Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network: New Books in Indian Religions

Host: Dr. Raj Balkaran
Guest: Dr. Clara A. B. Joseph, Professor of English and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies, University of Calgary
Episode: Clara A. B. Joseph, "India's Non-violent Freedom Struggle: The Thomas Christians (1599-1799)" (Routledge, 2023)
Date: October 2, 2025

Overview of Episode

This episode explores Dr. Clara Joseph's groundbreaking book on the Thomas Christians of South India, uncovering their long and largely overlooked history of organized, nonviolent resistance against colonial powers, centuries before Gandhi. Through archival research, personal heritage, and narrative analysis, Dr. Joseph reveals the complex interplay between religion, trade, governance, and colonial encounter from 1599 to 1799. The episode brings to light both the agency of the Thomas Christians and the reasons their story has remained obscured in cultural memory.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of the Project & Personal Motivation

• Seed of the Book: Dr. Joseph began with studies of Gandhi and noticed recurring archival references to earlier nonviolent resistance in South India by the Thomas Christians.
  • “Gandhi wasn’t the beginning of India’s nonviolence story. The Thomas Christians, the St. Thomas Christians of South India had been practicing, disciplined, organized, largely nonviolent...resistance centuries earlier.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 03:01)
• Personal Connection: Grew up in a Thomas Christian family; early exposure to community debates, memories, and rituals provided oral "archives."

2. Who are the Thomas Christians? (04:43)

• Ancient Minority, Not Marginal: Trace Christian heritage to the Apostle Thomas; currently about 9 million strong.
• Socioeconomic Role: Not colonial offshoots; were influential spice traders and soldiers—integral to South Indian society and governance.
  • “They were not a colonial offshoot waiting to be discovered. They were already a confident, agency-rich church rooted in tradition and trade.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 05:25)
• Relation to Empire: Sought by Portuguese for their role in pepper trade but maintained autonomy through strong local governance.

3. Sources & Methodology (06:50, 14:16, 34:38)

• Archival & Devotional: Mix of archival documents (Syriac prayer books, pepper trade ledgers, decrees from synods) and lived religious practice.
• Close Reading & Postcolonial Lens: Treated synodal decrees as textual evidence of power shifts; cross-referenced with parish records and trade documentation.
  • “If a decree says one thing, do parish minutes and the pepper ledgers confirm it? If so, it’s structural.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 34:58)
• Attention to Narrative: Critical reading to reveal hidden governance and resistance structures encoded in “religious” reforms.

4. Structure and Core Arguments of the Book (06:50–13:59)

Main Chapters:

• Chapter 1: South Indian World

  • Thomas Christians as distinctly integrated in local commerce, governance, and spiritual life.
  • Governance by yogam—local assemblies combining religious and civic duties.

• Chapter 2: The Synod of Diamper (Dianpa) – Colonial Ambush

  • Portuguese arrival brought padroado (royal patronage system): ecclesiastical and colonial authority merged.
  • Key Event: Synod of Diamper (1599) restructured church governance away from local assemblies to colonial hands—“Governance change dressed as religion.”
    • e.g., compulsory clerical celibacy severed priests from community's economic base.

• Chapter 3: Acts of Resistance

  • Kunan Cross Uprising: Large-scale symbolic oath at a churchyard cross; collective ritual as political theater.
  • Anti-colonial monasticism and indigenous bishop consecration: acts of autonomous governance, not heresy.

• Chapter 4: Towards National Identity

  • 18th-century Thomas Christians petitioned in Lisbon and Rome; emergence of “We are all Indians” long before British era.
  • Petitions, travelogues (e.g., Vartamana Pustakam), and legal disputes reveal nascent pan-Indian consciousness.

• Chapter 5: Afterlives of Resistance

  • 19th–21st-century contests over land, conversion, and labor (e.g., Sister Rani Maria, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath) continue to be framed as religious conflict, masking economic and social struggles.

5. Key Takeaways & Memorable Quotes

• India’s Freedom Struggle is Older & More Southern:

  • “India’s freedom struggle starts earlier than we think and farther south than we usually look.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 16:33)

• Colonial Strategy in Ecclesiastical Guise:

  • “The famous 1599 Synod of Dianpa was colonial strategy, governance change dressed up as religion.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 16:34)

• Nonviolence Precedes Gandhi:

  • “Nonviolence in India did not begin with Gandhi. It had already been practiced quietly, stubbornly, creatively by a small Christian community on the Malabar Coast.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 16:37)

• Meticulous Nonviolent Strategies:

  • Organizational responses: petitions, yogam meetings, minute resolutions, ritual action, alternative trade routes, liturgical resistance, and diplomatic missions.
  • “When synodal decrees forbid clerical trade and make clergy celibate, those are not merely moral regulations. They pull the administrative USB out of the local machine.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 15:28)

• Symbolic Actions as Resistance:

  • E.g., “Kunan Cross Satyagraha” as a precursor to the Salt March.

6. Why Has This History Been Overlooked? (23:51)

• Western Narratives: Colonization equated with Christianization—both liberal and right-wing perspectives assume no precolonial Indian Christianity.
• Eastern Narratives: Focus on British colonial period eclipses pre-British Christian communities; left and right narratives converge on the “conversion” explanation.
  • “There’s simply no space for the precolonial Christian story to come into...that history to be looked at. There’s simply no space.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 27:20)

7. On the Antiquity of the Thomas Christians (28:48)

• Living Tradition: Continuous heritage back nearly two millennia.
• Earliest References: Second-century references (Pantaenus of Alexandria); third-century narratives (Acts of Thomas).
• Not Pragmatically Fabricated: Their distinct identity, syncretic practices, and integration in regional trade belie invention for colonial gain.

8. Narrative, Method, and Historiography (32:46, 34:38)

• The book’s strength is in discerning narrative lines within sources—“Patterns appear once you point them out.”
• Dr. Joseph’s method combines close textual readings, connecting decrees to social practice, and applying postcolonial suspicion to both colonial and anti-colonial narratives.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Gandhi wasn’t the beginning of India’s nonviolence story. The Thomas Christians of South India had been practicing... largely nonviolent resistance centuries earlier.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 03:01)

• “They were not a colonial offshoot waiting to be discovered. They were already a confident, agency-rich church rooted in tradition and trade.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 05:25)

• “Dianpa wasn’t simply an act of Latinizing prayers. It was a political consolidation, colonial governance through ecclesiastical grammar.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 17:41)

• “The paperwork of dissent: minutes, letters, deputations, liturgical stubbornness... They used the Yogam as a forum to debate, vote, and document refusals.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 19:05)

• “There’s simply no space for the precolonial Christian story to be looked at.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 27:20)

• “The Thomas Christian tradition in India is not a rumor. It’s a thick, continuous inheritance.” (Dr. Clara Joseph, 29:39)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Personal & Project Genesis: 02:11–04:14
• Who are the Thomas Christians?: 04:43–06:07
• Book Structure & Key Events: 06:50–13:59
• Takeaways & Methodology: 14:16–22:04
• Why This History is Overlooked: 23:51–27:31
• Antiquity & Identity: 28:48–32:46
• Narrative & Method Discussion: 34:38–36:43

Conclusion

Dr. Clara Joseph’s book compellingly situates the Thomas Christians at the heart of India's earliest organized, nonviolent resistance to colonial rule. Leveraging sophisticated narrative and archival methods, she demonstrates how overlooked communities used religious, economic, and political resources to protect autonomy and shape emergent Indian identity. The podcast highlights both the complexities of this history and the importance of challenging longstanding historiographical and cultural assumptions.

(For a fuller appreciation and nuanced discussion, interested listeners are encouraged to consult the full episode and Dr. Joseph’s book.)