Flourishing communities but no literature! The Church does not even know the actual date of birth of Jesus himself; for that matter his date of death and the date of the alleged resurrection are also not known. Christmas and Easter are celebrated on fictitious dates fixed at later day councils! How did they categorically arrive at 52 AD? Wonder of wonders! In India we have difficulty in dating the saints such as Adi Shankara, Sambandar, Appar, Sundarar etc who have left behind volumes of Bakthi literature. If you read the life stories of the above saints we will come to know that they wrested India from Buddhism and Jainism, but not Christianity. Their encounters with Buddhist and Jain kings are described in detail in our scriptures, but nothing about Christian kings and saints. If Christianity was well established since the first century AD, how come there are no Christian kings and poets who sang about Christ. A careful search of the Tamil literature shows Christian poems and literature were written only after the16th century after the missionaries arrived. The Indians, no doubt did not keep a diary, but left a treasure trove of Bakthi literature which conclusively proves that Christianity was never in the scene before 15th century AD. It has been said that you will find a philosopher to defend even the silliest of ideas! If Thomas performed so many miracles and established so many Christian communities in Kerala and Mylapore, surely there must have been a few people who got adhered to the Christian way of Thomas, with few poets among them. If there were poets, they must have sung about Jesus and Thomas. With so many miracles under his belt, Mr. Thomas should have had South India at his feet. There must have been something, some poetry written about him. But scanning the Tamil literature from the beginning of Common Era, one does not find any poem written about Thomas or Jesus Christ until the 16th century, when the foreigners started their missionary work in India. Besides, if the church can retrieve and preserve Mr. Thomas’ murder weapon, one can be certain that they would have retrieved any poetry written before the 16th century, if it was available. One does not find any such thing in the Santhome Church museum. Prof. Bakyamary has written an excellent book in Tamil, with the title, Vahaimai nokkil Tamil Ilakkia varalaaru’,(வகைமை நொக்கில் தமிழ் இலக்கிய வரலாறு) first published in the year 2008, by New Century book house. She has put in a lot of hard work to extensively collect Tamil literature from the earliest times. She has dedicated a chapter for Tamil Christian literature. Given her Christian background it is doubtful that she would have left out even a single Christian literature. When you flip through the pages of this chapter it is striking that the earliest Christian literature is in the 16th century by Robert de Nobili, an Italian, and Jesuit missionary. If Prof. Bakyamary, did not find any Christian literature before the 16th century, it means it simply did not exist before the 16th century. One comes across a paradox here. The Christians claim that Mr. Thomas, the original disciple of Jesus Christ, established thriving Christian communities in Kerala and Chennai in the first century, 52 to 72 A.D to be precise. Yet there was no Christian literature until the 16th century! For 1500 years, the Christians of Kerala and Tamil Nadu just prayed to Christ the son of God, but never ever wrote a poem in praise of Jesus! Unbelievable! How does the Church explain this paradox? During the same period the Tamils have been busy writing, Sangam literature dated from 2nd century BC to 5th century AD such as pathu pattu, Ettu thokai, Pathinen keezhkanakku, Five major epics such as Silappathikaram, Manimegalai, Cheevakasinthamani, Valayapathi, kundalakesi etc. and during the later centuries they wrote five minor epics which include, Neelakesi, Choolamani, yasodha kaviyam, Udhayana Kumara Kaviyam, Naaga Kumara Kaviyam, mythic literature, books based on Mahabhartha such as Villi bharatham, Panchali Sabatham, the mind boggling Bakthi literature of Saivites such as the twelve Thirumurais, and the fourteen Sastra books of Saivites, and Vaishnava literature such as The Naalaayiram Divyaprabandam etc were also written during this period. The absence of Christian literature in this period is rather glaring. Buddhism and Jainism were prevalent in Tami Nadu in the earlier centuries of common era. Buddhism and Jainism are two major religions of the past, but almost extinct now, have left their mark in the Tamil literature. If there was a flourishing Christian community in Tamil Nadu from the beginning of Common Era, how is that there is no literature to back it up? The conclusion is that, there was no Christian community in Kerala and Tamil Nadu before the missionaries arrived in the 16th century. This conclusion is backed by a book titled “Perithum arimugamaagatha Cristhava Tamil Ilakkiangal” – பெரிதும் அறிமுகமாகாத கிறிஸ்தவ தமிழ் இலக்கியங்கள்- written by Prof. T. Yesudas, in 1999, who was a former head of the department, of Scott Christian College, Nagercoil. On page 10 of this book, in the beginning of the 2nd chapter, he clearly states that the history of Tamil Christian literature is only 400 years old. On page 11 it is interesting to note that the earliest missionary to come to India and learn Tamil was Henry Henriquez from Portugal in the 16th century. On page 44 he further states that the Tamils sang many Christian poems after the arrival St Francis Xavier’s arrival in the 16th century. Being a Christian, one can be reasonably sure that Prof. Yesudas would have done his research properly when it comes to Christian literature. It is crystal clear that there was no Christian literature before the 16th century. Is it not a paradox that there were Christians in Tamilnadu and Kerala since 52 AD and they never sang even one poem in praise Lord Jesus and his disciple Thomas for almost 1500 years? The truth is, there were no Christians in India before the arrival of Vasco Da Gama in 1498 and the Portuguese taking control of Goa in 1510. Indians paid a heavy price for resisting the foreigners and their religion. On the recommendation of St Francis Xavier, in 1516, the worst ever holocaust for Indians in Goa and Kerala, namely the Goa Inquisition was ordered. In other words Christianity was forcibly thrust on Indians after the arrival of the Portuguese.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 12:04:41 +0000
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