As the history goes, St. Thomas went to Sree Lanka (Ceylon) from Kerala and then to Poona in Maharashtra and from Poona he went to China to spread the Gospel. From China, he went back to Edessa and worked there.

(We can learn about his works, in the book of "Nadapadi Krama" and from the "Scrolls of Dead Sea" .) He came back to Kerala again. In 72 AD, he was assassinated by some Hindus in St. Thomas Mount in Madras. He was buried in Mylapore (Madras) in the Hebrew tradition. Later on, his remains were taken from Madras to Edessa (may be in 165 AD).

(According to the legends, the king of Edessa invited Jesus to Edessa to cure his disease and help him; and Jesus replied in writing that the king was blessed as he believed in Him without seeing him, and that He had responsibilities to fulfill at his home. It is said that later, after the resurrection of Jesus, Thomas went to Edessa and cured the king.) Thus St. Thomas became the founder of Christianity in Kerala. We believe that he built seven Churches in Kerala, Niranam, Nilackal, etc.

Keralite Christians, led a clean and hard working life. Honesty and sincerity were their ornaments. In early times, they took wives from the Nairs, Brahmins, etc. Even though they took wives from other religions, they brought their children up as Christians. In those times, people of different religion had to wear clothes in different styles, so they could be recognized according to their religions/castes. As the Brahmin women wore white pudava and jumber, with the pleats (njnorichil) in the front, Christian women accepted the same, with a little change. They wore the pudava, covering from hips to the ankle -with the pleats at the back and 'mady' in the front, covering the buttocks and abdomen. And chatta with narrow necks, which covers the chest (bosoms) and stomach well. They wore 'kavani' (like a half-sari) on top of pudava and chatta. The Nazraani dress is very modest and the Nazraani women were compared to Jasmine flowers. We read in books written by many foreign travelers about the modesty, faithfulness, chastity and courage of the Nazraani women of Kerala. Men usually wore a kasavu (jerry) 'mundu', covering from hips to the ankle, a kavani on the shoulder and a thulasi-maala with a golden cross as pendent.

Nazraani women also enjoyed equal status in the society to their counter parts. Just like the Nair women of Kerala, they also were brave, courageous, smart and dedicated.

(Let me illustrate this by a story: This happened more than 750 years ago. The Syrian Church in Vaypoor, Kerala (Vaypoor Palli) was built near a temple and the then ruler did not appreciate it. So he ordered his soldiers to demolish it. When the news reached the Nazraani women of that community, they all came out to protect the church because the Christian men could not fight against the ruler.

With the help of a neighbor Nair girl of Thazhathu Madham family, the Nazraani women with the leadership of Edoor family, formed a chain around the church. In those days, to hurt or to fight against women was considered to be preposterous. So the soldiers left the women and the church without harming. Thus the church was saved and the ruler could not do anything about it. But it started a tradition; since then every Nazraani girl of Edoor family paid respect to the women of Thazhathu Madham family and received their blessings before their marriage. This was carried on till recently.)

The language of the Jews was Abraya language. The fifth son of Shaem, Aram's descendants were in Persia (during 5th-6th century BC), and Aramaic was their official language. When Babylon conquered Judea, the Jews learned this language and took it back to their home-land, Palestine. Syriac is Aramaic. Since the beginning, Syriac is the language of worship for the St. Thomas Christians, and so, they are also known as Syrian Christians (Suriani Christian). Now many of the prayers and books are translated from Syriac to Malayalam. The Syrian Christians always had close relationship with the Orthodox churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Armenia, etc. Their representatives attended the synods of Nice (325 AD),etc.

The Nazraanies of Kerala were very famous for their qualities in trade and marketing. (May be they've acquired this quality from the Jewish blood!) They had good relationships with the foreigners. In the same way, they were good farmers and soldiers too. Since the very beginning, the rulers of different provinces (kingdoms) in Kerala always respected them. They contributed wealth for the government through their works as taxes, etc. They always provided cooperation in wars and other activities, to the rulers, like other members of the Keralite society. They were always law-abiding and respecting to the authorities. In many occasions, the rulers brought over Nazraani families to their home-states and helped them to settle down, to build their churches of worship, etc., to improve the economy of the states or provinces they owned. The Nazraanies always had a very prominent and influential status in the Kerala Society.

Different rulers of Kerala showered favors on the Nazraanies and their leaders. They honored them with gifts, properties, awards, privileges/rights and statures (such as knighthood of England), etc.Mapilla sthan (maha pilla = child of Raja/king, sthan = status) and to have 'minnu kettu & pudava koda, etc. are some of those rights/privileges, given for taking part and helping win wars or doing some specially good deeds for the community, altogether 72 of them.. To ensure the allowances, the rulers issued ordinances or chepedukal (written and signed on copper-plates or palm-leaves). Eravi Korthan Chepedu (A.D.235) and Tharissappalli chepedu are some of them. (The Jewish community and the Canan community also had received same kinds of privileges and chepedukal.) Those chepedukal, ordinances and such other important documents of the St. Thomas Christaians were kept safe in the ancient churches and in old families.

In 345 AD, about four hundred families, containing Armenians, Persians, Canas and others, ran away from the persecution of Emperor Lappos of Persia under the leadership of Thomas of Cana and Bishop Jacob and arrived in Kerala, seeking refuge. (Today their descendants are known as Canans or Knanayakaar.) And later in the 8th century AD, a few Syrian refugees also arrived in Kerala, pursuing freedom of serving the Lord Jesus. The Nazraanies helped them settle and carry on their lives in the new land, with the permission of the rulers of that time. They accepted the new-comers with the true Christian spirit. The guests accepted the life-styles of their hosts. Sometimes I feel that, today the descendants of those immigrants are more proud to be Keralite Christians and to practice the customs and traditions they have got from their hosts, than many of us who are the descendants of those proud and helpful forefathers of ours!

Keralite Christians carried on a lot of practices from the Dravidian culture (many of them became Hindu traditions as the Aryans carried them from Dravidian Culture to make Hinduism to be more popular and dominant.) and Hebrew customs. Lighting of lamps/candles, pudava koda (manthra kodi), minnu kettu, mothiram ideel, etc. etc. Rassa, Muthu koda, aaraattu, brahmacharya / celibacy in priest-hood, etc. came from Buddhism.
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