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The legend of
St. Thomas has endured to date in India. In the 70s, Doubting Thomas
was decreed the Apostle of India. He preached and travelled the
Malabar and Coromandel coasts of the country. Somewhere between 52
and 72 AD he is believed to have reached Kerala first and before
travelling to Mylapore, which at that time was a Pallava port.
A number of places in the city are linked
with St. Thomas, from Luz to Little Mount and St. Thomas Mount. The
apostle is said to have walked from the beach at Mylapore to a cave
on a hill a few miles away and is said to have lived there. He spent
the last years of his life at a small hill near Saidapet, today’s
Little Mount area. The Luz area, which sprang up around the Luz
Church, was once filled with mango groves, where St. Thomas rested.
At the site of these groves, the Portuguese later built the Luz and
Descanco churches. The Baroque-styled Luz church, built in 1516, is
believed to be the oldest in Chennai.
Eight
years after he first set foot on Mylapore, St. Thomas is believed to
have fallen foul of the authorities. He escaped from his cave to
seek refuge in a nearby hill. Here he was shot by an arrow and
consequently bled to death. Others claim it was hunting accident
that killed St. Thomas. This hill, where it is agreed he died, has
since become St. Thomas Mount. |
The
300-foot summit can be accessed by 134 stone steps. The steps were
built by Coja Petrus Uscan in 1726. The Church of the Madonna of the
Mount and the Lady of Expectations stands on the mount. This
Portuguese church is believed to have been constructed on the site
of an earlier Nestorian church that Marco Polo visited. There is a
school and convent here. And one can still see the place where the
Apostle was supposedly martyred. The mount also provides a
spectacular view of Chennai city and the airport runways.
St.
Thomas was however buried on the coast. Armenian Christians
discovered his grave in the sixth century and a church built on the
site, today’s Santhome Church. When the Portuguese first reached
the shores of Madras, they wanted to create a colony there. The
Portuguese then appropriated the shore where ancient Mylapore stood;
thus pushing it away from the coast. This new Portuguese colony then
became San Thome or the Town of Thomas. The Portuguese moved the
tomb of St. Thomas further inland and built a church over it. The
Portuguese church is said to have been built on the site in 1523. It
was replaced by the neo Gothic Santhome Basilica in 1898. The tomb
of St. Thomas has since been moved to Italy. Also at the basilica is
a museum containing various items from Chennai's Portuguese days.
Anupama
Shekar, ark Commercials
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