalam Bible
The next wave of colonizers came in the East India Company. Later when the colonization became wide, the
crown took over with Viceroy at New Delhi. This opened up a wave of British missionaries to India. Kerala,
which now formed three Kingdoms Thiruvithamcore, Kochi and Malabar also, came under the influence of the
British. There was a resident at the capitals of these states. Along with them came the Missionaries. One of the
firsts to be involved with the Malabar Churches was Claudius Buchanan. Mar Divanyous was the Metropolitan of
the Jacobite Church at that time. He gave a copy of the Syriac Bible to Buchannan (one of the chaplains of the
East India Company employees) who got copies of it reprinted and distributed them mainly among the clergy.
Finding the impact of the Bible Mar Divanyous I translated the gospels into Malayalam which Buchanan got
printed in Bombay. William Baily translated the New Testament by 1829 and the whole Bible was available in
Malayalam by 1841. The word of God in the hands of the common people made an impact and a surge of revival
and reformation took place. This was accelerated by the presence of the British Missionaries. Among those was
Dr. Hermen Gundort (Bassel Mission) who studied Malayalam and wrote the first grammar book for Malayalam.
The European Missionaries opened up several Missions fields. They Included the Danish Mission in Tamil Nadu
under the leadership of Berthealonmese Segan Balgue; Baptist Mission in Calcutta under the leadership of
William Carey (who started the Serampore University); London Mission Society (LMS) under the leadership of
Tingle Tob in Trivandrum area, Tamil Nadu; and Bengal; Basal Mission (1834) under Samuel Hebic and Gundort
in Mangalore and surrounding areas, and in Malabar. Church of Scotland Mission and many others.
AD 1836
Formation of the C.M.S Church
The first wave of Missionary thrust to India was by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1816. Though many
of the Jacobite theology was at variance with the Protestant theology there was lot of cooperation between the two
groups. Among the prominent missionaries were Thomas Norton, Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn and Henry
Baker, who were famous among these C.M.S. missionaries. They started the CMS Press in Kottayam in 1821, and
began to publish Malayalam Bible and Christian literature for the use of common people. 1825, they published the
gospel of Matthew, and in 1828, the New Testament, and in 1841, the complete bible.
The church leaders of Malankara Syrian Christian Church and C.M.S. worked together from 1816 to 1836. The
Bishops of Malankara Syrian Christian Church, Pulikkottu Mar Divannaciose (1817-18), Punnatra Mar
Divannaciose (1818-27) and Cheppadu Mar Divannaciose (1827-52) along with the CMS missionaries started the
Seminary now known as Pazhaya Seminary (Old Seminary) for the training of the clergy in 1818.. The
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