Part 36

The Southerners say that they can be distinguished from the Northerners by the red tinge of their hair. A man with reddish moustache, and a dark-skinned baby with brilliant red hair, whose father had red whiskers, were produced before me in support of the claim.

As examples of Old and New Testament names occurring, in a changed form, among Syrian Christians, the following may be cited:--

Abraham, Abragam. Joshua, Koshi. Peter, Puthros, Ittiyerah, Itte. Paul, Powlos. John, Yohan, Sonanan, Chona. Titus, Tetos. Matthew, Mathai, Mathen. Philip, Philippos, Papi, Eippe, Eapen. Thomas, Thoma, Thommi, Thommen. Joseph, Ouseph. Jacob, Yacob, Chako Alexander, Chandi. Samuel, Chamuel. Mary, Maria, Mariam. Sarah, Sara. Susannah, Sosa. Rebecca, Rabka, Raca. Elizabeth, Elspeth, Elia, Elacha. Rachael, Rachi, Raghael, Chacha.

Syrian Christians take the name of their father, their own name, and that of their residence. Whence arise such names as Edazayhikkal Mathoo Philippos, Kunnampuram Thommen Chandi, and Chandakadayil Joseph Chommi.

I have seen some Syrian Christian men tattooed with a cross on the upper arm, and a cross and their initials on the forearm.

In conclusion, I may, for the sake of comparison, place on record the averages of the more important physical measurements of Northerner and Southerner Syrian Christians and Nayars.

30 Syrian 40 Nayars. Christians. Northerner. Southerner. Stature 165.3 164.8 165.2 Cephalic length 18.7 18.9 18.7 Cephalic breadth 14.3 14.1 13.9 Cephalic index 76.3 74.8 74.4 Nasal height 4.9 4.9 4.9 Nasal breadth 3.5 3.5 3.5 Nasal index 72.3 71.6 71.1

It may be noted that, in his 'Letters from Malabar,' Canter Visscher, in the middle of the eighteenth century, writes that the St. Thomas' Christians "keep very strict genealogical records, and they will neither marry nor in any way intermingle with the new low-caste Christians, being themselves mostly Castade Naiross, that is, nobility of the Nayar caste, in token of which they generally carry a sword in the hand, as a mark of dignity."

It is stated by E. Petersen and F. V. Luschan [212] that "probably a single people originally occupied the greater part of Asia Minor. They are still represented as a compact group by the Armenians. The type resembles the Dissentis type of His and Rütimeyer; the head extremely short and high, stature moderate, skin dark, eyes dark, and hair dark and smooth. It extends through the S. half of Asia Minor, N.E. to the Caucasus, and E. to the Upper Euphrates. The Tachtadschy people, a hill people living without serious mixture with other peoples, give measurements closely like the Armenians." [The cephalic index of Armenians is given by E. Chantre [213] as 85-86.]

In the following table, the averages of some of the more important measurements of the Syrian Christians and Tachtadschy people are recorded:--

Stature, Cephalic Cephalic Cephalic, cm. length, cm. breadth, index. cm.

Syrian 165.3 18.7 14.3 76.3 Christians, Northerner Syrian 164.8 18.9 14.1 74.8 Christians, Southerner Tachtadschy 168. 17.9 15.3 85.7

NOTES

[1] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[2] Pulikesin II, the Chalukyan King of Badami.

[3] Manual of the Madura district.

[4] South Indian Inscriptions, III, 31, page 82.

[5] In the Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras.

[6] J. Burgess. Archæological Survey. Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions, No. 11, p. 150.

[7] Ibid. No. 12, p. 152.

[8] History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, 1861.

[9] Geographical, statistical, and historical description of Hindostan and the adjacent countries, 1820.

[10] Ceylon, 1860.

[11] South Indian Inscriptions, 1, 86-7, 105, 136, and III, I, 121, 123.

[12] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[13] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[14] Vannikula Vilakkam.

[15] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[16] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[17] Vannikula Vilakkam.

[18] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[19] Manual of the Salem district.

[20] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.

[21] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[22] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[23] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[24] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[25] Madras Mail, 1906.

[26] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[27] Manual of Malabar.

[28] Madras Mus. Bull., III, 3, 1901.

[29] Monograph, Eth. Survey of Cochin.

[30] A. Chatterton. Monograph on Tanning and Working in Leather, 1904.

[31] Journey through Mysore, etc., 1807.

[32] How we teach the Paraiya, 3rd ed., Madras, 1906.

[33] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[34] Works, 1, 225, foot-note.

[35] History of Mysore.

[36] Op. cit.

[37] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[38] Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, XI, 1840.

[39] Native Life in Travancore.

[40] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[41] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[42] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[43] Manual of the North Arcot district; Madras Census Report, 1891.

[44] Report on the Methods of Capture and Supply of Fish in the Rivers of the Nilgiri district, 1907.

[45] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[46] Gazetteer of Malabar.

[47] Madras Census Report, 1881.

[48] Madras Mus. Bull., V, 2, 1906.

[49] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[50] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[51] Voyage to the East Indies, 1774 and 1781.

[52] Loc. cit.

[53] Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

[54] The name Black Town was changed to Georgetown to commemorate the visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to Madras in 1906.

[55] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[56] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[57] Ind. Ant. II, 1873.

[58] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[59] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[60] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[61] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[62] A. P. Smith. Malabar Quart. Review, 1904.

[63] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[64] Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

[65] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[66] Op. cit.

[67] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[68] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[69] Monograph Eth. Survey. Cochin.

[70] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[71] Journ. Roy. As. Soc., XVI.

[72] C.M. Record, 1850.

[73] Origin and History of the Paravas. Simon Casie Chitty. Journ. Roy. As. Soc., IV, 1837.

[74] Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 1901.

[75] A description of ye East India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, 1703.

[76] History of Tinnevelly.

[77] Report on the Indian Pearl Fisheries in the Gulf of Manaar, 1905.

[78] Shell of the gastropod mollusc, Turbinella rapa.

[79] "This," Mr. Hornell writes, "is most improbable. They are more probably the descendants of Naga fishermen settled in the district prior to the immigration of Tamil invaders."

[80] The Zamorin of Calicut.

[81] Madras Mail, 1907.

[82] Risley. Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

[83] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[84] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[85] Madras Mail, 1907.

[86] By the Saurashtra Literary Societies of Madura and Madras, 1891.

[87] Gazetteer of the Madura district.

[88] A reddish geological formation, found all over Southern India.

[89] Manual of the South Canara district.

[90] Letters from Madras. By a Lady, 1843.

[91] My Indian Journal, 1864.

[92] Our Viceregal Life in India, 1889.

[93] Roe and Fryer. Travels in India in the seventeenth century.

[94] See Civil Suit No. 102 of 1880.

[95] Manual of the South Canara district.

[96] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[97] Manuals of Nellore and Kurnool.

[98] Manual of Malabar.

[99] Malabar Quarterly Review. V, 4, 1907.

[100] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[101] This note is from an account by Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar.

[102] Gazetteer of the Malabar district.

[103] Malabar Law and Custom.

[104] Ibid.

[105] Hobson-Jobson.

[106] Manual of the South Canara district.

[107] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[108] Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 1906.

[109] Ind. Ant., II, 1873.

[110] Loc. cit.

[111] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[112] Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.

[113] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[114] Men and Women of India, February 1906.

[115] Malabar and its Folk, 1900.

[116] This account is mainly based on a note by Mr. L. K. Anantha Krishna Aiyar.

[117] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[118] Manual of the Vizagapatam district.

[119] Manual of Malabar.

[120] Manual of the South Canara district.

[121] W. Crooke. Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh.

[122] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[123] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[124] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[125] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[126] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[127] Madras Census Report, 1871.

[128] Birds of India.

[129] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[130] Twelfth Tour of Lord Connemara, 1890.

[131] See Thurston. Monograph on the Cotton Industry of the Madras Presidency, 1897.

[132] East and West, VI, 70, 1907.

[133] Madras Mail, 1904.

[134] Manual of the Chingleput district.

[135] Manual of the South Canara district.

[136] Ind. Ant., IV, 1875.

[137] Malayalam and English Dictionary.

[138] Sthanam = a station, rank or dignity. Moore: Malabar Law and Custom.

[139] Original Suit No. 31, 1887, Court of Calicut. Appeal No. 202, 1888, High Court of Madras.

[140] Madras Census Report, 1891.

[141] See Malabar Quart. Review, II, 4, 1903.

[142] Historical Sketches of the South of India: Mysore.

[143] Moore: Malabar Law and Custom, 1905.

[144] Manu.

[145] Mysore Census Report, 1891, 1901.

[146] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[147] Rev. H. Jensen. Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.

[148] Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[149] South Indian Inscriptions, II, Part III, 1895.

[150] Linguistic Survey of India, IV, 1906.

[151] Journ. Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, 1, 1901.

[152] The Rev. W. Taylor, Vol. III, 1862.

[153] Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life, 1901.

[154] Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.

[155] See Bishop Whitehead. Madras Museum Bull., Vol. 3, 136, 1907.

[156] Gazetteer of Vizagapatam district.

[157] Madras Museum Bulletin, V, 3, 1907.

[158] Lectures on Tinnevelly Missions, 1857.

[159] Viaggi, 1614-26.

[160] A New Account of East India and Persia, 1698.

[161] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[162] Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.

[163] Principles of Sociology.

[164] Manual of the South Canara district.

[165] Administration Report, 1899.

[166] Christianity in Travancore, 1901.

[167] Madras Museum Bull., III, 3, 1901.

[168] Rice. Mysore Inscriptions, p. 33.

[169] Madras Census Report, 1901.

[170] Madras Mail, 1901.

[171] Ind. Ant., IV, 1875.

[172] Christianity and Caste, 1893.

[173] Journ. Roy. As. Soc., XVI.

[174] Madras Mail, 1907.

[175] L. Rice, Mysore and Coorg Gazetteer.

[176] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[177] Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 1807.

[178] Madras Mail, 1907.

[179] Mysore Census Report, 1891.

[180] Mysore Census Report, 1891.

[181] Manual of the South Canara district.

[182] Madras Census Report, 1881.

[183] A Native. Pen-and-ink Sketches of Native Life in Southern India, 1880.

[184] Yule and Burnell. Hobson-Jobson.

[185] A Snataka is a Brahman, who has just finished his student's career.

[186] Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

[187] A very complicated recipe is given in the Manual of the Vizagapatam district, 1869, p. 264.

[188] Rev. J. Cain, Ind. Ant., VIII, 1879.

[189] Ind. Ant. II, 1873.

[190] Ind. Ant. VIII, 1879.

[191] Manual of the North Arcot district.

[192] Ind. Ant. VIII, 1879.

[193] Wigram, Malabar Law and Customs.

[194] Rev. W. J. Richards. The Indian Christians of Saint Thomas.

[195] A New Account of the East Indies, 1744.

[196] Vide G. Milne Rae. The Syrian Church in India, 1892.

[197] Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed.

[198] See Hough, the History of Christianity in India from the commencement of the Christian Era.

[199] Indian Empire, 3rd edition.

[200] IV. 290-97, 1896-7.

[201] Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, XIII, part, 118. Dr. Gundert's translation is reprinted in Mr. Logan's Malabar, Vol. II, Appendix XII.

[202] Madras Journ. Lit. and Science, XXI, 35-38.

[203] Ind. Ant., III, 1874.

[204] See article on the Jews of Cochin.

[205] Loc. cit.

[206] Land of the Perumauls: Cochin past and present, 1863.

[207] F. Wrede. Asiatic Researches, VII, 181. Account of the St. Thomé Christians.

[208] Hunter. Indian Empire.

[209] In the preparation of the above sketch, the following authorities, among others, were consulted: Sir W. W. Hunter, Indian Empire and History of British India; J. Hough, History of Christianity in India; T. Whitehouse, Lingerings of Light in a Dark Land; G. T. Mackenzie, Christianity in Travancore; F. Day, Land of the Perumauls; T. Logan, Manual of Malabar; Christian College Magazine, Madras, Vol. VI; and Judgments of the Civil Courts of Travancore and Cochin. To the bibliography relating to the Syrian Christians may also be added L. M. Agur, Church History of Travancore, the Rev. G. Milne Rae, the Syrian Church in India, and the Rev. W. J. Richards, the Indian Christians of St. Thomas. The Malabar Quarterly Review, VI, 1 and 2, 1907, may also be consulted.

[210] The Syriac is not a modern Syriac dialect, but is very like the ancient Aramaic.

[211] Notes from a Diary, 1881-86.

[212] Recherches Anthropologiques dans le Caucase, IV, 1887.

[213] Reisen in Lykien, Melyas, und Kibyratis, II, 1889.