14 
THE LEGEND OF ST. THOMAS. 
for his moneyj the two together sailed, we may suppose, 
from some Levantine port, such as JatEa ; and, after passing 
through the strait or canal which has been reproduced in our 
own day in the form of the Suez Canal, they sailed down the 
Red Sea and then northward, touching at some port near the 
mouth of the Indus, where they halted for some time. Then 
they made their way into the interior and arrived at the court 
of Grondophares. The Apostle's next move was towards the 
court of another Indian king of the name of Misdeus, who 
was most probably a viceroy under Grondophares, or the ruler 
of some neighbouring state, by whom he was put to death. 
But the facts have been construed in ways different from 
this, so as to consist with the tradition that St. Thomas 
really visited Southern India. It has been maintained that, 
though St. Thomas may have gone to the royal court of 
Grondophares in the Punjab or Afghanistan, yet he did not 
tarry there for ever but went further. There was nothing, 
it is said^ to hinder St. Thomas to return to Andrapolis and 
take ship and make for Malabai-. The geography even of 
Peninsular India was known to the commercial, the political, 
and the learned world of the first century, and why should it 
be considered a strange or an impossible thing for one of the 
twelve apostles to have a moderate share of the knowledge 
of the period ? Besides, it is added, the legend itself pro- 
vides for this, inasmuch as the Apostle is said to have gone 
to the country of another king, even Misdeus, and there to 
have lost his life. "Whj may this Misdeus not have been 
king of Maylapur ? 
Now, it may at once be granted that the knowledge of 
the geography of Southern India in St. Thomas' day was 
quite sufficient for the suggested contingency. Strabo, who 
" Soo M,dim-<il Missions, by Thomas Smith, D.D., Edinburgh : T. Js: T. 
Clark, 1S80, pp. 21S-9. 
