Indian Antiquary Vol 56

SR No.: 032548
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 286
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 13 MB

Page 204

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ OCTOBER, 1927
Da Asia, Dec. 12, 1. 3, c. 4; t. 8. Lisboa, 1788, p. 273. Marhozaya is probably again Mahuza of Mesopotamia. Do Couto objected that no ships went direct from Mozambique to Malacca and that St. Thomas came to India from Marhozaya.-H.H.]
Page 125, note 16.-I know of no records in which a Cranganore era is used. There are many in which the Vypin era, counted from the almost sudden formation of the island of Vypin during the extra. ordinary flood of A.D. 1341, occurs. It is known as the putu vaippu ( new deposit) era in Malayalam. Vypin (Malayalam Vaippe) is an island 13 miles long and one mile broad, on the north side of Cochin.-T.K.J. Page 125.The copy of the olla.. says faithfully this." This statement has led me to think that Bishop Roz writing in 1604 had before him the Jew's (p. 149 infra) transcript of the original inscription, or at least a copy of that transcript, from which the prelate made his faithful Portuguese trans. lation. Bishop Roz knew Malayalam fairly well.
Is this transcript or its copies still extant? It may be among the old Portuguese MSS. from Malabar, and a search has to be made for it in the British Museum or in one of the archives on the continent.-T.K.J. Page 127, note 27.-The names as reconstructed by me (on 22nd August 1925) from the rotograph are:-(1) Kotasséri Kantan, (2) Cherukataprattu Chattan Komaran, (3) Achchutan Kantan, (4) Amêndṭṭu Kantan Kirulan, (5) Cherumalaprattu Trivikraman Komaran, (6) Peruvalandṭṭe Atittan Chinnan, (7) Peruvalanáttu Châttan Kóran, (8) Vikraman Chinnan of Katutturutti, (9) Airáni Perunkóyil.-T.K.J.
Page 127, note 28.-[ Esta escritura sedelat[a] e [tam]ba afortunada, This must be a translation of the usual phrase kaiyeluttu. Sri,' occurring at the end of old inscriptions. It means literally 'handwriting. Prosperity. Śri' (Lakshmi) is the goddess of prosperity or luck, and the word is usually written at the beginning of any kind of writing (letters, documents, etc.) as an auspicious symbol, and sometimes at the end, as the signature of a person. In the present instance it is the signature of the royal donor.
By scdilata does the translator indicate that a sign or seal is put in the plate just before Śri ?-T.K.J. [The date when the Thomas Cans copper-plates were executed is not given. The seven kinds of musical instruments, the five kinds of tribute, and the limits of the property assigned to Thomas Cana are not enumerated. Shall we say that there were other copper-plates specifying these points, or that the translator omitted the specifications? What shall we think of the following tradition which I have never found referred to by the Portuguese? "One Kerala Ulpatti (i.e., legendary history of Malabar) of the Nasranis, says that their forefathers. built Codangalur, as may be learned from the granite inscription at the northern entrance of the Tiruvanjiculam temple." Cf. Dr. Gundert, in Madras Journal, XIII, 122, quoted in Hobson-Jobson, s.v. Shinkali. In January 1924, I spoke of this text to the Dewan of Cochin, who believed that the inscription had been buried near the temple on the arrival of Tipu Sultan in Malabar. I went to Tiruvanchikulam in February 1924, inquired, was disappointed, but was shown instead, at some distance from the temple, half-buried under a bamboo clump in a private garden, an enormous stone with an inscription, which has since been read by Mr. T. K. Joseph.-H.H.]
At the instance of C. W. E. Cotton, Esq., C.I.E., I.C.S., of the Indian Historic Records Commission, this stone now known as the Vatasseri Stone was more than a year ago acquired by the Cochin Government and removed to the Trichur Museum, in Cochin. The inscription on it seems to be the earliest known record relating to the Cochin royal house. Paleographically it is, I think, of circa 1000 A.D.-T.K.J.
[We must suppose that Mgr. Roz secured a copy of the Portuguese translation made by the Jew mentioned by Lucena (p. 149). Roz declares that he copied faithfully what he had before him. Do Couto probably obtained his copy from Roz, and changed it in a few points which to hien appeared of little consequence. -H.H.]
Page 127, note 30.-Sendarûk alias Andrapolis, was certainly outside India. So, it cannot be Cranga. nore. Please scrutinize the Acta again.
[Answer: Mr. T. K. Joseph may have been impressed by Dr. J. N. Farquhar's paper "The Apostle Thomas in North India" (reprinted from The Bulletin of the John Ryland's Library, vol. 10, No. 1, January 1926). There we find, pp. 19-20, Dr. Farquhar identifying with Andropolis (sic), a town at one day's sail up the Nile from Alexandria, the Sandarûk and Andrapolis of the Acts and the Andranopolis of the Passio. Andropolis was situated on the left bank of the Nile, and is now Chabur or Shaboor. Is that satisfactory ? The only reason we might have to make St. Thomas come by the Red Sea is that Habban is made to meet St. Thomas at Caesarea in the Passio; bui, considering Jacob of Sarug and our Indian authorities quoted above, to which we could add other Indian authorities, we might suspect that Cesarea is a mistake for Basrah or Maishan. Be that as it may, Sandarûk must be identified with Cranganore.
[Habban takes Thomas homewards to India in a ship, to the royal town of Andrapolis and from there goes to the cities of India, whence he reaches Gundaphar. Cf. M. R. James. The Apocryphal New Testa ment. Oxford, 1924; Greek Acts, p. 366, § 3; p. 371, § 16. In the De Miraculis the town is not named. Thomas was often commissioned by the Lord to visit Citerior India. Habban comes and takes him to the first city of India, in Citerior India, the voyage having lasted only three months, though it always took three years. (St. Jerome, says that the journey by the Red Sea would take a year, and that six months was fast.) From this unnamed city in Citerior India, where Thomas assisted at the marriage-feast of the