I want to bring a few things to your attention. Firstly, there is no unified caste called the Syrian Christians. The Syrian Christians are divided mainly into two communities which are the Syrian Catholics and Malankara Syrians. Until recently, there was little or no marital relations between these two groups. Historically, the vast majority of the Syrian Christians were tenant farmers who worked for Nair and Namboothiri landlords in central Kerala. Only a small section of Syrian Christian families can be classified as aristocratic landowners. The Syrian Catholics are further divided into the southerners who live around Kottayam and Changassery and the Northerners who live in Ernakulam and Thrissur and the migrant farmers who live along the foothills of the western ghats. The Malankara Syrians consist of four major denominations which are the Jacobites, Malankara Orthodox, Marthoma and the Malankara Catholics. The Latin Catholics live mostly along the coastal belt and they are not a unified group either. The Latin Catholics are divided into Anglo-Indians, Syrian converts ( mainly in Ernakulam), fishermen (Mukkuva converts) and Nadar converts (mainly in Thiruvanathapuram). Syrian Christian leaders and historians have tried to portray the Syrian Christians as an upper caste group almost at par with the Nairs. But the real status of the Syrian Christian was the same as that of the Malabari mappila muslim kudiyans who worked as tenant farmers for nair and namboothiri landlords. Also, early Portuguese and Dutch historical documents from the 16th century show that the Syrian Christian community had a lot of conversions from the backward classes and even of tribals like the Malaaraiyans in the Kottayam region and this upper caste myth was propagated later on particularly after the Syrian Christians acquired property rights following the Pattom proclamation in 1865 and overtook the Nairs and Namboothiris as the largest landowning community.
I want to bring a few things to your attention. Firstly, there is no unified caste called the Syrian Christians. The Syrian Christians are divided mainly into two communities which are the Syrian Catholics and Malankara Syrians. Until recently, there was little or no marital relations between these two groups. Historically, the vast majority of the Syrian Christians were tenant farmers who worked for Nair and Namboothiri landlords in central Kerala. Only a small section of Syrian Christian families can be classified as aristocratic landowners. The Syrian Catholics are further divided into the southerners who live around Kottayam and Changassery and the Northerners who live in Ernakulam and Thrissur and the migrant farmers who live along the foothills of the western ghats. The Malankara Syrians consist of four major denominations which are the Jacobites, Malankara Orthodox, Marthoma and the Malankara Catholics. The Latin Catholics live mostly along the coastal belt and they are not a unified group either. The Latin Catholics are divided into Anglo-Indians, Syrian converts ( mainly in Ernakulam), fishermen (Mukkuva converts) and Nadar converts (mainly in Thiruvanathapuram). Syrian Christian leaders and historians have tried to portray the Syrian Christians as an upper caste group almost at par with the Nairs. But the real status of the Syrian Christian was the same as that of the Malabari mappila muslim kudiyans who worked as tenant farmers for nair and namboothiri landlords. Also, early Portuguese and Dutch historical documents from the 16th century show that the Syrian Christian community had a lot of conversions from the backward classes and even of tribals like the Malaaraiyans in the Kottayam region and this upper caste myth was propagated later on particularly after the Syrian Christians acquired property rights following the Pattom proclamation in 1865 and overtook the Nairs and Namboothiris as the largest landowning community.
I want to bring a few things to your attention. Firstly, there is no unified caste called the Syrian Christians. The Syrian Christians are divided mainly into two communities which are the Syrian Catholics and Malankara Syrians. Until recently, there was little or no marital relations between these two groups. Historically, the vast majority of the Syrian Christians were tenant farmers who worked for Nair and Namboothiri landlords in central Kerala. Only a small section of Syrian Christian families can be classified as aristocratic landowners. The Syrian Catholics are further divided into the southerners who live around Kottayam and Changassery and the Northerners who live in Ernakulam and Thrissur and the migrant farmers who live along the foothills of the western ghats. The Malankara Syrians consist of four major denominations which are the Jacobites, Malankara Orthodox, Marthoma and the Malankara Catholics. The Latin Catholics live mostly along the coastal belt and they are not a unified group either. The Latin Catholics are divided into Anglo-Indians, Syrian converts ( mainly in Ernakulam), fishermen (Mukkuva converts) and Nadar converts (mainly in Thiruvanathapuram). Syrian Christian leaders and historians have tried to portray the Syrian Christians as an upper caste group almost at par with the Nairs. But the real status of the Syrian Christian was the same as that of the Malabari mappila muslim kudiyans who worked as tenant farmers for nair and namboothiri landlords. Also, early Portuguese and Dutch historical documents from the 16th century show that the Syrian Christian community had a lot of conversions from the backward classes and even of tribals like the Malaaraiyans in the Kottayam region and this upper caste myth was propagated later on particularly after the Syrian Christians acquired property rights following the Pattom proclamation in 1865 and overtook the Nairs and Namboothiris as the largest landowning community.
I want to bring a few things to your attention. Firstly, there is no unified caste called the Syrian Christians. The Syrian Christians are divided mainly into two communities which are the Syrian Catholics and Malankara Syrians. Until recently, there was little or no marital relations between these two groups. Historically, the vast majority of the Syrian Christians were tenant farmers who worked for Nair and Namboothiri landlords in central Kerala. Only a small section of Syrian Christian families can be classified as aristocratic landowners. The Syrian Catholics are further divided into the southerners who live around Kottayam and Changassery and the Northerners who live in Ernakulam and Thrissur and the migrant farmers who live along the foothills of the western ghats. The Malankara Syrians consist of four major denominations which are the Jacobites, Malankara Orthodox, Marthoma and the Malankara Catholics. The Latin Catholics live mostly along the coastal belt and they are not a unified group either. The Latin Catholics are divided into Anglo-Indians, Syrian converts ( mainly in Ernakulam), fishermen (Mukkuva converts) and Nadar converts (mainly in Thiruvanathapuram). Syrian Christian leaders and historians have tried to portray the Syrian Christians as an upper caste group almost at par with the Nairs. But the real status of the Syrian Christian was the same as that of the Malabari mappila muslim kudiyans who worked as tenant farmers for nair and namboothiri landlords. Also, early Portuguese and Dutch historical documents from the 16th century show that the Syrian Christian community had a lot of conversions from the backward classes and even of tribals like the Malaaraiyans in the Kottayam region and this upper caste myth was propagated later on particularly after the Syrian Christians acquired property rights following the Pattom proclamation in 1865 and overtook the Nairs and Namboothiris as the largest landowning community.