Page 168 - Acts of Apostle Thomas_Neat

XIII THE THOMAS WAY: SAIVISM AND NASRANEES: M.M.NINAN
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The Hebrew name of the person whom we refer as Jesus was Yehoshuav which is
Yeshua from which we
rendered in English as Joshua . A shortened form of the name is
get the Dravidian translation through St. Thomas as Yesu, Easow, Isa, Iswara

In contrast, the name given in Greco-Roman culture is derived from their context as follows: When the

good news of the gospel was translated into to the Greco- Roman culture by Paul and his group it was

rendered in Greek as Iesous , pronounced as Yesous. Y in some languages is pronounced as

J (ya as ja) rendering it as JESUS. While we have no hesitation to accept the name Jesus, even though it is

only a Greco-Roman version of the real name, we should have no problem in seeing the name Isa,

Maheswara, Parameshwara as equivalent to Jesus. Evidently this was brought into Indian scenario by

Thomas who arrived in India by 52 AD and traveled all around into for twenty years and was finally

martyred in 72 AD in Madras, Tamil Nadu. Shiva's epithet Mahābaleśvara, "The Lord God Almighty"

(Maha = "great", Bala = "strength", Īśvara = "God") is an exact translation of the Jewish concept.

In fact there is no Isa in Vedas. It was after the Gnostic infiltration by the third century they took away the
historical Jesus, and the word Isa was reinterpreted to mean “any favorite deity name” according to which
religious sect quoted it. Thus Vaishnavite equate Isa with Hari or Krishna, and Saivite with Siva. It is not
difficult for any reader to see what was happening. Isa became a generic name than a personal name. This
moves the pawn one step into “New Age” of the Early Christian Period.

This was very new to the Indian continent. It transformed all the religions of India – Vedism, Buddhism,
and even Jainism to some extent. The idea that there is a Personal God who is Omnipotent and loving
changed the whole theology of Indian continent as the later religious scenario shows. The extent of this
impact indicates that Thomas established churches with Jesus as center of worship as the Parameshwara
throughout India.
Sufficient records are there to show that:
* There existed a thriving Christian community in Kerala at that time.
There are palm leaf records, which show that:
* Among the Dravidians in Central India (Kaveri Area)
there was a Church as early as 293 AD. These documents show that, Seventy-Two families of Christians
of Vellala origin from Kavery Poopatanam of Puhur
District on the River Kaveri arrived in Kollam (Quilon) in Kerala as refugees fleeing from the persecution
in AD 293

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