Christianity is India's third-largest religion according to the census of 2001, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India's population.[2][3][4] Some other studies such as Pew Research Centerput Christian population in India at 2.5% after taking into account Dalit Christianswho sometimes identify as Hindu when completing official census forms[5] and the Association of Religion Data Archives puts the figure as 4.68% or as high as 6% by other individual sources if not the membership of House church or other individual evangelical Pentecostalmissions are to be counted.[6] The works of scholars and Eastern Christianwritings state that Christianity was introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, who visited Muziris in Kerala in 52 AD,[7] where there was a Jewish settlement.[n 1][9][10][11][12][13][14] Although the origins of Christianity in India remain unclear, there is a general scholarly consensus that Christianity was established in India by the 6th century AD, including some communities who used Syriac liturgically, and it is possible that the religion's existence there extends to as far back as the 1st century.[15] Christianity was as such established in India even before some nations of Europe had been Christianised.[16]
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Christians are found all across India and in all walks of life, with major populations in parts of South India, theKonkan Coast, North-East. Indian Christians have contributed significantly to and are well represented in various spheres of national life. They include former and current chief ministers,governors and chief election commissioners.[17][18] Indian Christians have the lowest sex ratio figures among the various religious communities in India.[19]
Christianity in India has different denominations. The state of Kerala is home to the Saint Thomas Christiancommunity, an ancient body of Christians (Syriac Christianity) who are now divided into several different churches and traditions. There are twoEastern Catholic Saint Thomas Christian churches: the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. There are also several Oriental Orthodox and independent churches in the Saint Thomas Christian community, including the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
Roman Catholicism was first introduced to India by Portuguese, Italian and IrishJesuits in the 16th century. EvangelicalProtestantism was later spread to India by the efforts of British and American missionaries. These Protestant missions were also responsible for introducing English education in India for the first time[20] and were also accountable in the first early translations of the Bible in various Indian languages.[21] Since the 19th century Protestant churches have also been present; major denominations include the Church of South India (CSI), the Church of North India (CNI), thePresbyterian Church of India, Baptists,Lutherans, Traditional Anglicans,Plymouth Brethren, Methodists,Pentecostals, and other non-denominational evangelical groups. The Christian Church runs thousands of educational institutions and hospitals contributing significantly to the development of the nation.[22]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has over 10,000 members in several congregations throughout India. LDS Church members are most prevalent in New Delhi,Hyderabad, Bangalore, Rajahmundry,Visakhapatnam, Chennai andCoimbatore.
Early Christianity in India
St. Bartholomew
Main article: Saint Bartholomew
Roman trade with India started from Aegyptus according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century).
Two ancient testimonies exist about the mission of Saint Bartholomew in India. These are of Eusebius of Caesarea (early 4th century) and of Saint Jerome(late 4th century). Both these refer to this tradition while speaking of the reported visit of Pantaenus to India in the 2nd century.[23] The studies of Fr A.C. Perumalil SJ and Moraes hold that the Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region which may have been known as the ancient city Kalyan, was the field of Saint Bartholomew's missionary activities.[24]
St. Thomas
Main article: Saint Thomas Christians
A Peutinger Table's depiction of Muziris near the tip of India where St. Thomas is believed to have landed in 52 A.D.
Nasranis or Syrian Christians of Kerala in ancient days (from an old painting). Photo published in the Cochin Government Royal War Efforts Souvenir in 1938
According to Indian Christian traditions, the Apostle Thomas arrived inKodungallur (also Muziris), Kerala, established the Seven Churches and evangelised in present day Kerala andTamil Nadu.[9][25][26]
As with early Christianity in the Roman Empire, it is assumed that the initial converts were largely Jewish proselytesamong the Cochin Jews who are believed to have arrived in India around 562 BC, after the destruction of the First Temple.[10][27][28] Many of these Jews presumably spoke Aramaic like St. Thomas, also a Jew by birth, who is credited by tradition with evangelising India.[29]
A historically more likely claim byEusebius of Caesarea is that Pantaenus, the head of the Christian exegeticalschool in Alexandria, Egypt went to India during the reign of the EmperorCommodus and found Christians already living in India using a version of the Gospel of Matthew with "Hebrew letters, a mixture of colture."[30] This is a plausible reference to the earliest Indian churches which are known to have used the Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic) New Testament. Pantaenus' evidence thus indicates that Syriac-speaking Christians had already evangelised parts of India by the late 2nd century.
An early 3rd-century Syriac work known as the Acts of Thomas[31][32] connects the tradition of the apostle Thomas' Indian ministry with two kings, one in the north and the other in the south. The year of his arrival is widely disputed due to lack of credible records.[33] According to one of the legends in the Acts, Thomas was at first reluctant to accept this mission but Jesus over-ruled the stubborn disciple by ordering circumstances so compelling that he was forced to accompany an Indian merchant, Abbanes, to his native place in northwest India, where he found himself in the service of the Indo-Parthian king, Gondophares. The apostle's ministry reputedly resulted in many conversions throughout this northern kingdom, including the king and his brother.[31] The Acts of Thomasidentifies his second mission in India with a kingdom ruled by King Mahadwa, one of the rulers of a 1st-century dynasty in southern India. According to the tradition of the Mar Thoma or "Church of Thomas," Thomas evangelised along the Malabar Coast ofKerala State in southwest India, though the various churches he founded were located mainly on the Periyar River and its tributaries and along the coast, where there were Jewish colonies. He reputedly preached to all classes of people and had about seventeen thousand converts, including members of the four principal castes. According to legend, St. Thomas attained martyrdomat St. Thomas Mount in Chennai and is buried on the site of San Thome Cathedral.[34]
The world's oldest existing church structure, which was believed to be built by Thomas the Apostle in 57 AD,[35]called Thiruvithamcode Arappally orThomaiyar Kovil as named by the thenChera king Udayancheral,[36] is located at Thiruvithancode in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu, India. It is now declared an international St. Thomas pilgrim center.
Although little is known of the immediate growth of the church, Bar-Daisan (AD 154–223) reports that in his time there were Christian tribes in North India which claimed to have been converted by Thomas and to have books and relics to prove it.[31] Certainly by the time of the establishment of theSassanid Empire (AD 226), there were bishops of the Church of the East in northwest India, Afghanistan andBaluchistan, with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity.[31]
4th century missions
The renovated Mar Thoma Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Kodungaloor; the first Christian church in India, built 52 A. D.
India had a flourishing trade with Central Asia, Mediterranean, and Middle East, both along mountain passes in the north and sea routes along the western and southern coast, well before the start of Christian era, and it is likely that Christian merchants settled in Indian cities along trading routes.[34]
The Chronicle of Seert describes an evangelical mission to India by BishopDavid of Basra around the year 300;[37]this metropolitan reportedly made many conversions,[38] and it has been speculated that his mission took in areas of southern India.[39] According toTravancore Manual, Thomas of Cana, a Mesopotamian merchant and missionary, brought a mission to India in 345.[40] He brought 400 Christians fromBaghdad, Nineveh, and Jerusalem toKodungallur. He and his companion Bishop Joseph of Edessa sought refuge under King Cheraman Perumal from persecution of Christians by the Persian king Shapur II. The colony of Syrian Christians established at Kodungallur may be the first Christian community in South India for which there is a continuous written record.[41] T.R. Vedantham showing his own perspective on Christianity was the first to propose in 1987 that Thomas of Cana was confused with the 1st century apostle Thomas by India's Syrian Christians sometime after his death, becoming their Apostle Thomas in India.[42]
Medieval period
Syro-Malabar Catholic bishop Mar Mathew Arackal (holding the Mar Thoma Cross which symbolises the heritage and identity of the Syrian Church ofSaint Thomas Christians) along with other priests at the tomb of Servant of God March Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly
The Saint Thomas Christian community was further strengthened by variousPersian immigrant settlers, the Knanayacolonies of 4th century, Manichaeanismfollowers, Babylonian Christians settlers of 4th century AD, the Syrian settlements of Mar Sabor Easo and Proth in 9th century CE and the immigrant Persian Christians from successive centuries.
Local rulers in Kerala gave the St. Thomas Christians various rights and privileges which were written on copper plates. These are known as Cheppeds, Royal Grants, Sasanam etc.[43] There are a number of such documents in the possession of the Syrian churches of Kerala which include the Thazhekad Sasanam, the Quilon Plates (or theTharisappalli Cheppeds), Mampally Sasanam and Iraviikothan Chepped etc. Some of these plates are said to be dated around 774 AD. Scholars have studied the inscriptions and produced varying translations. The language used is Tamil in Tamil letters intermingled with some Grantha script and Pahlavi,Kufic and Hebrew signatures.
The ruler of Venad (Travancore) granted the Syrian Christians seventy two rights and privileges which were usually granted only to high dignitaries. These rights included exemption from import duties, sales tax and the slave tax. A copper plate grant dated 1225 CE further enhanced the rights and privileges ofNasranis.
The South Indian epic of Manimekalai(written between 2nd and 3rd century AD) mentions the Nasrani people by referring to them by the name Essanis. The embassy of King Alfred in 883 CE sent presents to St. Thomas Christians.[44] Marco Polo who visited in 1292, mentioned that there were Christians in the Malabar coast.[45] TheSaint Thomas Christians still use theSyriac language (a dialect of Aramaic, which is also the language that Jesus spoke[46]) in their liturgy. This group, which existed in Kerala relatively peacefully for more than a millennium, faced considerable persecution from Portuguese evangelists in the 16th century.[47][48] This later wave of evangelism spread Catholicism more widely along the Konkan coast.[49][50]
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