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The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple

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The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple The ISBN 978-81-85990-91-0 © Author. Email: [email protected] Myth of First Edition Published in 1991/5091 Kali Era Second Revised Edition Published in 1995/5095 Kali Era Third Revised Edition Published in 2010/5113 Kali Era Saint Published by Voice of India 2/18, Ansari Road, New Delhi – 110002 Email: [email protected] Printed at Salasar Imaging Systems Thomas C-7/5, Lawrence Road Industrial Area Delhi – 110035 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or and the mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Mylapore FAIR USE NOTICE: Articles and images in this book and on this book’s website which contain copyright material that has not been specifically authorized for use by the copyright owner, has been made available here to advance learning and to inform the Indian community at large of issues that may Shiva concern it. The articles and images are not used for commercial purposes or profit. We believe this constitutes “fair use” of copyright material as understood in Indian and US copyright law. Temple Comprehensive study of the Saint Thomas in India legend with an introduction to the history of Christian iconoclasm engaged in by missionaries Third Revised in India starting in the 8th century and continuing Edition-2010-by till today. With references and bibliography. Read Ishwar Sharan book online at www.ishwarsharan.wordpress.com ◊◊ Page 1 of 173 The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple This Book Is Dedicated To Sri Kapaleeswara Shiva The Lord Of Mylapore And His Favoured Sons Jnanasambandar And Arunagirinathar Who Offer The Best Evidence This Book’s Third Edition Is Dedicated To Vasanti Amma Of Sri Vaishnavi Shrine Tirumullaivoyal And Sita Ram Goel Of Voice of India New Delhi 2 The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple Contents Author’s Note Part One Foreword – Koenraad Elst Introduction – Ishwar Sharan The Myth Of Saint Thomas And The Mylapore Shiva Temple – Ishwar Sharan Part Two Archbishop Arulappa’s History Project Goes Terribly Wrong – K. P. Sunil Archbishop Arulappa Sends His Document Forger To Jail – Ganesh Iyer & K. P. Sunil Tamil Scholars Condemn Christian Author For Misrepresenting Tiruvalluvar As St. Thomas’s Disciple – R. S. Narayanaswami Indian Historian Makes A Mockery Of Indian History – Veda Prakash Part Three Pope Benedict XVI Denies St. Thomas Evangelised South India – Ishwar Sharan Madras-Mylapore Archdiocese Plans Blockbuster Movie On St. Thomas – Ishwar Sharan Is Not Archbishop Chinnappa Obliged To Accept The Pope’s Stand On St. Thomas In India? – V. Sundaram Tiruvalluvar “Baptised” To Betray Hindus – B. R. Haran Part Four In Memory Of A Slain Saint – C. A. Simon The Legend Of A Slain Saint To Stain Hinduism – Swami Tapasyananda Part Five St. Thomas And Caste – Ishwar Sharan Saint Thomas And Anti-Brahminism – Koenraad Elst Christian Churches Threaten Dalit Rights – Leela Tampi Part Six Hideaway Communalism In the Indian Express – Ishwar Sharan Hideaway Communalism In The Hindu – Ishwar Sharan Madras Musings And Madras Muthiah – Ishwar Sharan St. Thomas: The Original TTK Product – Ishwar Sharan Christians Threaten To Bomb Kamakoti Magazine – Hindu Voice International Sita Ram Goel And Khushwant Singh Exchange Notes – S. R. Goel & K. Singh Part Seven The Mount Of Thomas – S. Muthiah Chennai’s Own Holocaust Deniers – Ishwar Sharan San Thome Cathedral Cover-up Uncovered – G. P. Srinivasan The New Indian Express Makes A Tsunami – Ishwar Sharan Did A Hindu King Kill St. Thomas – Ishwar Sharan The Deccan Chronicle Deceits – Ishwar Sharan The Secrets Of The Twelve Disciples Reviewed – Ishwar Sharan Mythical Thomas, Devious Deivanayagam, And Conniving Church – B. R. Haran Part Eight Why Indians Should Reject St. Thomas And Christianity – Koenraad Elst Part Nine The Interview – Ishwar Sharan & Rajeev Srinivasan Bibliography & Digital Resourses 3 The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple Author’s Note This book is a revised and updated version of the 1995 edition of The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple. It includes everything in the last edition plus a number of new and important references. Veda Prakash, who in 1989 brought us the original data he had collected over the years, continues to share his research materials and Tamil translations. Sita Ram Goel, Koenraad Elst, K.P. Sunil and Ganesh Iyer, Leela Tampi, R.S. Narayanaswami, C.A. Simon, Khushwant Singh and the late Swami Tapasyananda of the Sri Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore continue to make valuable contributions. New contributors to this book are B.R. Haran, G.P. Srinivasan, V. Sundaram, Rajeev Srinivasan, and though he may not be too happy about it, S. Muthiah. We are pleased and grateful to have all these writers on board even if some of them hold strongly opposing views to our own. Two important events have taken place since the publication of this book in 1995. One, Pope Benedict XVI categorically stated on 27 September 2006 that St. Thomas did not come to South India, and two, in direct contravention of the Pope’s position, the Archdiocese of Madras- Mylapore announced on 3 July 2008 its plan to produce a mega-budget movie on the sojourn of St. Thomas in Malabar and his martyrdom in Mylapore. To add more controversy to the project than already existed, the Archbishop announced that the film would included a episode on the invented and purely fictional conversion to Christianity of the Tamil cultural icon and saint Tiruvalluvar by the foreign evangelist St. Thomas the Apostle. So we can say that St. Thomas is here in India with us – if not in truth then in fiction and scandal. We have traced the legend of St. Thomas in this book in some detail, from its origin in third century Mesopotamia to its religious, commercial and communal manifestation in Madras today. It is a complicated story with many details and side issues attached. The reader will have to pay close attention to what is being elaborated. What was originally an introductory essay to the study of the St. Thomas myth and the related issue of the destruction of a great Shiva temple on the Mylapore beach by the Portuguese, has taken the shape of a broad investigation into the negative Christian presence in South India today. The 1995 edition of this book has produced a hundred imaginative and contradictory articles from Christian authors who take our research details and put them into their own fantastic context, thereby creating what they call St. Thomas in India proofs. The Internet is full of these fabricated and contrived St. Thomas histories. This is in keeping with the ancient Christian tradition of stealing ideas and forging documents. They did it in Rome in the first centuries and earned the wrath of the emperors and they are doing it in India today with apparently a free hand. We had hoped that Indian scholars would look into the Christian claims for St. Thomas in India in detail. We regret that it has not come about. Indian scholars are fearful creatures who prefer to stay with politically correct subjects and not venture into areas that may lead to controversy. Whatever Christian believers in Malabar and their ecclesiastical counterparts in Madras may say, there is only one original source for the St. Thomas in India legend: the Acts of Thomas. It is a moral fable written by the Gnostic poet Bardesanes at Edessa about 210 CE. It was brought to India by Syrian Christian immigrants in the fourth century. The ancient histories produced today by the descendants of these Christian immigrants in Kerala, however dear they may be to the faithful, are church and family traditions that have no bearing on historical research. The fact that the Indian government and encyclopaedias like Britannica and Wikipedia accept these family fables as Indian history does not make them any more truthful or valid as history. This has to be recognised by government officials and scholars alike if Indian history writing is to be taken seriously. In this book we have continued to use the term Pagan to identify pre- Christian and non-Christian religions in general. We are not very happy with this term as it has been used for centuries to disparage non- Christian religions and their adherents. But there is no other term in English that encompasses all non-Christian – and by extension all non- Abrahamic – religions in one word. So we have kept it and tried to raise its status with a first letter capital P. The other terms we have kept though they have been changed or are out of date are Madras for Chennai and Cranganore for Kodungallur – Kodungallur being the supposed site of the ancient Chera port of Muchiri (Muziris) that traded with Alexandria and Rome.1 The reason for our adamance here is that the many scholars and references that we quote also use these names to 4 The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple identify the places associated with St. Thomas, as they were writing when these names were still in vogue. We also continue to write with the editorial we. We do it simply to avoid using the too personal I. We ask those who are irritated by this literary device to excuse us. The first two editions of this book were received by the Indian public with great interest even though the books were never reviewed in the mainstream media. This is very gratifying, and the fact that the book is going into a third edition is even more welcome to this writer.
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