The Stone Cross of Thazhathangadi

In old Kottayam, on the bank of the Meenachil river in Thazhathangadi, a large stone cross stands by the roadside. It is enclosed by a low square wall built around it. Various opinions have been circulating recently about the age of this cross. Here, however, I want to note a few things that have become clear through studying the migration, social life, religious practices, and places of worship of the Malankara Nazrani traders of this region — once the site of the busiest and most prosperous inland market of the medieval period.

There are indications that Malankara Nazranis migrated here from other regions in the twelfth century to take up trade in Thazhathangadi. Although the area fell under Thekkumkur's dominion, it was Munjanad's local chieftain, Aadichan Kotha, who granted the earliest settlers a place to live in the marketplace. Until the early fifteenth century, when the Thekkumkur kings built Thalikkotta and began their rule from there, only a handful of Nazrani families lived in the marketplace over nearly three centuries.

It was only after Thekkumkur made Kottayam its capital that larger numbers of Malankara Nazranis began migrating here. A century and a half later still, the Knanaya community, known as Thekkumbhagar, arrived in Kottayam from Kaduthuruthy. It was after that, in 1550, that Kottayam's first church — the Valiyapally, meant "for all Nazranis" — was established.

Throughout this entire period, the Nazranis of Kottayam relied on churches in their ancestral homelands for worship. Only on major festival occasions and during Lent would the long boat journey to church be undertaken. Daily worship, therefore, took place at home. It is said that even burials, in those days, were carried out within household grounds.

Trade in Thazhathangadi grew markedly more active after the fifteenth century. As the Christian population grew during this period, prayer fellowships began to form. It was a common practice at the time to erect a cross at the spot where Nazranis were concentrated within a marketplace. If so, the possibility cannot be ruled out that a wooden cross stood in Thazhathangadi even before the church was established. The place of worship that later developed into "Kurishupally" (Cross Church) began around a wooden cross erected in the middle of Puthenangadi, in the mid-seventeenth century.

The oldest stone crosses in Kottayam are the ancient Persian crosses installed within the Kottayam Valiyapally, established in 1550. The large stone cross standing in front of the Valiyapally was erected later. Most of the crosses seen in Kottayam were carved by stoneworkers from Chengannur.

When the Malankara Nazranis broke away from Valiyapally in AD 1579 to establish Kottayam Cheriyapally, most of the Cheriyapally parish were residents of Thazhathangadi. Since Cheriyapally lay somewhat far off, they needed a place for daily worship closer to home. For this, a thatched prayer hall was built in Thazhathangadi, on the plot east of where the cross stands today. It is likely that a wooden cross stood in front of this prayer hall at the time — or perhaps the prayer hall itself was established based on an earlier market cross already standing there. This prayer hall functioned as a chapel of Cheriyapally.

According to Dr. T.C. Kora Thazhathu's biography, Punnathra Mar Dionysius, Thazhathu Punnathra Chandappilla Kathanar, the stone cross seen today — dedicated to Mar Behnam the Martyr — was carved by stoneworkers from Chengannur under the direction of Thazhathu Chandappilla Tharakan, the senior figure of Cheriyapally and elder brother of Punnathra Mar Dionysius, and erected in front of this prayer hall sometime between AD 1818 and 1820. During Cheriyapally's annual feast, when the Rasa procession passed through, it would come to Thazhathangadi and conduct incense prayers at this cross — making it, effectively, a subsidiary cross-shrine (kurishadi) under Cheriyapally. The same book notes that missionaries from the Old Seminary, including Henry Baker, came to this prayer hall to teach scripture.

In AD 1865, during the turbulent period when Metropolitan Mathews Mar Athanasius of Palakunnathu resigned under contentious circumstances, the prayer hall in Thazhathangadi was demolished, leaving only the stone cross standing. Thazhathu Punnathra Chandappilla Kathanar, who continued as vicar of Cheriyapally, along with the Reformist faction, continued to maintain the cross, and both groups continued to pray there. Since it had been established under the charge of their own ancestor, and since the families living near the cross were branches of the Punnathra family, it was they who, until a few years ago, cared for the cross as though it were their own.

With the verdict in the Cheriyapally case, Thazhathachan and the other Reformists left and became part of the Marthoma Church. Since worship centered on crosses is not practiced in the Marthoma Church, the cross's significance declined, and it lost its standing as Cheriyapally's kurishadi. It is also recorded that from AD 1901 to 1915, Thazhathachan rebuilt the old prayer hall east of the cross and once again taught scripture there.

See this "90 Years Ago" news item from the Malayala Manorama daily:

"Prayer Pavilion: Since the church regularly attended by the many Syrian Christians of Thazhathangadi lies some distance away, Erikkattu Ippu Mappila spent about one hundred sixty-odd rupees to build, within two weeks, a beautiful small prayer pavilion at a suitable spot in the marketplace for their everyday use. This past Wednesday at four in the afternoon, Metropolitan Mar Dionysius together with Metropolitan Mar Gregorios, along with local priests and other people, opened it for use at a gathering, where the dedication was read out along with an account of expenses. Metropolitan Dionysius remarked in his speech that since the building was for common use, it was not proper for one person alone to bear the cost, a view everyone agreed with — and those present immediately pledged sums as they wished, the total coming to slightly more than the stated expenses." — Malayala Manorama, 30 November 1895

This news item makes clear that, during the period of uncertainty at Cheriyapally caused by the influence of the Reformist faction, a prayer pavilion was established here for worship by the Jacobite-Orthodox community of Thazhathangadi. It was this very prayer pavilion that was elevated, in AD 1956, into the Thazhathangadi Mar Baselios Church. It is likely that when this pavilion was established in 1895, Thazhathachan started the prayer hall beside the stone cross in 1901 as a counterpart — perhaps with the aim of retaining influence over the Thazhathangadi kurishadi even after Cheriyapally had been lost to the other side. In later years, too, the care of the cross remained with Thazhathachan's own descendants.

People of every community in Thazhathangadi used to bow before this stone cross and offer contributions. It was customary for Christian brides and grooms to come to the cross on the evening of their wedding day, pray, and leave an offering. After devotees who prayed at the cross daily noticed some people taking the offering money left there, they brought the matter to the vicar of Thazhathangadi Church, following which a donation box was placed at the cross under the church's supervision.

Some recent commentary has suggested that this stone cross is as old as the earliest Nazrani settlement in Thazhathangadi itself. There do not appear to be any authoritative contextual evidence or records to support this, however. The only plausible interpretation is that it represents a later transformation of an earlier market cross. There is also an opinion that this cross and the stone cross at the Puthenangadi Kurishupally were carved and brought from Chengannur at the same time. The two crosses are, indeed, quite similar in form and size. However, it is understood that the Kurishupally cross was installed when that church was renovated in AD 1731. There is no evidence that the Thazhathangadi cross was installed at that same time — though, equally, there is no sufficient reason to doubt the account given in Dr. T.C. Kora's book. Dr. T.C. Kora's book notes that further information about this cross was published in the "Paschima Tharaka" weekly, issued on 2 February 1983. If that article could be located, it might help clarify this matter further.