THE LEGEND OF ST. THOMAS. 
19 
then commanded him to disseminate the Christian religion, 
which command he also fulfilled.-" 
The testimony of this Tamil manuscript in the Mackenzie 
collection, being but a clumsy travesty of the Acts of Thomas, 
adds nothing to our knowledge. The author of the former 
work makes it perfectly clear that he knew Malabar and 
Maylapur, but the author of the Acts makes it evident that 
he did not know whether such a place as Maylapur existed 
or whether even there was a Peninsular India. 
But, it may be asked, how do you account for the exist- 
ence of the tradition in India itself ? Here is a fact, it may 
be said, that a not inconsiderable section of the Indian 
people, on both sides of the continent, have for centuries 
cherished the belief that St- Thomas preached here, founded 
a church, and finally died a martyr's death. How do you 
account for this persistent belief ? 
It is impossible to say how old the tradition in its 
Indian form may be, and how far back we may yet be able to 
trace it. For myself I know no earlier mention of it than 
is to be found in the book of Marco Polo, who visited the 
Coromandel coast in the end of the thirteenth century. The 
testimony of this Italian traveller is most explicit, but of 
course the tradition must be much older than the date 
referred to, because the church of Maylapur was then in a 
state of dissolution and decay, and this tradition, like the 
church itself, was but a survival of better days. But Polo's 
work casts no light on its antiquity or its origin. 
Other historians have developed the theory that the tra- 
dition in this country owes its existence not to St. Thomas 
the Apostle of our Lord, but to other notable men of the name 
of Thomas. It has been maintained that " the first historical 
notice we have of a Christian mission to India is that of 
Translated by the late Eev. W. Taylor. See the South India Christian 
Repository, 1837, vol. T, pp. '263-6. 
