Book Review: The Legacy of St.Thomas

My Short Book Review Book Name: The Legacy of St.Thomas Author : Vijayan P.Bhaskaran It is a historical account book. I would like to review the book by its content. Because how the author joined the historical content one by one which makes very synchronized perception about history . Author starts his dialogue with some strong words which creates confidence about christianity is not new for india. He quoted Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Radhra Prasad’s words. First he creates the brief account about different historical traditions (i.e) Western, Indian. He took the acts of Thomas, Gospels for his reference. When he finishes the brief account, creates the story line which is from Christ’s birth. He quoted biblical texts with some illustrations which gives the real experience of reading. Illustrations gave some creative imagination about the story so that we cannot read the story but we travelled with it. When he explained about the works of Thomas in India he mainly focuses on how he reacts with people. Most of the stories are like Thomas performed miracles among people and they accept the new religion. These stories are like local tribal deity stories (in tamil we called it as Kula Theiva Kathaigal). When Thmoas finished his evangelization and wanted to go to a new place which is chennai, then the real church system emerged. The body of Christ got a shape and handled by archariya ( caretakers). Then the book explains the martyr of thomas. At last the author explained about the important places which still exist. These last writings reflect the ecuminical work of the author, how he collaborated with other tradition people. This book is good for those who want to know the apostle Thomas’s life span and his ministry. Additional Notes : When I read the book,I found some clarity to the history when I compared it with tamil history. I would like to give some of the historical points which I learned from Tamil History. I hope it’ll give better understanding to readers. Author explained about happan who is marchant, helper or a chief executive of the king is from chola kingdom. There are particular caste people ( Nattukottai Settiyar or Nagans) are marchent people, who lived in karaikudi, the Tamil literature called them as Satans ( Saththanargal) (Most of the Tamil literature belongs to this merchant community). The common name among these people is Appan. These people are experts in trading and sea routes. I was surprised when the author talks about secret societies in Thomas’ tradition. It reminds my friend Jude andrew and Viruthiran Writings which is mostly about secret societies.(If you understand tamil writings I suggest this blog isittrueresearchit.com). Author explained that the community name is Barthomai who called themselves descendants of the First Thomas tradition. The interesting fact is no outsiders have the access to this society even today.