THE NASRANI COMMUNITY OF KERALA : PRIVILEGES AND MARRIAGE CUSTOMS
The Syrian Christians led by St.Thomas,the apostle were known or called as the 'Nasranis' or 'Nasrani Mappilas'.The Nasrani Community are an ethnoreligious community.The community was an autonomous Judeo-Malabari community influenced by the Essenes, Rabbinic Judaism and the surrounding culture of Kerala.They settled in the Northern (Vadakku) side of Kodungallor,Thrissur and hence were known as ' Vadakkumbagakar '. RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES GIVEN TO THE NASRANI COMMUNITY: The Rulers gave the Nasranis various rights and privileges which were written on edicts and copper plates. These are also known as Cheppeds, Royal Grants or Sasanam The languages of these Copper plates are Tamil, Pahlavi and Vattezhuthu. Differences of opinion exist among the exact dating of each copper plates but there is a belief that some of these are dated from 9th century. It is possible that any other record preserved in any other languages in the first few centurie...