AD Kuriappan
Manavalan Family Tree

THE HISTORY OF OUR FOREFATHERS

It is a very difficult task to prepare the Manavalan family history of 2000 years as no effort so far has been undertaken in this direction.  There are no written records of historical incidents or events in Kerala. Hence we have to rely on Church history, social history, oral traditions and legends handed down the generations to distill history out of them. Certain oral traditions and legends may have over the centuries been corrupted with interpolations and additions to suit the times/interest of its authors.

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Critics among you may point out the  historical inconsistencies contained in these legends handed down to us by our ancestors. In the absence of concrete historical corroborative evidence, many historians even expressed doubts on the missionary journey of St. Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, to Kerala and South India. It may be remembered that even secular histories about Emperor Asoka or even Vikramaditya do not have historiographical evidence. Indians have a tendency of treating traditions as history. We even treat the legends of India as purana and Ithihasa meaning history. Hence writing history on pure historical records alone will not be possible in this case. The Marthoma Christians started writing their history on the persuasions of the Portuguese and other Europeans from the 16th Century onwards. Christians of Kerala call themselves Marthoma Christians, remembering the traditions of their conversion to St. Thomas the apostle of Jesus Christ.

Oral traditions get historical  authenticity by the supporting evidence from the individual truths connected with histories of families, villages, land and revenue records etc. of the place.

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Sources-

1) “Christians and Christianity in India and Pakistan” – a general survey done and documented by Mr. P.Thomas, published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.

2) Google search

3) Wikipedia

4) The Hindus- by Wendy Doniger

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