The Lodestar

The roots of Christianity in India run deep, dating back to the very foundations of apostolic Christianity. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India said, "St. Thomas came to India when many of the countries of Europe had not yet become Christian, and so those Indians who trace their Christianity to him have a longer history and a higher ancestry than that of Christians of many of the European countries.”

There are two traditions about the arrival of the “My Lord, My God” emissary. The first is the Malabar tradition, according to that St. Thomas arrived in Kerala in 52 A. D. and established seven congregations. He also travelled to the Coromandel coast of India and became a martyr in Mayapur in 72 A. D.

Apocryphal writing named “the Acts of Thomas” is the basis of Western tradition, which suggests that St. Thomas came to North India and met a king named Gondophorus who ruled northwestern India and Pakistan. The king commissioned St. Thomas, to build a grand palace. But, instead of fulfilling the king's request, St. Thomas used the money to help the poor, leading to his imprisonment. But the king’s brother shared the dream he had about the celestial palace that Thomas built. This led to the apostle’s release, both the king and his brother taking baptism, thus marking the beginning of Christianity in the region.

The discovery of the tomb of St. Thomas now in the St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Chennai supports these traditions. No country other than India claims the tradition that Thomas came to their country.

India is one of those places where apostolic Christianity reached first; Christianity in India is not a western import, but dates to Apostolic times.

(Elisha Nicholas Bharti is from Nainpur, Madhya Pradesh, presently serving on the Faculty at the Kairos Center for Theology and Leadership, Lucknow.)