Indian Antiquary Vol 04

SR No.: 032496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 410
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1875.
lince before shown, not improbably Christians; and | but, as in the case of pseudo-apostolic histories of that the Manigramakar# bore no resemblance Christ, the correct mention geographically of his whatever to Manichæans.
sphere. The writer had nothing to gain in sending In short I most confidently place against the the Apostle to India, but much to gain if the Aposone real historical notice on which Dr. Burnell tle whose name he forged was well known, at the Inys so much stress, namely, Al Nadim's statement time he wrote, as having been the Apostle of India. that Manes "called on Hind and Sin, and the peo- Nor, it should be well observed, is there any the plo of Khorasan," Eusebius's account of Pantænus, least antecedent improbability of the truth of the which is equally worthy of credit, and which, more- Apostle's mission. The Apostles, one and all, were over, is backed by Cosmas's testimony in the 6th commissioned by a Master, whose words they were century, and the existence of Christians now. not likely to forget, to " go into all the world."
Lastly, with regard to the statement by the And assuredly, endowed, as they were, with the Syrians of Travancore as to the connection of the gift of tongues" for this especial work, they Apostle Thomas with the early Indian Church, I could not tarry at home. do not claim for it absoluto historical certainty If, then, the author of the Acts of Thomae gives lout I do claim for it a place above the region of us the right clue to the Apostle's sphere, all mere" pious fictions." In the first place, if it be subsequent accounts are in harmony :--the testi. 1 fiction, that fiction certainly existed in the fourth mony of the Syriac document on The Teaching of century; for the Acts of Thomas, to which Dr. the Apostles, which was brought to light by Dr. Burnell refers, is mentioned by Epiphanius, who Cureton, and is most probably of the Ante-Nicene was made Bishop of Salamis about A.D. 368. The age, in which we read "India ...... received original version of the Acts of Thomas is attributed the apostles' ordination to the priesthood from Ly Photius to Leucius Charinus: though I am
Judas Thomas, who was guide and ruler in the quite willing to accept Dr. Haug's theory, as Church which he had built there, [in which) he stated by Dr. Burnell, that it was written by also ministered there" (Ante-Nicene Library, vol. Bardesanes about the end of the second century. | XX.):--the testimony of Eusebius :-the testimony This gives it a considerable antiquity. Now, in of Alfred's ambassadors to the shrine of Thomas all the Apocryphal Gospels and Acts there is the testimony of the Syrians themselves:-and A certain groundwork or historical truth. This the connection of the Syrians of Malabar with the was necessary to obtain credit for the fabulous Christians of Edessa, of which church St. Thomas superstructure. The object of the writer was to is said to have been the first apostolic overseer and impose upon his readers some new doctrine, in director (Ante-Nicene Library, vol. xx. Syriac most cases the worship of the Virgin Mary, celi- | Documents, p. 6). Lacy, or some other practice contrary to apostolic I apologize for the length of my letter. I have teaching. Hence he took historical names well felt it incumbent upon me to give authorities at known in the Church, and their prominent histo- length. And if I have added nothing new, I am rical surroundings, especially where they lived and more ambitious to be correct than original. where they went. For instance, in the Prot-Evange
RICHARD COLLINS, M.A. Tirm of James, among abundant fables, we find the Kandy, Ceylon, 23rd June 1875. historical facts of Herod, the Magi, Bethlehem, the ox-stall, &c. So in the Gospel of the Pseudo
SANSKRIT MSS. Matthew, such facts as the enrolment at Bethlehem, From Dr. Bühler's Report on Sanskrit MSS., the departure to Egypt, the return to Judæa, and 1874-75, we extract the following details : the home in Galilee are the historical ground- Among the Brahmanical MSS. purchased is the work. In the same way, with regard to the Acts Bhdratamanjari, a poetical epitome of the Mahabhdof Thomas, while the main object of the writer is rata. It closely follows the divisions of its originevidently to inculcate the doctrine of celibacy, al, and is divided into the same number of Parvas. and while he is profuse in fable, and even in- Its metre is the Anushtubh sloka. The author, decency, to gain his point, he must have some Kshemendra, appears to be the poet who wrote the historical groundwork to obtain credit for his epitome of the Vrihatkatha of Gunadhya, as his story; and there is the highest probability that surname Vyåsapfida shows that he was a Bhaga. the groundwork he studiously took was not only vata. The MS. was acquired in Bhaj. It is about the correct name of the Apostle, Judas Thomas, three hundred years old and tolerably correct.
# If the name Månigrimum be spelt more correctly with when ceded to Iravi Korttan, if it had not the same previousthe dental than with the cerebral n (Dr. Burnell spells it ly (as I myself at present think) as a Brálman village. Cerwith the latter), then in the purest and most primitive tainly the Manigramakar were Brahmans, socording to Mr. Tanil it would describe a village ceded as a free gift | Whitehouse's account, whether converts or not. They were, by royalty. It may therefore have first received its name however, in some way connected with the Syrian Church.