﻿ON THE COAST OF MALABAR. 5(^7 



new Christians converted by the Poriug'i/ese, tivA 

 mostly picked up from the h)\vest cast. 1 have bceu 

 assured by Padre Pavon v, a m ell informed ex -Jesuit, 

 now at Palghautchcrry, who Mas a lortg tiiue as 

 missionary amongst the St. Thomk Chrlslians, that 

 many of them preserve till now the manners and 

 mode of life of the Bramins, as to cleanliness and ab- 

 staining from animal food, and that even he himself 

 had been obliged to adopt the same regimen in order 

 to gain credit amongst them. 



As to their former manners, customs, and the privi- 

 leges which they enjoyed, the Portugue.'<e authors 

 o^ theOrienteComjuistato^ and Djt Barros, give the 

 following account of them. 



Th e St. Thome Christians possessed upwards of one 

 hundred villages, situated mostly in the mountainous 

 part of the southern division of Malabar. Tiieir ha- 

 bitations were distinguished from those of tlie Hin- 

 doos by being mostly solid buildings, and collected 

 in villages, not scattered and dispersed as those of 

 the Bramins ?iX\<\ Nairs. They obeyed their Arch- 

 bishop, whose seat was at Angamalee, both in eccle- 

 siastical and civil matters, paying a very moderate 

 tribute to the different Rajas, in whose territory 

 they lived, who very little interfered in their con- 

 cerns. When any complaints in civil matters were 

 preferred to the Archbishop, he used to appoint ar- 

 bitrators or judges, whose sentence was final; but 

 they never condemned any person to death, but all 

 crimes were expiated with pecuniary fines. They 

 paid no tithes to their clergy, but at their weddings 

 they used to offer the tenth of the marriage gift to 

 their churches. At their weddings they were very 

 profuse and ostentatious, and celebrated them m ith 

 great pomp ; it was then principall}^ that they had 

 occasion to make a shew of the privileges granted 

 to them by one of the Peiiumals ; as of the bride 

 and bridegroom riding upon elephants, of hav- 

 ing the hair ornamented with flowers of gold, of dif- 



3 fereut 



