The Tharisapalli Copper Plates explicitly state that “along with these, seventy-two privileges, beginning with the right to conduct marriage processions on elephants and to use ceremonial earth and water, were granted.” It is therefore beyond doubt that seventy-two royal privileges were conferred upon the Persian Syriac Christians of Kollam.
Likewise, the tradition that Cheraman Perumal granted seventy-two royal privileges to Knāyithomman and his followers has been preserved consistently in Knanaya oral traditions and ancient songs. However, neither the Portuguese translations of Francisco Ros and Diogo do Couto, nor the Curzon Summary, nor Du Perron’s French translation explicitly mention these seventy-two privileges. Consequently, the question of whether the Knāyithomman Copper Plates originally contained such a grant remains open.
The Curzon Summary contains a passage listing ceremonial honours, including city gateways, royal banners, kettledrums, trumpets, conches, fireworks, sacred thread, ceremonial water, and related insignia. Similarly, Ros and Do Couto describe numerous privileges, including the right to use seven kinds of musical instruments, to walk and speak with royal dignity, to enjoy commercial privileges (vāykkura), official weights and measures, carpets, yak-tail fans, sandalwood marks, ceremonial garments, wedding decorations, and marriage pavilions. Yet neither translator specifies the total number of privileges.
Immediately before listing these honours, however, Ros states that sixty-two houses were granted. This may represent a scribal error for seventy-two. Elsewhere in his report, both before and after this passage, Ros repeatedly refers to the number seventy-two. It is also possible that the ancient term viṭupēṟu (“privileges” or “honours”) was mistakenly understood as vīṭupēṟu (“houses”), resulting in the erroneous translation that seventy-two houses were granted. The original inscription may therefore have read simply: “I have granted the seventy-two privileges.”
The Merchant Guild of Añjuvannam
The Tharisapalli Copper Plates assign extensive commercial rights, tax exemptions, and responsibilities—including the protection of the church and its properties—to the merchant corporations known as Añjuvannam and Maṇigrāmam.
One scholarly view identifies Añjuvannam as a guild of Jewish merchants and Maṇigrāmam as a Christian merchant corporation. Others argue that Maṇigrāmam was an indigenous commercial organization, since references to it occur even in regions without an established Christian presence.
Neither the Curzon Summary nor the Portuguese translations of the Knāyithomman Copper Plates mention these merchant guilds explicitly. Nevertheless, the expression translated by Ros as “five privileges” raises the possibility that he may have misunderstood a reference to Añjuvannam, translating the name literally rather than recognizing it as the designation of a merchant guild.
“Vazhikkūra” in the Knāyithomman Copper Plates
Earlier studies of the Mārgam Kali songs have shown that the expression vazhikkūra signifies steadfast fidelity to the Christian faith.
As noted earlier, the Curzon Summary describes Knāyithomman with only two distinguishing titles: “the foreign Nasrani called Knāyithomman.” The two significant descriptions are therefore “foreigner” and “Nasrani.”
The term Nasrani, probably borrowed into Malayalam from Persian, was used to designate Syriac Christians. Thus, although Knāyithomman was a foreigner by birth, the inscription emphasizes that his defining identity in Kerala was his Christian faith. The suffix in the word Nasrani is Persian rather than Malayalam, suggesting that the term was introduced through Persian-speaking Christian immigrants and employed to identify them.
The earliest known written occurrence of the word Nasrani appears in the Curzon transcript of the Tharisapalli Charter. Consequently, Knāyithomman and his companions may have contributed not only to the history of Kerala Christianity but also to the Malayalam language itself by introducing and popularizing the designation Nasrani, which has remained in continuous use for centuries.
Neither Ros nor Do Couto explicitly refers to Knāyithomman as a Christian. Nevertheless, according to Ros’s translation, after obtaining a forested tract of land at Kodungallur, Knāyithomman’s first request was that the king lay the foundation stone for both a church and his own residence. The church was reportedly completed immediately, and the king himself entered it to pray. Likewise, Do Couto records that after the land had been cleared, Knāyithomman instructed that a church be constructed there, with the Chera king laying its foundation stone.
If authentic, this church—dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle—may have been the earliest Christian church at Kodungallur and perhaps even in India. By openly professing his Christian faith before a non-Christian ruler, by ensuring that the material foundations necessary for Christian life were established from the very beginning, and by inviting even the king to participate in that faith, Knāyithomman emerges from the copper plates as one who faithfully lived according to vazhikkūra—steadfast commitment to the Christian way.
Implications of Identifying the Witness Plate as Part of the Knāyithomman Copper Plates
If the witness plate, traditionally regarded as part of the Tharisapalli Copper Plates, were instead recognized as belonging to the Knāyithomman Copper Plates, the implications for the reconstruction of Kerala’s early history would be considerable.
Such a conclusion would challenge long-standing assumptions advanced by scholars such as Hermann Gundert, T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Ilamkulam Kunjan Pillai, and M. G. S. Narayanan. It would also reshape prevailing interpretations concerning the foreign merchant communities traditionally associated with Kollam. While M. G. S. Narayanan’s concept of “cultural symbiosis” would remain valid, its geographical centre would shift from Kollam to Kodungallur, thereby further emphasizing Kodungallur’s importance in Kerala’s maritime and commercial history.
For the Knanaya community, the recognition that at least one plate of the long-lost Knāyithomman Copper Plates may still survive would be of profound historical and cultural significance. A copper plate once touched by the Chera king, handled by Knāyithomman himself, and carefully preserved by the community’s ancestors would constitute a unique surviving historical relic, second only to the Vēndanmudi in its symbolic importance. Furthermore, the possibility that some of the twenty-five witness names recorded on the plate may represent the heads of the traditional seventy-two immigrant families would hold special significance for a community that continues to cherish the memory of its ancestors. Such a discovery would also provide a valuable foundation for future historical research.
Conclusion
The present study was undertaken after renewed claims circulated on social media asserting that no Knāyithomman Copper Plates had ever existed. These assertions prompted a fresh examination of the available historical evidence, the results of which were published in a series of articles.
This investigation has yielded several important insights. The most significant is the recognition that the so-called witness plate, traditionally regarded as the fifth plate of the Tharisapalli Charter, may not belong to that charter at all. Instead, the evidence presented here suggests the strong possibility that it originally formed part of the Knāyithomman Copper Plates.
The copper plates portray Knāyithomman as a committed Christian who faithfully upheld and promoted his faith while living according to the ideal of vazhikkūra. Although many of the conclusions advanced here remain provisional and require further scholarly investigation, it is hoped that they will stimulate renewed academic interest in this neglected field of research and encourage deeper historical inquiry into one of the most significant documentary traditions of the Saint Thomas Christians.
fr. baiju mukalel
