Vaikom Kadavan Orshlem Pally Syriac Inscription

The Syriac Church in India and Her Inscriptions in a nutshell.

The Syriac Church in India holds a legacy of two thousand years. Syriac scholars like Koonammakkal Thomakathanar claim a first-century Aramaic connection in its linguistic roots, and a later Syriac tradition from Edessa². Yet documental evidence begins only at the start of the 14^th century, while the oldest Syriac inscription dates from the second half of the 16th century, during the Portuguese period. The oldest Syriac documental evidence from Kerala is Vatican Codex 22, dated 1301 and written by a fourteen-year-old deacon, Zacharias son of Joseph, at Kodungalloor³. This colophon is also the oldest Syriac document from India. The oldest Syriac inscription stands at the entrance of Mulanthuruthy St. Thomas Church and is dated 1574. The second oldest is the bell inscription at Kuravilangad Marth Mariam Church, dated 1584. Both show clear Latin influence. The Mulanthuruthy inscription was carved at a later date, since the calendar used is Gregorian⁴. The Gregorian calendar was used neither in Kerala nor anywhere in the world in 1575. The content of the bell inscription at Kuravilangadu is likewise much influenced by Latin theology. Thus neither these church structures nor their artifacts go beyond the 16^th century. This points to a harmonious relationship with the Portuguese missionaries before the Synod of Diamper⁵.

From the 3^rd century onwards, Christian migration from Sassanian Persia to South India took place in connection with trade and commerce, filling the vacuum left by the decline of Roman trade through Alexandria⁶. Even before that, there is a strong probability that merchants from Edessa carried the St. Thomas stories from South India, along with those of North West India, to Edessa⁷. The author of the Acts of Judas Thomas mingled these stories according to his imagination and with a mission⁸. Thus the St. Thomas tradition in India became well known in the East and, through it, in the West⁹. The new Sassanian emperor, King Ardashir I, who overthrew the Parthian Empire in 224 AD, promoted the existing sea trade with India by building new ports and renovating those already there¹⁰. Fourth-century religious persecution under Shapur II further accelerated this migration. In this way the Syriac tradition entered South India at a very early stage of Eastern Oriental Christianity.

The Persian Church of the Fars Archdiocese, centered on Rew Ardashir¹¹, stood closer to India. This Church remained separated from the Catholicate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon from around the first quarter of the fifth century until the end of the 8^th century. Under Bishop Mana in 420 AD, the Persian Church translated the Syriac Bible, the Peshitta, into Persian Pahlavi and used it in the liturgy¹². The Indian Church was under this Fars metropolitan from A.D. 554 to 790¹³. At its peak in the 7^th century, there were eighteen suffragan dioceses under the metropolitan of Fars, and the Indian Church was one among them¹⁴. That the Indian Church was under the metropolitan of Fars in this period is clear from the letter sent by the Seleucia-Ctesiphon Catholicos Ishoyab III (649-659) to Simon, Metropolitan of Fars¹⁵. In the report of Cosmas Indicopleustes from the first half of the 6^th century A.D., the church in Malankara and in different parts of the Indian subcontinent is clearly mentioned. All are related to the Persian Church in various ways. The Persian Pahlavi inscribed crosses found across the subcontinent are remnants of that ancient relationship with the Church of Persia¹⁶. During the reign of Patriarch Timothy I (780-823), at the end of the 8^th century, the Persian Church came again under the jurisdiction of the Church of the East¹⁷, and the Indian Church became a metropolitan church directly under the Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon¹⁸. Classical Syriac thus regained prominence throughout the Church of the East, from Persia to China, including India.

The first documental evidence of Syriac from India appears during the reign of the famous Mongolian Patriarch Yahbalaha III (1283-1317) in the Mongol era (1206-1367). This is the colophon mentioned above, popularly known as Vatican Codex 22¹⁹. Unfortunately, inscriptional evidence appears only from the second half of the 16th century, and with clear Latin influence. Evidence of Syriac literature from India is dated to the 17th century: the poetical works of the famous Syriac poet Kadavil Chandi Kathanar of Kaduthuruthy²⁰. These works were also much Latinized, probably through the influence of his teacher Francis Roz during his priestly formation at Vypinkotta Seminary²¹. Kadavil Chandi Kathanar was also one of the four advisors of the Archdeacon after the Sleeva Oath of 1653. In 1665 the Antiochian Church arrived with West Syriac, and later the ‘Puthenkoor’ fraction came into being²². In the first half of the 18th century the ‘Puthenkoor’ fraction showed proximity to East Syrian tradition because of the presence of the Chaldean bishop Mar Gabriel, the counterpart of Mathoma IV²³. This is evident from the Syriac letter sent by Marthomma IV from Kandanadu Church in 1709, seeking bishops and scholars from the West Syrian Patriarch to fight against the Nestorian Mar Gabriel²⁴. In 1730 Mar Gabriel died and was buried at Kottayam Cheriya Pally²⁵. In the second half of the eighteenth century the West Syrian connection created problems over the authority of the ‘Puthenkoor’ fraction²⁶. Once again an East Syriac conscience rose against Antiochinisation and Latin colonization among the leaders of the St. Thomas Christians and the Christians under them²⁷. In the 19th century, protest against Anglicanisation among the ‘Puthenkoor’ fraction led to the complete acceptance of West Syrian liturgy, and West Syriac became the language of inscription in the ‘Puthenkoor’ churches under the influence of West Syrian bishops²⁸. As a result the Marthoma Syrian Church evolved after the Mulanthuruthy Synod²⁹. In the old East Syrian fraction ‘Pazhayakoor’, the arrival of Mar Thoma Roccos and Mar Elias Mellus from the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch without the approval of Rome created problems and led to two factions. The minority under Mar Abdisho Thondanattu, who joined the Assyrian Church and later came under Mar Abimalek Thimotheos, became the present-day East Syrian Chaldean Church of Thrissur³⁰. The majority, under the Catholic Syrian hierarchy from 1896 onwards - first under Latin prelates, then under native bishops - became the present-day Syro-Malabar Church. This was the general background of the Syriac Church in India at the beginning of the 20th century, when East Syriac was the liturgical language of the Syrian Catholics and the Kadavan Pally inscription took place.

History of the Vaikom Kadavan Orshlem Church Inscription

Kadavan Pally is a small parish of 32 families under the Vaikom forane of the Syro-Malabar Ernakulam-Angamaly Diocese. Located near the eastern shore of Vembanad Lake at Padinjaremury, 1800 meters west of Udayanapuram Temple Junction on the Vaikom-Ernakulam road in Kottayam District, it was founded in 1920. The name of the church is St. Mary’s Orshlem Parish Church. It is commonly known as Kadavan Pally because it was built by the Kadavan, or Kallarakkal Kadavil, family.

The Vaikom Kallarakkal Kadavil family is an offshoot of the Pallipuram Kallarakkal Kadavil family. Two brothers of the Kallarakkal Kadavil family, Mr. Varkey Ouseph and Mr. Varkey Chacko, migrated from Pallipuram at the end of the 19th century to the eastern side of Vembanad Lake in order to look after the vast property they had gained there.³¹ With the support of other family members, the two brothers and their household built this church so that they need not cross Vembanad Lake during the monsoon to reach the church at Pallipuram. They did so at the request of their younger brother, Fr. Mathai Varkey Kadavil (Mathan Kathanar)³². The church was built between 1917 and 1920 and donated to the Ernakulam Diocese. It became a parish church in 1937. Fr. Mathai Varkey Kadavil, popularly known as the great Mathan Kathanar, was its first parish vicar and continued in that office until his death in 1964.

What gives this church its importance in Syrian Church history is its hundred-year-old East Syriac inscription. The Syriac text stands on the front, that is, the left side of the western church wall; the Malayalam inscription appears on the front right. Although the Syriac version is a translation of the Malayalam, it differs in places and is more elaborate than the Malayalam text.

Kadavan Pally Syriac Inscription and Translation

The Syriac inscription, in East Syriac letters, is on the western wall of the church, north of the Elephant door. Repainting has made the text somewhat difficult to read. The repainting of such valuable epigraphs should always be supervised by a language expert.

Image of the Syriac Inscription

Syriac Transcription

English Phonetic Transliteration

Transliteration

Translation

Isho * Mariam *Ouseph

In memory of the 12th anniversary of the demise of Geevargeese son of Geevargeese, from the family named Kallarakkal Kadavil, the foundation stone of this church building named Orshlem is laid by the honorable Kasheesha Mathai (Fr. Mathew), son of the aforementioned Geevargeese³³, with the permission of the most respectable Mar Louis Pazheparambil, the Bishop of Thina³⁴ and Apostolic Prefect of Ernakulam, on the 16th of July in the year of our Lord 1917.

Image of the Malayalam Inscription

Malayalam Transcription

English Translation of the Malayalam

As a twelfth memorial of the demise of Mr. Varkey Varkey of Kallarakkal Kadavil, the foundation stone laying ceremony of this (Oreshlem) church was conducted on July 1, 1917, by Rev. Kallarakkal Kadavil Varkey Mathan Kathanar, in accordance with the decree of the Vicar Apostolic of Ernakulam, Most Rev. Bishop Mar Louis Pazheparambil.

Analysis of the Translation of the Syriac Inscription

The language of the inscription is simple and easy to understand. The content is carefully drafted, and the narrative style is beautiful. The Malpan who designed it may have been a renowned Syriac scholar of that time, connected with the Ernakulam Diocese. It is very rare in Kerala for an East Syriac inscription to narrate even briefly the history of a church’s establishment. The narrative style thus makes this inscription unique.

By date the Kadavan Pally inscription is twenty years later than the East Syriac inscription at the Ernakulam Bishop House. The two share similarities in content and presentation, especially in the attributes given to Mar Louis Pazheparambil, yet the handwriting is altogether different. The inscription at the Ernakulam Bishop House is shorter than that at Kadavan Pally, but more elegant and stylish. Kadavan church has been under the Ernakulam Diocese from the beginning - it is therefore possible that the same Malpan designed both Syriac inscriptions, that they were written by two Kathanars, and that they were later carved into the respective buildings by the church authorities. It is worth noting that even parish priests laid the foundation stones of churches in 1917 with the permission of their bishops - something quite unlikely today. The Kadavan Pally inscription may have been written by its first parish vicar, Kadavil Mathan Kathanar, who may be called the founder of the church.

It is no wonder that East Syriac was used as one of the languages of inscription to narrate the history of a small church in a remote area. Classical Syriac, whether the people understood it or not, held a unique place in their hearts as the sacred language of the Lord Jesus Christ, until the Syriac liturgy was rendered entirely into the vernacular. Both these inscriptions show that the church authorities of that time regarded East Syriac not only as a sacred liturgical language but also as a language of inscription bound up with their identity, a means of sharing history with future generations. Those able to read and understand the inscription may have been few. We may therefore say that the church authorities, whoever they were, chose East Syriac as a language of inscription out of their identity consciousness.

Syriac Inscription at Ernakulam Bishop House in the year 1897

Conclusion

The Indian Church of the St. Thomas Christians holds a very long Syriac tradition of Edessan Aramaic. Yet its epigraphical evidence begins only in the second half of the sixteenth century. The hundred-year-old Vaikom Kadavan Pally inscription in East Syriac letters is unique in the short history of Syriac inscriptions in India for its remote location, its historical content, and, more importantly, its narrative style. It shows that in the first half of the twentieth century East Syriac reached even remote areas of Kerala as a language of inscription, in addition to its role as the language of liturgy. Though those able to read and understand the Syriac text were few, the church authorities chose East Syriac as one of the languages of the inscription out of their identity consciousness.