CHAPTER VII
St. Thomas’ Mount-Martyrdom
IF Little Mount goes down to history as the place that extended
shelter to the Apostle Thomas and San Thome de Meliapor as the
hallowed spot that possesses his tomb, St. Thomas’ Mount will ever
be known as the Calvary of St, Thomas, which he climbed for the
last time, after the manner of his Master, to shed his blood on it in
the cause of the Saviour. This scene of his martyrdom is popularly
known as ‘Big Mount’. Tamilians have dubbed it Periamalai to
distinguish it from Chinnamalai or Little Mount. Some call it Great
Mount; it does not appear great or big to be so called. The familiar
local name ‘Parangi-malai’ may be due to the Phirangis, as the
Europeans were called, who settled around it. Cannon, known in
the vernacular as ‘phirangi’ which was fired from the top of the
Mount, may also account for Parangimalai. The Portuguese
christened it ‘Monte Grande’. To historians and geographers it is
well known as St. Thomas’ Mount. The trunk road conecting
Madras with these two mounts, is called Mount Road, evidently
because of these landmarks.
St. Thomas’ Mount in the plains of the East Coast overlooks
the Bay of Bengal as it rises nearly 300 feet above sea-level, about
eight miles south-west of Fort St. George. It is six miles from San
Thome de Meliapor and two miles from Little Mount. The seaboard
is about four miles from it as the crow flies. Very steep on
the eastern side, the Mount slopes gradually towards the west, and
stretches over seventy-five acres. Bygone years saw it densely
dotted with gigantic trees. A thick undergrowth of wild shrubs
precluded access to it. Today, but for the few straggling trees round
its neck, the Mount is one vast, rough mass of huge granite
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boulders and syenite that easily absorb the heat of the scorching sun
of Madras and as easily emit it to make the ascent doubly difficult
for the pilgrims to negotiate. Fortunately for the visitors, a
philanthropist, Uscan, who was greatly attached to this place as an
Armenian Catholic, laid out a flight of one hundred and thirty five
steps with brick-paved terraces at intervals, from the foot of the hill
to its very top. The stairway is flanked by a double wall. Peter
Uscan was also responsible for the construction of the Marmalong
bridge at Saidapet, in 1726. A large sum of money was left by him
in the Indian Treasury to cover the expenses of the yearly repairs
of both these works. Thanks to Peter Uscan-the Big Mount is not
so difficult to climb up now, as it used to be in times past.
About forty feet from the top of the hill, the wall that flanks
the stairway opens into a level space. This area, about fifty yards
square, is surrounded by a thick wall of earth and stone not very
high; it has eight openings at equal distances. Evidently this was a
strategic military post. During the Anglo-French wars, the English
had their signal gun on this spot. Colonel Geiles of the East India
Company had it transferred later to the top of the hill. Traces of the
gun position, as also of the magazine, can still be seen. On
representation by the Bishop of Mylapore that the firing of the gun
was detrimental to the church on the hill, military authorities
promptly ordered its removal.
It was to this hill, very difficult of access in earlier days, that
St. Thomas repaired after escaping from his shelter at Little Mount.
His murderers sought him there and were 'on the point of seizing
him. How long St. Thomas made his abode on the top of the hill,
one cannot say. Unbroken tradition maintains that while the Apostle
was praying before the cross carved by him on a stone, an assassin
suborned by King Mahadevan’s priest and ministers, crept up
stealthily and pierced him with a lance from behind. Thereupon the
Apostle is reported to have fallen on the stone cross and embraced
it; his blood crimsoned the stone cross and the space around. Thus
did he seal his Apostolate with his blood, even as the other
Apostles, save St. John.
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‘And last a villain hastier than the rest,
Pierced with a cruel spear his godly breast.
Wept Ganges and Indus, true Thome, thy fate,
Wept thee whatever lands thy foot had trod;
Yet weep thee more the souls in blissful state
Thou led’st to don the robes of Holy Rood.
But Angels waiting at the Paradise-gate
Meet thee with smiling faces, hymning God.’89
The Apostle, who would solve his doubt by putting his hand
into His Risen Master’s side, was, destined to nave his own side
opened with a lance as if to proclaim to generations to come that
there was not a shred of doubt in him regarding the Risen Christ,
in Whom he lived, moved and had this being and for Whom he shed
his life-blood. His disciples took his body to San Thome de
Meliapor, then known as Beth-Thuma, and interred it in his dear
old place, about the year A.D. 72.
This hallowed spot of his martyrdom has ever since exerted a
supernatural influence on people far and near. Pious pilgrimages to
this place have never ceased. The sanctity of the spot attracted
many a settlement of Persian and Armenian Christians, down the
centuries. Syrians and Nestorians followed suit. House sites and
tomb stones at the foot of the hill afford ample evidence of
settlements from the earliest times. Marco Polo who visited this
place in the thirteenth century and Blessed Oderic in the fourteenth
century, found numerous Christian communities at St. Thomas’
Mount.
D’Orey, an eminent historian, says: ‘To this very day, and
from time immemorial, the city of Meliapour, to which the
Christians of India have given the name of St. Thomas, sees every
year, the two neighbouring hills covered by a multitude of
Christians, old and new, who flock thither from the coasts of
Malabar, from Ceylon, from the most distant parts of India, and
even from Arabia, to deposit their offerings and to pray at the
shrine of the Holy ‘Apostle’.90
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Rapid decline of these settlements and institutions greeted the
fifteenth century. Frequent plundering raids by neighbouring Hindu
and Moslem kings in those uncertain days may be put down as the
chief cause for the decline of Christian life in these parts. Dr. Haug
of Munich speaks of a great battle between the Christians and the
Moslems around St. Thomas’ Mount about 1450. The Christians,
who fell back to the Mount as their last line of defence, were
defeated and fled before the enemy. Christian houses and property
left behind, were either looted or confiscated. Some of the refugees
settled at Pulicat about eighteen miles north of Madras. Others
migrated to the South. When the Portuguese arrived later, they
found the place practically deserted by Christians and only a heap
of ruins had remained behind on the hill to tell the tale.
It is to the lasting credit of the Portuguese that they lost no
time in reviving Catholic life in this once flourishing Christian
centre. They immediately set about clearing the ruins and built a
sanctuary. In this commendable work they spared neither money
nor energy. Portuguese settlements around this hill were effected in
1523. The very first Portuguese to settle down was Diego
Fernandes, the same who had deposed under oath about the grave
of St. Thomas. Portuguese authorities took possession of’ ‘Monte
Grande’ in 1545.
