Indian Christianity

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN
510. The Udayamperor Church was built by in A.D 510 during the time of Mor Abor and Prodh. There
are several inscriptions in this church that supports this including the mention of one Raja Thomas who
ruled in AD 900. In A.D 1330, Pope John XXII in a letter sent with Friar Jordan to the king of Vellar
Vattom, address him as the successor of Raja Thomas. Pope Eugene IV addresses a Raja Thomas in
A.D 1439. The papal record mentions "that there is a Kingdom twenty days journey from Cathay, of
which the king and all the inhabitants are Christians, but heretics, being said to be Nestorians." "Historia
de Variatate Fortunae, liv. IV, Poggi Bracciolini , Secretary to Pope Eugenius IV). The apostolic letter
through his legates to Thomas, the Villarvattom king begins in the following manner: "To our dearest son
in Jesus the great king Thomas of India happiness and apostolic benediction. We have been often told
that you and your subjects are true and faithful Christians” Udayamperoor was the capital of this
kingdom. It all indicates that Kerala was predominantly Christian in the First Century and was ruled by
Christian Kings.
This Christian dynasty lasted till about the close of the 15th century. The last ruler of the Swaroopam
died without a male heir. His surviving daughter was married by a prince of the Cochin royal family who
was converted to Christianity. This marriage was not blessed with any children. So the territories of the
Villarvattom came to be absorbed in the Kingdom of Cochin. The Malabar Christians however preserved
the royal emblems of the Villarvattom and presented this to Vasco de Gamma, when he arrived in
Cochin. This was done to show their homage to the Christian King of Portugal.
Reformation and Revival attempts in Inner Indian Churches
In the 8th c A.D, Sankara a Brahmin born of an itinerant Aryan priest, from Kerala became the champion
of the philosophical system known as Advaita which became the core of Gnostic Hindu thesis. As
Gnosticism took its grip on Indian Christianity, saints from both the Vaishanavite and Saivite sects made
several attempts to thwart all syncretization and to bring the God of incarnation and sacrifice back in the
culture. In fact it was Sankara who defined the religion which we know today as Hinduism as a distinct
religion based entirely on Gnostic theology without any relation to Historical Revelation of God in History
as Isa of Nazarene.
Adi Sankara, Ramanujam and Madhava
The theology presented by Ramanujam (Vishista Advaita – Modified Monism) (1011-1137 AD), Madhava
(Dvaita Vada – Dualistic theism)( (1197-1273 AD) and all the works of saints of the 7 th to 12 th century
were bold attempts in reformation opposing Sankara. All the sixty three Nayanmars of Saivite
persuation, and twelve Alwars of Vaishnavite persuation came from the Dravids. But the coming in of the
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