CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA. 77 



PearUFishery Coast ; these were consulted by the 

 fishermen ; but, he says that they were bad men, 

 and great sorcerers : and their descendants, to this 

 day, are not much better. According to the acts of 

 St. Thomas, and other notices, the holy Apostle em- 

 barked at Aden in Arabia, in his way to India, where 

 he landed at a place called Halabor, and afterwards 

 Salo-patan, synonymous with ^Salo-pur, or ^Sala-bu- 

 ram, Hdla-buram; and now Cranganor. He was 

 well received by Masdeus, called also Segamus, 

 King of that country, whose son Zuzan he convert- 

 ed, and afterwards ordained him a Deacon. The 

 Apostle, long after, suffered martyrdom, at a place 

 called CaUnnma, known afterwards by the name of 

 Maliar-pur, or the city of Pea-cocks, from the Sans- 

 crit Meyur-piira ; and the same which is called 

 Maliar-pha by Ptolemy. Its present name is St, 

 Thome, called by the Arabs, during the middle ages, 

 Betuma, or Beit-T/io?na, the house or church of 

 Thomas. 



Masdeus, the name of the King, who kindly re- 

 ceived St. Thomas, Zuzan that of his son, and 

 Segamus his own surname, are all Hindi denomina- 

 tions. MusDEUs is for Basdeo, the usual pronunci- 

 ation of Va'SU-de'va in the spoken dialects. Sega- 

 mus is for SuGAMA, synonymous with Sugat, and 

 shews that he was a follower of Budd'ha : and San- 

 gama, even now, is not an uncommon name in 

 India, particularly in the Peninsula. Zuzan is for 

 Sajana, or Sezan, as written by Father Giorgi. 

 It is the name of the father of Budd'ha, called also 

 Ajana, by the Purariics ; and the disciple and suc- 

 cessor of ]\Ianes, who pretended to be an incarnatioa 

 of Budd'ha, was called Sisinius. 



