These past few months have been special in many ways. Good, bad, in between. As usual, for most of us humans. Admittedly, yesterday was downright painful, on one front, and on another, a feeling of resignation was predominant.
I will focus on the second one here. One, it takes my mind off the first one, (US Election)and two, it is a fascinating (to me, at least!) bit of detective work, by me.
What I already knew
The topic is my Nazrani heritage. The story of my ancestors. Like most Nazranis, that is the Indian Christians of St Thomas, also called the Syrian Christians of Malabar, we claim to be descendants of Brahmins and/or other high caste Hindus converted to Christianity by St Thomas in the first century. Then we learned that there were already Jews living in Kerala when St Thomas arrived, and he brought them the news of the Messiah they had been waiting for. Both of these may be true.
Also is the fact that many foreigners from the Middle East and surrounding areas and from the Mediterranean areas came and settled and were welcomed by the local Kings in Kerala down the ages.
Then the Portuguese came in the 15th century and saw this “pagan Christianity being practiced there. Actually these Christians were under the Syrian Church by then, and their Bishops came from the Middle East. Their liturgy was in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, which no one understood, by the way. The Portuguese, staunch Catholics that they were, used all the tricks in their books to forcibly bring us under the Roman Church. Only recently did I learn of the extent of their cruelties and misdeeds towards our group. They tortured and killed people, burned the books, magically made visiting Babylonian Bishops vanish. By the 16th century they were so powerful they set up the Goan Inquisition. With the enthusiastic and cunning help of the Jesuits they successfully obliterated the old Christianity. (Except for some groups. But that is another story, the group who opposed the Portuguese fell for the viles of the English Church. And they had forgotten the tenets of their beliefs for which they fought against the Portuguese when they sided with the British. But those who supported the Brits got to increase or maintain their wealth and education and the chance to go abroad and expand their horizons. Meanwhile the whites converted many of the people in the lower economic and social sections, the caste system came in handy there, to Christianity, Catholic and Protestant.
Most of the above, many of us know now, at least the bare bones. But what many, at least I, did not know was the fact that the Christians married Nair women. Undoubtedly genetic mixing occurred among all groups, high and low and middle. Makes sense, as there were not that many people back then. And the foreigners probably comprised of more men than women.
Movement to and from and within India
When talking about history or genetic composition of people, the common parlance is of division, between North and South, East and West, And diasporas. Of groups moving out of a country on their own or by force by a colonial power, and existing in foreign lands. Not many seem to be interested in the movement within the country. One main reason being that we still are ignorant or unaware of the extremely layered complexity of our genetic make up on the whole. I myself was eager to establish the presence of my ancestors in Kerala from time immemorial. The fact that my mother’s family name has Alappatt in it lent credence to my belief. (Curiously, on both her parents’ sides, the difference being only in the spelling. even though they were not related, as far as we know.) Even though at some point, I was doubtful as to the timeline. I also knew that Kerala is relatively new, compared to her neighbors, Its current population is a mix of many peoples from parts of India and all over the world mixed with the original inhabitants. Here, I haven’t forgotten the atrocities perpetrated on them by these newer groups.
23&me.com results -- not that surprising
But things became even more intriguing when I had my DNA tested. A relative of my husband happened to mention that his wife had hers tested and found that she has the Ashkenazi Jewish gene. She is from Kerala, from my town. I knew mine would be interesting too, as my mother was from this town and my father from the Travancore area. I found that my paternal haplogroup is R-M512. Apparently, it is a common haplogroup among men in the Middle East, and the Tajiks, Kyrgyz. And it is shared among sections of people in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Northern British, via Anglo Saxons and Vikings. Not much in the Mediterranean countries. I thought it was not that difficult to imagine as to how my paternal ancestor came to Kerala. Could he have attached himself to one of the ships that sailed from the Mediterranean? Could he have traversed the land from the Middle East down the western coast of India? The Silk Road? Or we could have sailed down the Indian ocean along the ancient trade routes. Haven’t we heard about King Solomon of Old Testament fame receiving gifts from Kerala? Which was not Kerala back then. Or we could just be descendants of Ghengiz Khan? But in the breakdown of my ancestry, no Mongol ancestry is to be found.
Another intriguing fact I found was that my husband who is not Syrian Christian but Latin Christian(yes, more divisions) has the same DNA haplogroup as my father! And we Syrian Christians think we are so different from the Latin Christians!( Maybe in the last 100 years, we had grown apart?)
But any of the other possibilities could work. He could have even come with St Thomas!
Ancestry.com results - the twist in the tale
But then I received another result, this time from ancestry.com. My ancestor came to Kerala in the 17th century from Punjab via Gujarat to Central Travancore, Kerala. Wow! That threw a wrench in my beautiful ancestry story. For one from a young age I have been hearing about the great North-South divide. The Arya-Dravida divide, Even when one claims to be superior to the other, once I grew up, and started reading about these matters, knew that it is a mythical divide. DNA reveals we are one. And for the other, my great Nazrani heritage story was in jeopardy. I put it out of my mind. But as we know, some things can’t be put out of our minds. I had to look into it, find the truth, or at least a plausible truth. Books. and to Google land, and started reading more about Syrian Christians in Kerala, and then Christians in Punjab. That is pre- Partition Punjab. And there I found my answer.
The "Armenian" Connection
Beginning from the 10th century, perhaps even before, Armenian Christian merchants had come to settle in Punjab. They even had a walled city in Lahore, in present day Pakistan.The Silk Road connection. They were known for their knowledge in silks. But the Persian invasion in the 17th century into their land and subsequent destruction of their old city of Julfa resulted in their relocations. Many high level Armenians were taken to Iran and settled there in a new city called New Julfa. Many others moved to India, China. Old Julfa is now in Azerbaijan.
My interest was mainly on the Armenians in Punjab. In the 17th century, or early 18th, during the height of Mughal rule, Emperor Akbar (note the Persian connection here too) brought many Armenian merchants to settle in Agra. This iscall before India was divided, bear in mind. Remember it was during this time that the Portuguese were very active in their dual mission- demolishing Islam and Hinduism and establishing their Catholic/Papal dominance. Along with the wily Jesuits, they were accomplishing that in Goa, and Kerala. Emperor Akbar, after hearing about these “civilized” exploits, invited two Jesuits to his court for discourse, and lets them practice their faith. (Poor Emperor!) Soon the Jesuits have another set of preys – the Armenians, along with the locals in Punjab. They started forcing the Armenians to come under the Pope. Again the same magic vanishings of their Bishops coming from the East. And of their Scriptures and writings. As in Kerala and Goa. And unsurprisingly, the relatively peaceful existence among communities start to deteriorate. I read about this Jesuit priest named Jerome Xavier whose name crops up in many spots in connection with this.
Thus at one point we hear the Armenians were very close to the Mughal court, at another we hear they were afraid they were going to be persecuted by the Muslims, and had to run or become Catholics, as the Portuguese were said to be close to the Mughals. And it is this Jerome’s words that many take as evidence that one of the great gurus of the Sikhs was imprisoned and killed by the Mughals. Need to look into that some more. We do not need a degree in rocket science to know who or what caused this new fear and mistrust among communities. Personal greed and vengeance can lead to treachery and murder easily in these circumstances where a land is already ruled by invaders, no matter how benevolent, and when there is a new foreign group muddying the waters so to speak, for their own gains. We always talk about the British as the kings of divide and rule, at least , for some time now. But the Portuguese and the Jesuits were not bad at that either. They were more into building a religious empire while the British seemed to be into building a political empire. Both were of course into acquiring wealth and taking it back to their countries. We Indians, on the whole, I think, were always short sighted. We only thought of immediate gains, and sided with this one or that one flavor of the month, or the powerful ones of the moment, not thinking of far reaching consequences. And we have short memories unlike many groups who never forget. Anyway, the British were not far behind. In the 18th and 19th centuries, they converted a lot of Punjabi Hindus. And to add to all these, there were Afghan invasions into Punjab. Read more mixing. Armenians dispersed to other parts of India, including Kerala. Where I am sure they were welcomed warmly and could easily be integrated into the existing Christian communities. And I think that is how my ancestor got there! Movement of people within India. As I always maintained, we are a mix, of North-South, East/West.
I also read that Punjabi Christians share their DNA with the Christians in Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. And that Armenians fought in Kerala with the Syrian Christians of Malabar against the Portuguese!
So now I can see the connection between my paternal haplogroup and Punjab, Gujarat and parts of old Armenia, which is now in Azerbaijan, and Kerala. I know these are tentative attempts to weave a story, things will change as I get more information.I had never heard of an Armenian connection till now.because now I am going with this brcause of the R -M512 haplogroup. The Tajik, Kyrgyz link. I am assuming that these are all overlapping cultures, overlapping DNA and ancestries. Which may or may not be the case here.
There is another interesting element here. That the first Mughal emperor came from Uzbekistan.They have genetic connections eith the Kyrgyz and Tajiks too. So my ancestor could have been part of that group too! Obviously he did not come alone. There would have been soldiers, servants etc. etc.
PS : I put "Armenian" in quotes to show that it may nit be the current ethnic Armenian. Geographical boundaries change over time, while people may not be bound by the then boundaries either. Like we saw, the old Arnenian city is now in Azerbaijan. Similarly, the Tajik, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek entities would have mingled and overlapped too at different points in time. So the " Armenian " who fought with the Syrian Christians in Kerala could have been a product of those times. I read in an online forum an answer to a question about Christians in Kerala. Very simplistic one. That they are descendants of the Dutch, Portuguese etc. I for one so far haven't been found to gave Dutch or Portuguese ancestry. Things are not that simple. Just like Kerala was not Kerala back then.
Meanwhile I am resigned to that feeling of lack of roots, of homelessness, of lack of that precious sense of belonging. Even though, it looks like I am from all over the world! Now, my mother’s haplogroup, according to 23 and me is – R30a. Now that looks intriguing too.
PS: There is a distinct sense of disinterest in learning about and/or preserving the real past among us. One reason, I think is because it is rather dodgy. And because the present is based on that dodgy past. Better not upset the apple cart or mango basket!
Asha Bernard (Asha Joseph Mappilaparambil)
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