Profiles of the Parayil Tharakans

Profiles of the Parayil Tharakans, Glimpses of the History of a Family, a Region and a Church. P.K.M Tharakan, Bloomsbury, India 2014 This is an interesting book for practitioners of Anthropology, since it delves into family history and uses of biography in social science, with a framework which is deeply entrenched in kinship history. Lay St Thomas Christians, and Keralites in general will find a very important slice of history, which is osmotic with statecraft, the rules of kings and local community leaders. We do know that in the 18th century the St Thomas Christians were still recovering from the ecclesiastical fissioning of 1664, so it’s not surprising that a hundred years later they were still dealing with the problem of pazhecoor and puthencoor, since the old liturgies and the new liturgies were still operational. The Romo Syrians who had accepted the allegiance to the Pope, to use the Roman liturgy in the language they were used to, which was Chaldean. However, the Jacobites received the liturgy from the West Syrian church in 1664, and were in a distinctly different location from the Romo Syrians. Tharakan’s books shows us that the Romo Syrians longed to return to a composite fold, which in the present day Ecumenical movement is still a strong predisposition. Since the Tharakans were the keepers of the original Varthamannam Pustukam for two hundred years, until it was lodged in the Kakanad Ernakulam museum, the history of the Tharakans is not of personal interest to the family alone. It is presented here as a case of how family histories are in Kerala, occasionally cosmopolitan in nature, and involves an old history of trading, ecclesiastical manoeuvres and neighbourhood relations and emblems of community concerns. The Tharakans were powerful traders, and as a result, close to the Kings of Thrivathamcoor and Kochi Rajas. However, their personal relations express the way in which inter lineage rivalries would be subsumed within the larger interests of the family, as mentors to priests and high placed ecclesiasts, providing the financial resources for the church quarrels that would intermittently surface among sections of the Romo Syrians, with reference to the claims to loyalty or disloyalty to the mother Church, the Papacy. The two lineages of powerful family heads clashed over property and allegiances, and were engrossed in court cases for decades. However, family lore about mutual courtesies were legion. Max Gluckman has written about the ‘peace in the feud’. In the Tharakan case, it would be the community feasting and hospitality at marriages and wonderful meals in their grand mansions fraternal tensions where sometimes, joking or great generosity would underlie the subterranean animosity of fraternal relations. The women were active players, as they supported the men in their landlordship and dealings with both local chieftains, and later, the colonial government. Their lives were often tragic, and the travails of disease and childbirth, and early deaths too frequent to be ignored. Not surprisingly, the institution of a hospital and school, as well as a newspaper (Nazrani Deepika) during the 19th century is well documented by the author as the contributions of individual Tharakans, looking after their estates. Policy matters dealing with canal construction and the measures provided to alleviate famine are also described. The section on the Varthamanam Pustukam is interesting, because it describes the journey of Thomas Paremakkal, whose sister might have married a Parayil ancestor Variath Avira, but more importantly, describes the journey to Rome by Indian priests who were looking to revolt against Portuguese ecclessiastical control. They began the journey on October 14th 1778, via Africa and Brazil to Europe. This alarming route was the result of sailors falling ill, and Portuguese sailors could next be commissioned only in Bahia, called Salvador today. The contribution of the Parayils to local community and church was so immense, that the Pope sent three members of the family Titles, with injunctions on how the paraphernalia should be worn in a ceremonial manner! The matter of their financial propriety was given the seal of authority, and both Ezhupunna Puthenveetil Parayl Avira Varkey Tharakan and his brother Ezhupunna Mangalamuttathu Parayil Hormis Tharakan received Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Sylvester and Grand Cross Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, while Ayanattu Parayil Kunjuvira Tharakan received Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great. Parayil Avira Varkey Tharakan, the hero of this book was referred to as the Marquis. Working along with Nidhirickel Mani Kathanar of Kuruvillangad, substantial contributions were made by the Parayils to the establishment of a Seminary at Mangalapuzha and to the Bishop’s Residence in Ernakulam. The formation of the Catholica Mahajana Sabha (1904) in Mangadapally in Alapuzha also had their powerful backing. We must also remember that they dealt with the British with equanimity, and were able to appropriate all the privileges of a trading family, when Alapuzha became the baseline entreport for pepper contracts and trade in timber. The Parayils had a sense of worth, which was foremostly “Indian”, as the Varthamanam Pustukam proffered as its argument for staying with the ancient Chaldean liturgies. This book gives us a sense of cosmopolitanism and the wonderful energy of a family, who depended on local Rajas to support their vision. Their personal tragedies and family rivalries were bypassed to offer local communities, of which they were undisguised lords, their sense of a larger wisdom, which was fearless and erudite.