There are many versions of the history of East Indians. Some area are hotly debated. Whether we are converts from the 6th century or 15th Century. There is however no debate that we are the original inhabitants of Bombay, Salsette and Thana. There is no dispute of two apostles of Jesus, st. Bartholomew and St. Thomas having come to India and both having preached near Kalyan. While the world recognises South India to be converts of St. Thomas, hardly anyone recognises and accept the fact about the East Indian. There is a perpectual doubt if they "carried on" being christians till the arrival of the Portuguese. The passage cut pasted below held ture for the Christians of South India, it should hold true for the East Indians.
In support of the Catholicity of the Church we quote here a passage from the Circular of Dom. Menezes concerning the Synod of Diamper dated 14th May 1599, "and being also moved by the piety of the people, and and the mercy God has shown them in having preserved so many thousand souls in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the time that the Holy Apostle St. Thomas had preached to them until this day, notwithstanding their having lived among so many heathens, and been scattered in divers places their Churches and all belonging to them, having been always subject to idolatrous kings and princes and encompassed with heathens and pagodas and that without holding any correspondence with any other Christians before the coming of the Portuguese into these parts: We being likewise desirous that the labours of the Holy Apostle St. Thomas which still remained among them should not be lost for want of sound doctrine." (Hough Vol. II. p. 3.)
Some documents here can shed some light on this. (please note these files are PDF documents, hence will need a PDF reader to open it. This is available at adobe.com. Reason of doing stuff in this format as it is easy to read, and can zoom in and out, thus makes it easier to read, even for the older people)
History: .(download time 2 min.) This file gives an overall authors view, with excerps taken from Elsie Baptista's "East Indians of Bombay" and information available on te internet
Bombay Gazette: (download time 10 min.)Official documented proof of the orignal Christian population of Bombay.
Daman_proof: .(download time 2 min.)From the Catholic EncyclopediaÂ…the catholic history of Daman. Clearly mentions of Nestorian churches being destroyed in the 13th century. This should put to rest the misbelief that the Christian link was broken from the earliest of days and that the Portuguese were solely responsible for the catholic faith.
Reaseach: .(download time 1 min.)Information available of the internet.
Old Christian history. some old history of our religion with respect to India.
