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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[SEPTEMBER, 1928
promising pearl-coast of Tinnevelly. The fishers of that coast, the Paravas, a mild and harmless race, had been for years past suffering much at the hands of the local Arab traders, vaguely designated 'Moors'. One of these gentry, in sheer devilment, had gone the length of cutting off a Parava's ear. This deadly affront had to be wiped out in blood, and immediate war ensued. This was the psychological moment of Juan's advent to the Piscarian (Fishery) coast. The story that he was installed as the chief of the Paravas appears to have no historical basis, but rests merely on the assumption of casual English writers on the subject. However, this may be, there is no doubt that he gained an ascendency in the counsels of the Paravas and he helped to bring about their wholesale conversion.
Turselline and Teixeira, the earliest biographers of Francis, throw a flood of light on this mass conversion. The former, in some respects the best biographer of the Saint, describes Juan as a "Christian Knight, a converted native noble, who had gone to Portugal and been received with favour by the King", and the manner in which he influenced the Paravas. Coleridge gives the following excerpt from Turselline:-" He (Juan) being a man both grave and pious, and hoping this fear of theirs might be an occasion to bring in the Gospel of Christ among them, so as at once they might be set free from the misery both of their war and their superstitions, told them his opinion was that in this extremity of danger they were to fly to extreme remedies; and seeing, contrary to all justice and equity, they were betray. ed by their own kings, and hardly charged on all sides by their enemies' forces, they should implore aid of the Almighty King of Heaven and of the Portuguese their friends, who were His devoted and religious servants: that so, protected by the Portuguese and the Divine assistance, they might not only defend themselves, but also triumph over their enemies ". In a word he exhorted the Paravas: "you must change into Christians and then the Portuguese will come to your help and you will see no more of these Muslims " Teixeira, who had known the Saint in India, on the other hand, pithily avers that from a cut ear the Lord drew the salvation of many souls. By both accounts, Juan was undeniably the Lord's instrument in this noble enterprise. In fact, he forestalled Xavier as a great gatherer of souls in this rich virgin vineyard on the Coromandel Coast. The war with the Moors gave him his oppor. tunity. The hapless victims of the extortionate Arabs trod the path he showed them, and they were rid of their oppressors. This was the ready path of Christianity.
So Juan headed a deputation of Parava patangatins (or maires-de-village) to Cochin, the deputation was straightway baptised, and everything turned out just as Juan had prophesied. At his intercession a strong Portuguese fleet and a goodly number of Franciscans sailed for the pearl-coast. The Portuguese guns opened fire on the Arab dhows and the Moors were annihilated. The Franciscans landed and baptized 20,000 Paravas on the spot. This was the seed-root of Christianity among the Paravas.
Father Castets, who had delved deep into the archives of the Jesuit Library at Rome in the preparation of his paper, has kindly placed at my disposal the following facts gleaned by him regarding Juan. He controverts the theory of Juan's installation as Chief of the Paravas. In a private letter he writes:-"The letters of St. Fr. Xavier (Spanish) make mention often of the help given him by the Jadi Talaver (caste headman) of the Paravas. That head is said to be a Paraver, as was but natural, and is called Manuel da Cruz. Or. Conguist (Portuguese) mentions the fact of João being a very noble Malabarin, having been sent on an embassy to Lisbon, having been the intermediary between the Parava delegates and the Captain of Cochin, but says nothing of his having been made Head of the Paravas. The Portuguese besides had no authority over the Paravas or over the Fishery Coast and could not therefore impose a chief on them, while the Paravas were most unlikely to choose or accept, as Head, a man of any other caste but their own. As for Coleridge's account of motives from Turselline, it is mere story, not history. F. Valignani who wrote, on the spot, a few years after the event, with companions of Xavier as his informers, traces it plainly to a brawl caused by conflict of interests and Mahomedan highhandedness".
