146 Ancient documents engraved on copper fyc. Sfc. [No. 30. 



1. " Manigramam," he asserts, " is the name of a class of Christians, 

 .relapsed into heathenism through the influence of a sorcerer (Manica Va- 

 chakar?). Some of that class are still to be found nearQuilon. Each in- 

 dividual is called (in Native books ?) a ft jOO^ a jewel, on account of 

 their apostacy — and the whole of them constitutes now a subdivision of 

 the Sudras." I had indeed been startled by the Indian-looking- na*ie 

 *' Iravi Corttan," which does not at all look like the appellation of a Syri- 

 an Christian : still I thought myself justified in calling Manigramam a 

 Christian principality — whatever their Christianity may have consisted in 

 — on the ground that from Mcnezes' time, these grants had been regarded 

 as given to the Syrian Colonists. I nonv venture the conjecture, that they 

 were disciples of Mani, a colony of Manicheans, such as the Arabian tra- 

 vellers found in Ceylon. 



2. "The uu ^n^J^l £^CT, whom Native books oppose to the 



party just mentioned as a class ofstedfast confessors, exist still in the 

 South of Travancore, have their ceremonies conducted by Syrian Priests, 

 and differ from Nazranis merely only by their preserving the hair tuft." 

 I see no reason, to give up my former conjecture of the identity of 



°J 0 > and the ^^nruD of the inscription ; (fr. such dialectical 

 changes as eutrnS^) €UfT^&) (Mai.) eu/r^etf, but venture yet some- 

 what farther to attempt an indication what the Tarisa Church originally 

 was. I find in John de Monte Corvino's travels, that the Nestorians in 

 China and Tatary were called " Tarsa " the word is there spoken of as of 

 Mongolic etymology. Might it not be derived from Tarsus, since the 

 heads of the Nestorians (such as Diodor of Tarsus) were from Cilicia, 

 and the whole sect may have affected to derive their origin from Paul's 

 birth place. This hypothesis will be easily refuted or confirmed by 

 those who have access to original works on the subject. 



3. " Curakkeni Collam." Tradition states that the Syrians came to 

 this country in two bodies, one party landed near the modern Quilon at a 

 place now engulphed by the sea, the other at Codungalur or Mahodever- 

 patnam. The practice in documents observed till within the last 80 years 

 was invariably to mark to which of these 2 bodies a Syrian belonged ; for 

 instance <5telT:Q»^ jOO (b)^v(^CQ(foCdi(to!£&&&)rc(o)(fo 



FED OJ^l £sS^ &^rc) 3<8 o a? rp \c/cp ifWift □ rtf*. rri and 



