Thomas Churches of Inner India

Mohanjorado – Harappa civilization refused to be deciphered with Indo-Aryan languages

There existed an older Civilization which was essentially Dravidian

The Grantha writing system was developed in the 5th c. AD and was the proto-language of the modern Tamil and was used to write Sanskrit.

Nagiri (the modern form of Sanskrit script) came into use only after the 7th c. AD.

Nirad Chaudhuri points out that 'the Hindu religious texts with the exception of the Vedas and their ancillary treatises, are all in classical Sanskrit.

He says that in their present form none would be earlier than the fourth century A.D'.

Vedic to Grantha or to Sanskrit ?

They existed Orally long before the civilization ????

When was it written down?Did it follow

Did it maintain the content integrity in this process?

'The Gita is written in good classical Sanskrit, and epigraphic evidence clearly shows that the Gita could not have been written before the second century A.D.’ It is probably of much later period. It could most probably of the 7th century.

Nirad Chaudhuri

It is evident therefore that the early Vedic religion underwent a drastic change during the period following the 2nd c, which culminated, into the various vedantic teachings, which we know today as theistic Hinduism.

Hence the changes must be traced through the history of inter-cultural process.

The six scriptures are: (i) Srutis, (ii) Smritis, (iii) Itihasas, (iv) Puranas, (v) Agamas and (vi) Darsanas.

The four secular writings are: (i) Subhashitas, (ii) Kavyas, (iii) Natakas and (iv) Alankaras.

Vedas written in Vedic

Veda

Vedanta

Vedic religion underwent a drastic change during the period following the 2nd c, which culminated, into the various vedantic teachings,

The major political influence

A Seleucidan kingdom was established in a part of India that was conquered. Subsequently, several Greek kingdoms came into existence in the Punjab, Multan, and Afghan regions

Menander160-145 BC

Buddhist Scholar

Apollodotus I and Menander ruled in different regions of North Western India. Indo-Greek Buddhist Kings set up independent states in the northwest.

Soon they were replaced by Central Asian tribes of Shakas (Scythians?) and Pahalavas. The Kushanas followed also from Central Asia. They established a great Buddhist empire in the west stretching from Kabul to Banaras.

Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician, taught that the soul was immortal and merely resides in the body; therefore, it survived bodily death. His further teachings held the soul goes through a series of rebirths. Between death and rebirth the soul rests and is purified in the Underworld. After the soul has completed this series of rebirths is becomes so purified that it can leave the transmigration or reincarnation cycle.

Reincarnation came from Greece

Ruins of Taxila, Pakistan, where the apostle Thomas is said to have begun his missionary work in India. A yearly festival commemorating the coming of Thomas attracts up to 60,000 people.

Missionary Journey of St. Thomas following Acta Thoma

AD 52 - 72

The culmination of Upanishadic teachings actually came in by the 7th to 10th C AD when these were really crystallized.

Vedic ReligionDravidic Religions

Local Religions

Thomas - Isa

Vaishnava

Saiva

Iso Masseh

Here are the founders of the Theistic schools of Vedanta and their approximate times:

Sankara 788 –820

Advaita – Monism (Born in Kaladi, Kerala – Heart of Christianity )

In this approach, Brahma alone has true existence. All cosmos and consciousness is Brahma and seperation is only because of ignorance.

The goal of the self is to become one with the Divine. His views were strongly opposed by Ramanuja and his successors.

Ramanuja 1017-1137 Visistadvaita the Modified Non-dualist school. (Ramanuja (also known as Ilaya Perumal) was born to Kesava Perumal Somayaji Dikhsitar and Kanthimathi Ammal at Sriperum pudur. Born in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India.

His theology of Non-dualism is exactly same as the concept of Eastern Churches. It conceives of a Personal God with infinite divine attributes and infinite varieties of auspicious forms. He, however, is the single Conscious Entity that has all matter and all the souls as His body. He has infinite compassion for the souls and so He is greatly concerned about their salvation. The soul has to comprehend this Inner Reality, rid itself of the three-fold miseries of life and merge in the infinite bliss of the eternal sanctity of God. This is moksha. This is a communion with God, not a realization of complete identity.

Madhva (Ananda Tirtha) 1197-1273 Dvaita the Dualist school.

Kanarese Brahmin philosopher, born near Mangalore, S India. After study in Trivandrum, Banaras, and elsewhere, he settled in Udipi, and is traditionally held to have vanished in mid-lecture in 1317, retiring to the Himalayas. Taking Ramanuja's side against Sankara, he promoted dvaita or dualistic Vedanta, allowing for the separate existence of the Divine, human souls, and matter. His belief that some souls were eternally damned suggests Christian influence on his thinking.

Madhva strongly refuted the non-dualist analogy of Sankara — who believed the individual self to be a phenomenon, with the absolute spirit, the Brahman, being the only reality. That’s not all. Madhva also cogently rejected the venerable Hindu theory of maya, or illusion, which infers that only spirituality is eternal, with the material world being only ‘varnished’ and delusive. He departed from orthodox Hinduism in a number of ways.  He believed, for instance, unlike a vast majority of Hindu thinkers, in eternal damnation.  In so doing, he offered a concept of heaven and hell, with a third alternative: a Hindu purgatory of endless transmigration of souls.

Being a student in Trivandrum his life and teachings were influenced by Indian Christians.

Nimbarka late C13? (Nimbarka was born of Aruna Muni and Jayanti Devi on the banks of Godavari river, in the modern Murgarapattam in the southern Dravidian province) Dvaitadvaita the Dualist-non-dualist school.

According to Nimbarka the souls and the universe are different from the Absolute which rules them. Yet just as the spider’s web though different from the spider which has woven it is still one with the spider because it is nothing but the saliva of the spider it is the Lord that has become the souls and the universe. Thus difference and non-difference are emphasized equally.

Vallabha 1479-1531 Shudda Advaita- the Pure Advaita school. Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Vaishnavite cult of Rajasthan and Gujarat, was born of Lakshmana Bhatta and Illamma at Champaranya, Raipur, in Madhya Pradesh.

He was a Telugu Brahmin and a contemporary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

. According to this the glorious Krishna in His sat-chid-Ananda form is the Absolute brahman. He is permanently playing out His sport (leela) from His seat in the goloka which is even beyond the divine vaikunTHa, the abode of Vishnu. Creation is His sport. To obtain the Bliss given out by Krishna the only path is bhakti. But in this age of kali, the scripture-sanctioned bhakti is impossible to practise. So what is recommended is puSTi bhakti –which we can all get from the natural Grace of God just like that, for no reason whatsoever.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486 to1534) AcintyaBhedabheda - Incomprehensible Distinction-Non-distinctionism.was born in Navadvipa, Bengal

“Lord mesmerises Man, corrects him and blesses him. bhakti is the only means to reach Him”

silent bhakti of Bhishma

vAtsalya (filial affection) bhakti of Yasoda

friendly bhakti of Arjuna

dAsya bhakti (devotion by a servant) of Hanuman

mAdhura bhakti (devotion of Love) of the gopis Bride

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana was born in a place called Baleshvara, a village neighboring Remuna, in the early part of the 18th century A.D, as the son of a vaisya, an agriculturist disappeared in 1768

Gaudiya Vaishanva siddhanta. “The one absolute truth has two categories: the named (Krishna) and the name (Om). Parameshvara, Sri Krishna, the absolute person is the named; pranava, or omkara (Om) is the name. The named, or Parameshvara Sri Krishna, reveals himself in different forms. In the same way the name of the Supreme Lord expands into many different forms; such as the transcendental syllable Om, the gayatri mantram, and the Vedas themselves. There is no limit to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; he has no beginning and no end. As a consequence, his glorification is also eternal. He appears within this material world, stays for some time, and again disappears according to his own sweet will “

Bhakthi Movement

Two other religio-philosophical systems – Greek and Christian.

Veda

Vedanta

We know that there was a powerful Christian presence in the Cauvery Area apart from the Christian Church in Malankara (Malabar). As the Christian faith became powerful, there had been local reaction from the religions that were present. Natural course of events produced various syncretic form along with direct persecution. We know that there ensued a persecution to these Christian communities in the Andhra and Tamil areas, that they were forced to migrate to Quilon and Thiruvanthapuram in Kerala. We also know that they were persued by the then leaders of Hinduism.

We know that there ensued a persecution to the Christian communities in the Andhra and Tamil areas, that they were forced to migrate to Quilon and Thiruvanthapuram in Kerala around 300 AD. We also know that they were persued by the then leaders of Hinduism.

AD 293 Immigration of 72 Christian families Cauverypoopatanam Puhur Village to Kollam

”When we study the development of religion and worship in India, before and after Christ, we can see that Christ and Christianity totally transformed religion and worship in India from the first century AD. Saivism first developed as a monotheistic doctrine and Siva was first called Isa which is the name for Jesus in the North. The avatar concept (God coming into the world in the form of a man) in Vaishnavism is the influence of Christianity.”

Dr. Alexander Harris

Om Sri Brahmaputra, NamahaO God, Son of God, We worship you.

Om Sri Umathaya, NamahaO God, the Holy Spirit, We worship you.

Om Sri Kannisuthaya, NamahaO God, born of a virgin, We worship you.

Om Sri Vrishtaya, NamahaO God, who is circumcised, We worship you.

Om Sri Panchakaya, NamahaO God, who has five wounds, We worship you.

Om Shri Vritchsula Arul Daya, NamahaO God, who was crucified to provide mercy, We worship you.

Om Sri Mritumjaya, NamahaOh God , who overcame death, We worship you.

Om Sri Dakshinamurthy, NamahaO God, who sits on the right hand, We worship you.

Pajapathy Vai idam agre aseetIn the beginning was Prajapathi, the God

Tasyam vag dvitiya aseetWith whom was the Word Vag vai Parama Brahma

And the Word was verily the Supreme God

Rg Veda

John 1:1