Knanaya
The K'nānāya also known as the Southists or Tekkumbhagar, are an endogamous ethnic group found among the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. They are differentiated from another part of the community, known in this context as the Northists. There are about 300,000 Knanaya in India and elsewhere.
The origins of the Knanaya community is traced back to the arrival of the Syriac merchant Thomas of Cana who led a migration of Jewish-Christians from the Mesopotamian province of Sassanian Persia to the city of Kodungallur, India in the year AD 345. The community's arrival was recorded on the Thomas of Cana copper plates which were extant in Kerala until the 17th century. The ethnic division between the Knanaya and other St. Thomas Christians was observed during the Portuguese colonization of India in the 16th century and was noted throughout the European colonial era.
Today, the majority of Knanaya are members of the Syro-Malabar Church and the Syrian Orthodox Church. Many Knanaya migrated away during the 20th and 21st centuries, largely westward, forming communities in non-Malayalam speaking areas, with a large expatriate community currently living in Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
Etymology
The term K'nānāya derives from the name K'nāi Thoma, an important figure in the Saint Thomas Christian tradition. The term is derived from Thomas' Syriac adjectival epithet K'nā'nāya in reference to the land of Canaan, meaning Canaanite. A translation of the epithet in reference to the community is found as “Parcialidad de Thome Cananeo” or “Thomas Canaanite Party” in Archbishop Franciso Ros' text MS. ADD. 9853 in 1603. The earliest written record of the Syriac form used in reference to the community dates to the 1800s. Members of the Knanaya Community are also generally called Knāi or Knā, in reference to Thomas. Many Knanaya families, especially those of the Kaduthuruthy region maintain the surname Kinān, a derivative of Thomas' epithet. Woman of these families preserve gendered forms of the term, examples of this being Kināti Anna, Kināti Mariam, etc. Additionally in the town of Udayamperoor and surrounding regions, there still exists former plots of land where the Knanaya resided - evidenced by the names such as Kinanparambu and Kinankunnu.The ultimate derivation of Thoma's epithet is not clear. It may refer to the land of Canaan or more specifically the town of Cana. Alternatively it may be a corruption of the Syriac term for merchant. Thomas is popularly known in the traditions of Kerala as Knāi Thoma and its derivatives Kinān and Kynāi. Scholar Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil argues that the "Cana" form is a corruption formalized by European scholars in the 18th century based on the Malayalam form Knāi found in the literature and common parlance of the people of Malabar. This may be a reference to the Christian community of Kynai, in Bét Aramayé in Persia, a historical center of Syriac Christianity.
The Knanaya are also known as Tekkumbhagar in Malayalam; this is generally translated into English as "Southist", or sometimes "Southerner" or "Suddhist". This is in reference to the historically significant geographical division between them and other Saint Thomas Christians, who are known as Vadakumbhagar or Northists in this context.
Other designations
Historically the Knanaya held the title of being the "protectors of seventeen castes", an authority given to them by the Cheraman Perumal according to folk tradition. This title which was reflective of the historical high socio-economic status of the Knanaya, is to this day exhibited during Knanaya marriage ceremonies when individuals taking part in the rituals ask permission before fulfilling their designated role. A prominent example of this is seen during the "Chandam Charthal" or grooms beautification ceremony, in which the barber petitions the assembly three times with the following request: "I ask the gentlemen here who have superiority over 17 castes, may I shave the bridegroom?".The Knanaya were also known as Ancharapallikar or the "Owners of Five and a Half churches" a title reflective of the five churches owned by the Southist Community before the Synod of Diamper in 1599. The churches are listed as the following: Udayamperoor, Kaduthuruthy, Kottayam, Chunkom, and Kallissery. The "half church" is a reference to the half privilege and share the Knanaya held in other churches they co-owned with the Northist St. Thomas Christians, usually in areas where not many Knanaya lived.
An example of the "Ancharapallikal" of the Knanaya is exhibited in the works of Fr. Hyacinth Magistris in 1658. Magistris notes that by the 17th century the Knanaya had built a sixth church in Uzhavoor. Besides their own churches, Magistris expresses that the Southists were also found in many Northist churches as well:
"...Those Christians of Thecumbagam, besides having their own churches in places such as Diamper, Kaduthuruthy, Kottayam, Thodupuza, Uzhavoor, Kallucheri, have also other churches in which they are the major or a great part like in Chembe, Piravom, Palai, Tripunithura, Cherpunkal, Kanjirappally, and other places."
- Fr. Hyacinth Magistris
History
Origins and traditions
The earliest extensive written evidence for the division of the Christian community of India dates to the 16th century. The St. Thomas Christian tradition defines the division as being both geographical and ethnic, expressing that the Native St. Thomas Christians initially resided on the north side of the Chera Empire's capital city of Cranganore while the Middle Eastern migrant Knanaya arrived and settled on the south side, which subsequently led to the designations Northist and Southist. Celebrated St. Thomas Christian scholar Dr. Placid J. Podipara wrote the following about the division:"The Thomas Christians hail the Apostle St. Thomas as the founder of their Church...The first converts of St. Thomas were reinforced by local conversions and by Christian colonizations from abroad. Connected with the IV century colonization is the origin of those called the Southists" - Dr. Placid J Podipara
Directional divisions within communities are common in Kerala, including among Hindu groups. A similar north–south division is found among the Nairs, and it historically appears to have been in place in the early Brahmin settlements in the area. The Saint Thomas Christians may have taken this trait from the Brahmins.
Thomas of Cana's arrival
The historical rationale for the division between the majority St. Thomas Christians and minority Knanaya traces the divide to the figure of Thomas of Cana, a Syrian merchant who led a group of 72 Jewish-Christian immigrant families, a bishop named Uraha Mar Yausef, and clergymen from Mesopotamia to settle in Cranganore, India in the fourth century. This may reflect a historical migration of East Syrian Christians to India around this time, which established the region's relationship with the Church of the East.In the traditional accounts of this history, the Knanaya are the descendants of Thomas of Cana and his followers, while the Northists descend from the local Christian body which had been converted by Thomas the Apostle centuries earlier. The Oxford History of the Christian Church states the following about the division:"In time, Jewish Christians of the most exclusive communities descended from settlers who accompanied Knayil Thomma became known as ‘Southists’...They distinguished between themselves and ‘Northists’. The ‘Northists’, on the other hand, claimed direct descent from the very oldest Christians of the country, those who had been won to Christ by the Apostle Thomas himself. They had already long inhabited northern parts of Kodungallur. They had been there even before various waves of newcomers had arrived from the Babylonian or Mesopotamian provinces of Sassanian Persia."
- Historian of South Asian Studies Dr. Robert E. Frykenberg
Elements of Thomas of Cana's arrival feature in ancient songs as well as the Thomas of Cana copper plates awarded to his followers by a local Hindu ruler. These plates granted Thomas' followers 72 social, economic, and religious rights from Cheraman Perumal, the Chera king. The plates were present in Kerala during the time of the Portuguese colonization in the early 17th century, but were lost during Portuguese rule. Archbishop Francis Ros notes in his 1604 account M.S. ADD 9853 that the plates were taken to Portugal by the Franciscan Order. The Knanaya invoke the plates as evidence of their descent from Thomas of Cana's mission.
Translations of the existing Kollam Syrian Plates of the ninth century made by the Syrian Christian priest Ittimani in 1601 as well as the French Indologist Abraham Anquetil Duperron in 1758 both note that the forth plate mentioned a brief of the arrival of Knai Thoma.It is believed that this was a notation of the previous rights bestowed upon the Christians by Cheraman Perumal. The contemporary fourth plate, however, does not mention this paragraph and is believed to be a later copy. Scholar of Early Christian history Istvan Perczel theorizes that at one time the Kollam Syrian plates and the Thomas of Cana plates were re-engraved together as a unified grant.
Jewish-Christian ancestry
Knanaya tradition states that the Syriac Christian migrants who arrived with Thomas of Cana were Jewish-Christians. Community scholars express the historicity of this tradition by noting that Jewish-Christian tribes in Mesopotamia were a major component of the early Church of the East. Dr. Jacob Kollaparambil notes specifically that the Jewish-Christians of southern Mesopotamia were the most vehement in maintaining their Jewish ethnicity, even after conversion to Syriac Christianity. Kollaparambil expresses that the historic endogamous practice of the Knanaya is a continuation of the endogamous nature of the Jewish-Christians in Mesopatamia. Additionally, scholars express that both Jewish and Christian merchants of the region took part in the Arabian Sea trade with Kerala.Community scholars also cite their culture as evidence of their Jewish-Christian heritage, particularly their folk songs first written on palm-leaf manuscripts in the 17th century. Many of the historical songs allude to the migrants being of Jewish descent such as the song Nallor Orosilam which states the migrants prayed at the tomb of the Jewish Prophet Ezra before departing to India. A number of scholars such as Dr. P.M. Jussay, Dr. Nathan Katz, Dr. Shalva Weil, and Dr. Ophira Gamliel have noted that the Knanaya maintain striking cultural similarities to the Cochin Jews of India,suggesting historic cultural relations between the two communities.