Gallipoli: The Battle that The British Lost

 

The Sea line from Black Sea to Mediterranean Sea via Bosporus and Dardanelle straits

Gallipoli peninsula, the landing sites and mines 

Bosporus and Dardanelle straits seen connecting Black Sea to Marmara Sea and Aegean Sea.

Gallipoli: The Battle that the British Lost

As I was enjoying my cruise in the Bosporus Strait, Turkey in August 2026, another name popped up in my mind, Gallipoli - someplace in Turkey connected with World War I. I researched a little deeper and a wonderful and most significant and amazing story emerged. I am sharing this with you today. It is a totally secular blog, different from my usual religious and spiritual blogs. So, bear with me!

To understand what happened at Gallipoli and why it happened, we need first to have knowledge of a brief background of the World War I of 1914 to 1918.

First World War started with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a Serb youth on June 28^th 1914. The Archduke was the heir to Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with his wife Sophie, he was on an official visit to the city of Sarajevo in the province of Bosnia. He was shot dead along with his wife. Serbs were agitating for independence for their Kingdom of Serbia, with its capital in Belgrade. Great powers, Ottoman Turks, Austrians and the Russians, had fought for two hundred years over the Balkans. The yolk of Turks had been broken by 1914 and they had been driven out of Serbia. Russians had their eyes on conquering Constantinople (presently known as Istanbul) and the waterways connecting the seas, from the Black Sea to Mediterranean Sea, via Bosporus strait, Sea of Marmara and Dardanelle strait. The contest was now between Russian and Austria-Hungary. Serbians wanted to get rid of the yolk of Austria-Hungarian Empire as well. The assassination was the beginning of not just their ambition, but also a world-wide war, also known as the Great War.

Austria-Hungary Empire with its capital in Vienna was ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph of Hapsburgs family, an Empire that dominated European politics for more than four and a half centuries. But by 1914 they had run out of steam. Still, it was an Empire and offended by the assassination of its crown prince,  it declared war on Serbia on July 28^th 1914. Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II of the Hohenzollern family, supported the Austria-Hungarian regime against Serbia, whereas Russians took the opposite side of the Austria-Hungarian regime and support to Serbia. Both started to mobilize their armies. Germany issued double ultimation to both Russia and France by 31^st July.

Otto von Bismarck had unified Germany in 1871 by fighting three major wars, with Denmark, Austria, and France, and many of their areas had been incorporated into Germany, especially French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, a sore point with France. Meanwhile Germany had grown strong in Europe, becoming an industrial, economic and military superpower, altering the balance of power. Since 1894 France and Russia had become allies, against Germany. Romanov family had ruled the Russian Empire for three hundred years and the emperor in 1914 at the start of the war was Tzar Nicholas II.  

In 1914, Germany’s goal was to first knock French out of action in the west and then concentrate on defeating Russians in the east. In the event of France being attacked by the Germans, Britain would join to support France along with Russia. So, the pattern emerged, with on one side, Germany, supporting Austria-Hungary against Serbia and on the other, Russia, France and Britain, the Entente (later called as the Allied forces, when American forces joined them), against the central axis powers. The stage was set for a European war, involving the whole world.  

It is amazing to learn that none of the heads of the States involved, either Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, or Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, or Tsar Nicholas of Russia, wanted to go in for a war. There was a flurry of letters and telegrams between them to sort out differences through diplomatic means. But their powerful military men, in Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna were insisting that there was no other alternative to war to settle the matters and the emperors, mostly figure-heads, had yielded to them.

Soon Germany declared war on France on 3^rd August 1914, and as passing onto France would require them to pass through Luxembourg and Belgium, Germany declared war against Belgium as well. German forces entered Luxembourg by August 2^nd itself. Realizing the grave situation, Britain declared war against Germany; Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia; and Serbia against Germany, all by the first week of August 1914. Though the Empire of Ottoman Turks had no role to play in the beginnings of this war, Turkey entered the war on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany in October 1914.

As the Germans marched through Belgium to reach France, France and British forces intervened and the famous Western Front Trench war of the Great war started, stretching from Belgian North Sea coast, down through northeastern France to the Swiss border, of a length of 700 to 750 kms. Both the sides dug in and trench warfare continued. So also started the death of soldiers on both sides, in hundreds and in thousands.

In the meanwhile, British wanting to knock off Ottoman Turks from the war and with an eye on the prize of Constantinople, launched a naval attack, along with France on 18^th March 1915. Winston Churchill who was the First Lord of the Admiralty, young and ambitious, prepared for a naval expedition to invade and take Gallipoli peninsula with Constantinople as the objective. Lord Kitchener, the war Secretary of England, though more interested in the Western front, where the fate of the war will be decided, was persuaded to take a knock at Gallipoli and appointed General Sir Ian Hamilton to take command of the Gallipoli naval battle.

Gallipoli is a long narrow strip of land, a peninsula in the European portion of Turkey. It extends into Aegean Sea on its west and south-west. On its east, a narrow strait called Dardanelles runs separating European Turkey from Asian Turkey. The Dardanelles strait is 45 kms long and just one or two kms wide. It opens in the north into the Sea of Marmara, which enters the Black Sea by another narrow strait called Bosporus Strait, which is 30 kms long and 3.7 kms wide, on the bank of which is situated Constantinople. This whole sea lane from Black Sea through Bosporus strait, into Sea of Marmara, and through Dardanelle strait opening to the Aegean Sea and connected to the Sea of Mediterranean is an important sea route and the water way that separates the two continents, the Asian the European geographically.   

An experimental bombardment was made by the Allied forces on 19^th February 1915, at the entrance of Dardanelles, leaving hardly any damages, but in the process warning the Turks of a possible naval attack. Another major attack was carried out by the Allied forces on 25^th February bombing the forts at Dardanelles’ entrance. On 18^th March 1915 a formidable naval force tried to force its entrance through Dardanelles, an exclusive naval operation, as they were not willing to divert troops needed in the Western front. Modern ships named Queen Elizabeth, Agamemnon, Lord Nelson, etc., and many other ships equipped with guns sailed through the Aegean Sea near Greece, to the narrows of the Dardanelle strait. It was an awesome display of the naval might of the British and the French. The huge ships soon opened fire on the forts on either side of the Dardanelle.

Turks had quietly, and unobserved, had laid lines of mines in the strait. Their gun batteries started to fire on the ships as well. Soon, one after the other, ships started to sink either by the mines or by the gunfire. Lord Nelson was hit. Three of their sixteen ships sank and three more were severely damages and not wanting to lose their prized possession Queen Elizabeth, the British decided to withdraw. If they had pushed for one more day, victory would have been theirs, but they threw it away to the relief of the Turks. The British decided to make a combined operation with the army, landing troops in Gallipoli. Now that the Turks knew that a land attack would come, they, with the help of their German advisors, were able to make defense arrangements to counter the attack. It was a huge boon to the Turks and their advisors.

On 25^th April 1915, the landing of the Allied invasion force started. A huge number of transport ships transported to the shores of Gallipoli some twenty-seven thousand British soldiers, thirty thousand Anzac troops from Australia and New Zealand, and sixteen thousand Frenchmen. Turks had assembled some eighty-four thousand soldiers to defend the peninsula. The allied forces landed in five beaches, one on the extreme north and one on the south in the Asian side – Kum Kale, both as diversionary troops. The main landings were on Cape Helles, and at Suvla. On reaching their respective beaches the troops were to immediately march to reach the top of hillocks and ridges ahead of them. But they landed in the dark, very early in the morning when the sun had not yet to risen, and their leaders were not quick enough to order the march and they wasted time on the beach itself, for 3-5 hours, enough time for the Turks who now knew where exactly they had landed and to move their troops on to the hillocks. After that it became extremely difficult for the allied forces to march and capture the heights in the face of the Turkish gunfire from the higher ridges, though they tried many times but with no success.  

It was Mustafa Kemal, the Turkish filed marshal, who arrived with his solders at the places of landing on the heights, who saved the day. He commanded his soldiers saying, “I don’t order you to attack. I order you to die.” In such time when they fight and die, other troops will come and take their places, and hold on, was his logic. His soldiers did die in thousands, but they held their places, at a terrible cost. Kemal would later be called Ataturk Kemal, for he saved Gallipoli for the Turks and became the ‘Father of the nation.’ As in the Western frontier, here also both the sides dug up trenches and continued the war, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

Refusing to give more ammunitions and more men to Gallipoli adventure, orders were issued from the War Council, London, for the remaining force to evacuate, as they realized that the campaign was unachievable. This retreat, they managed to do with so much of planning that not a single bullet was fired and all of them managed to evacuate successfully by 9th January 1916. They Turks knew that the Allied forces were withdrawing, but they did not know where and when and hence could not create any last-minute havoc among the retreating forces.

Allied forces saw 58,000 of their men die and Ottoman 86,000 deaths, besides other casualties and missing and captured. British Indian Gurkha regiment fought alongside and took 1350 deaths. It was a military disaster; Churchill lost his Admiralty and Hamilton his command, but Kitchener survived. A thorough waste of men and machine in a wasteful adventure with no result. Most of the remaining force were relocated to the Western front.

In the Western Front things were rapidly changing by 1917-18. Americans were joining the Allied troops in large numbers, thus strengthening the Entente. Germany was suffering heavy losses in men and was not able to recoup, whereas Britain was able to mop up men and material from their colonies. Russia was in disarray, their society erupted in riots and in the civil war that broke out, Bolsheviks took charge of the country. Tzar, his wife and five children were arrested on 22.3.1917, and executed on 17^th July, 1918, by the Bolsheviks. Russian empire collapsed and communism took hold of the country. Austria-Hungarian empire fell and was broken into many fragments, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia. Serbia was integrated into Yugoslavia. Ottoman Empire ceased to exist by 30.10.1918, when they surrendered to the Allied forces. Germany lost the war, its empire collapsed and they were forced to sign the Armistice on 11 November 1918. Totally 9.5 million men had died in this mad rush of adrenal. Life in Europe would never be the same again.

Once the Western front fell silent, and the Armistice signed, the victors, represented by David Lloyd, the British Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau Premier of France, and Woodrow Wilson, President of America, divided the spoils among themselves. Britain took Palestine; created a puppet kingdom of Iraq for the Kurds, Sunni and Shia population of Mesopotamia; France took over Lebanon and Syria. Belgium was saved. As per the Treaty of Versailles signed on 7^th June 1919, Germans were to be punished and humiliated for plunging the world into war and were asked to pay reparations. Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France. German army was reduced to one hundred thousand volunteer troops.  It wrecked the German economy and bled it white. German people were starving after the war, but no food was allowed to go in. Stage was set in for another war to set right the wrong decisions of the first war. That, of course, is another story.

What did these wars and battles achieve? Men were fed as cannon fodder, and killed in millions. Post war scenario was even worse – poverty, hunger and unemployment hung in the air like a thick curtain. Where did such ideas come from to subjugate and to kill one another? Was it the continuation of the first murder of Cain of his innocent and righteous brother Abel, the first two children of Adam and Eve, as described in Genesis in the Bible? Such murderous ideas could be nothing but ideas sowed by Satan in the minds of human beings, dragging a whole generation in to war, death and devastation. The world is no better today, with Russian war against Ukraine and the Middle East war involving Iran and USA (supporting Israel), and the closure of Strait of Hormoz. Where is the redemption for mankind from all these and who is to redeem us from such a state? It is only Jesus Christ who could save us from hating and killing each other, by His own example of love and sacrifice on the cross and the redemption that he has offered. Will the world embrace it? Let’s pray for it and wait for world peace.

Hagia Sophia! The Church of Holy Wisdom!

 Hagia Sophia! What a beautiful name! It is the Church of Holy Wisdom, the Temple of God’s Holy Wisdom, to be precise, built eons back! During my first visit to Turkey in 2024, I missed the opportunity of visiting this most important place of interest in Istanbul. I told myself that day that I will come back to Istanbul, just to visit Hagia Sophia, which I did in August 2026, almost two years later. That was indeed a dream come true. But what is so great about Hagia Sophia? We will see.

Hagia Sophia (in Greek, ‘Holy Wisdom’) was a cathedral, the main church of importance in the region, for nearly 1000 years. In Latin it is Santa Sophia and in Turkish Ayasofya. It was built by Emperor Justinian in AD 537 in the then Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, otherwise known as Byzantine Empire. It served as the seat of Patriarchate of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was under Latin rule and was converted into a Roman Catholic Cathedral. It was reclaimed by Byzantine empire soon after. The Patriarch of Constantine was one of the five patriarchs of the Church before the Great Schism of 1054, when the Western Latin Roman Catholic Church got separated from the Eastern Greek orthodox Church. The other four Patriarchs were located in Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and the bishop of Rome swallowed up every other patriarch to grow as the mighty Pope!

Earlier to it in the same site two former churches were built, one in AD 360 built by Emperor Constantius II, which was destroyed by fire in AD 404. It was rebuilt by Emperor Theodosius II in AD 415 and this was also destroyed by fire in AD 532. The Emperor Justinian I commissioned the present church in AD 532 at the same site and it was completed in AD 537. He employed famous architects of his time, the Greek mathematician Isdore of Miletus and physicist and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles, to design and to build a magnificent church and it has stood the test of time until now, for almost 1500 years. It was ranked as one of the twenty-five most beautiful buildings in the entire world.  

Hagia Sophia functioned as a Greek Orthodox Cathedral until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire and its capital, Constantinople. They erected four minarets around Hagia Sophia and converted it into a mosque, plastering over the walls and areas where Christian mosaics were found. Islamic calligraphy was placed inside. In 1935 the founding father of the modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, converted it into a museum for everyone to go and see and enjoy. The present President of Turkey, Erdogan reconverted the building into a mosque in 2020, opening only a portion of the building for tourists to visit.

                                                              Hagia Sophia  -inside 

                                                                           Hagia Sophia 

Hagia Sophia

                                                     

                                                         Hagia Sophia under renovation

Be that as it may, Hagia Sophia was and is an architectural marvel. Emperor Justinian’s famous architects produced this engineering magnificence. It has a great Dome, which is roughly 102 feet in diameter and 182 feet high from the ground to the peak. The first of its kind! It contains a ring of 40 windows around the base of the cupola or the dome, to let in light. This gives it a feeling of floating in the clouds. Such a heavy dome was made to perch atop the building without any support beneath, was a marvel of its time. There were pendentives, an architectural invention and these triangular shaped, semi-spherical corner panels transferred the weight from the circular dome to its squire base. These four corner columns of the squire structure supported the load-bearing portions of the dome’s base.  It allowed the massive circular dome to sit on a square base, these four massive pillars forming this square structure. It distributed the dome’s weight over the square and created an open vertical space, as if it opened into the sky. There are two large semi-domes on the east and the west sides of the church to support the central dome and extend the interior space. In the ancient world it was known as an architectural wonder of the world. Over the centuries, 24 buttresses were added to reinforce the structure.

The museum part of the church has a ground floor and a gallery level. The walls and floors are covered with richly colored marbles brought from across the Mediterranean. Green granite stones were brought from Greece, used up in the four columns supporting the central dome, and also over the wall panels.  A white and gray veined marble was brought from Marmara Island and was used for the main pillars, floor slabs, and basket capitals. Dark red and deep purple stones known as Porphyry and Granites were imported from Egypt, and used near the throne and inside for mosaic framing. Omphalion stones were used to form the concentric circles on the floor with multicolored marbles, where Byzantine emperors were usually crowned.  

Colored glittering glass mosaics were brought from various places of the ancient vast East Roman Empire. Byzantine mosaics were set at subtle angels so that the incoming sunlight and candle flames played on these and a shimmering aura was created that was a marvel to those who visited it. The softness and emotional depth of these mosaics are seen as precursor of Italian renaissance. Many mosaic pictures have been painted on the walls and corners of the church interior, most of which have been plastered by the Muslim conquerors, but still some seem to have escaped them and are visible to today’s keen visitors. I will try to describe some of them which I saw when I visited Hagia Sophia. 

          Section of Hagia Sophia showing the way central dome, and the two semi-circular domes

drawing of the plan of construction of Hagia Sophia 

 In the upper south gallery, we can see a 13^th century master-peace known as the Deesis Mosaic Panel, (Gk. Deesis - prayer or supplication to the central figure of Jesus), created in AD 1261, depicting Virgin Mary and John the Baptist pleading with Christ Pantocrator (Supreme and sovereign ruler, Christ), for humanity’s salvation on Judgment Day. Its background consists of millions of angled gold tiles that glitter with changing light streaming inside. This area was reserved for the emperor and his family, and court members during church services. Top half of the panel is still intact, whereas the lower half is almost gone due to neglect and decay. Jesus is seated, holding a book of gospel, his hand raised in blessing. Background is a vast shimmering gold, of thousands of tiny mosaics, tiny cubes called tesserae, made from cut stone, colored glasses, ceramic and clear glass, with gold leaf sandwiched between layers of glass. The Byzantine artists placed these individual tesserae at slight irregular angles into wet paste, so that each cube reflected light differently and the cumulative outcome is be to create a luminous, shimmering effect. That golden hue is still palpable today.

The Deesis Mosaic Panel

For face the Byzantine artists have used tiny stones the size of grain of rice. This made the face of Christ mild and beautiful, giving a life-like, soft painting-like appearance in the panel. John the Baptist has details of unkempt hair on head and beard and rough clothing, showing his desert life. It is similar to optical color-mixing technique employed much later in the 19^th century by the impressionist artists of Renaissance. Originally Deesis was uncovered in 1849 by Fossati Brothers, but it was fully uncovered and restored in 1938 by Thomas Whittmore, an American scholar in collaboration with Byzantine Institute of America, by meticulously removing the Ottoman plaster over it and bringing this masterpiece out for the world to see and admire.  

  The Empress Zoe Panel, a mosaic made in 1042 is located at the eastern wall of the south gallery. It features the central figure of Christ sitting enthroned, flanked by Empress Zoe and her third husband Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. Christ is seated on a throne, holding an ornamented book of the gospels, with his right hand raised in a gesture of blessing. On the left flank, (the right side of Christ), emperor Monomachos is seen standing dressed in ceremonial imperial regalia, holding a bag of gold in his hand as an offering, symbolizing financial donation to Hagia Sophia. He is wearing a crown with hanging pearls. On the right flank (Christ’s left side), is Empress Zoe in elaborate jeweled attire holding a scroll that represented her endowments and donations to the church. It is stated the originally the mosaic contained the face of Zoa’s first husband, Romanis III Agyros in 1028-1034, and that she altered the face and the inscription on the mosaic to show the face of her third husband Constantine IX whom she married in 1042. 

Empress Zoe's Panel

The Comnenos Mosaic Panel, made in 1122 is located on the eastern wall of the southern gallery. It depicts Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus Christ in the centre, Mary wearing a dark blue gown and holding the Child Christ on her lap. He is seen with his right hand raised in blessing. Emperor John II Comnenos stands to Mary’s right, wearing jeweled imperial robes, and holding a money bag, representing his financial support to the church. Empress Irene stands on Mary’s left, in elaborate ceremonial garments and holding a scroll, wherein which her family’s pious benefactions are written. She is realistically rendered with braided blonde hair and pale features, highlighting her Hungarian heritage. Nearby is depicted their ailing son, Prince Alexios, pale and a picture of illness and grief. 

Comnenos Mosaic Panel

In the main Sanctuary and Altar, important panels are seen. The Apse Mosaic of made in AD 867 is located in the high semi-dome of the eastern apse, over the altar. It has the figure of Virgin Mary seated on a throne holding the infant Jesus. This is known as Theotokos (Gk. for Virgin and Child) Mosaic, the oldest surviving mosaic of the building, may be the first ever panel to be installed after the Byzantine iconoclastic period, during which all idols and images inside the churches were smashed. Mary is seated on a jeweled backless throne with a footstool. She is holding the infant Christ Child on her lap against an original 6^th century gold background. It is placed 16 feet high above the main altar, above and between the windows so that the natural light bathes the picture in shimmering golden glow.

                                                    Theotokos Mosaic Panel 

Some panels are placed directly above the grand doorways used by the emperors to enter the sacred space. The Southwest Vestibule Mosaic was made in 10^th century, may be around AD 944, placed over the exit door, showing Virgin Mary and Child receiving symbolic gifts from the Emperor Constantine on the right presenting a model of the walled city of Constantinople founded in AD 330, and on the left Justinian I offering a domed architectural model of Hagia Sophia itself that he built in AD 537. Virgin Mary (Theotokos) is seated on a backless throne with a jeweled footstool, holding the Child Christ on her lap as he gives blessings. Emperor Constantine the Great and emperor Justinian are dressed in imperial attire

 Emperors Constantine and Justinian with Theotokos

The Imperial Door Mosaic, a Byzantine artwork made in 9^th century, is located in the inner narthex (enclosed hall or vestibule at its entrance to the church) directly above the central doorway leading from the narthex into the main nave (the central principal part of the church, where the congregation is seated). It is positioned above the imperial main gate, reserved exclusively for the entrance of the Byzantine emperor. Christ Pantocrator is seated on a jeweled throne with his right hand raised in blessing and holding an open book in his left.  The open gospel displays the words, “Peace be with you. I am the light of the world.” It shows Emperor Leo VI the wise (886-912), kneeling in prostration in deep humility and submission at the feet of Christ. Virgin Mary on his right and Archangel Gabriel on his left of Christ are shown in circular medallion of portrait busts.

Emperor Leo VI at Christ's feet

Emperor Alexander Mosaic was created around AD 913 AD depicting the Byzantine Emperor Alexander (870-913). It is almost hidden in the upper eastern corner of the north gallery. The emperor is seen wearing the jeweled scarf, an ornate crown and red boots with pearls, holding an orb and a purple silk roll in his hands. 

                                               Emperor Alexander's Mosaic

   

There are also figures of four six-winged Seraphim, positioned in the four triangular pendentives supporting the central dome, painted on the triangular areas between the arches, the pendentives. These might have been created in 1347. The two figures in the eastern pendentives are authentic, whereas the two western figures are heavily damaged and reconstructed later as frescos. They symbolically guard the heavenly throne God and the Church of Holy Wisdom of God.

                                       one of the four winged Seraphim

These are some of the most important mosaic panels visible today. During my visit, renovations were going on in Hagia Sophia and I hope that at the end of the renovation, more mosaics of Byzantine art will be made visible by removing the plastering which covers it all now.

St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki of 8^th century and many other Basilica were built on the model of Hagia Sophia. It became the foundational blue print for two of the most important mosques in Istanbul, the Suleymaniye Mosque, built on the grave of Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Blue Mosque, built a hundred years later to be a rival to Hagia Sophia, situated just across Hagia Sophia. St Peter’s Basilica was built in 16^th century in Rome and Church of Christ the Pantocrator in Greece was built in 19^th century, both based on the model of Hagia Sophia of the then Constantinople.

What a wonderful journey it had been, to watch the interior of the Church and to witness even the fading Byzantine art of mosaic panels that have escaped destruction at the hands of Muslims. Surprisingly the mosaics of Virgin Mary and Child have survived, may be because, Muslims revere Mary as Miriam, the mother of Jesus, whom they consider as one of the prophets.

My long desire fulfilled, I walked out of the magnificent building, with satisfaction in my heart. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ for enabling me to visit this grand and most superlative Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. 

 

St. Thomas in Mylapore

 

St. Thomas in Mylapore

How did St. Thomas, a direct disciple and Apostle of Jesus Christ, end up in Mylapore, in today’s Chennai in Tamil Nadu, South India? We have seen that St. Thomas came to India, first to the northern kingdom of an Indo-Parthian ruler, Gundaphorus and on his death, he came in AD 52 to the Malabar region of today’s Kerala in India. He evangelized that area and was instrumental in establishing seven churches in Malabar region, Kerala, and one church in today’s Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. Today’s existence of Thomas Christians is the most visible evidence of this sojourn of Thomas, as the first direct disciple of Christ to bring Christian faith in India so early in history.

St. Thomas moved from the Chera country in south India (Kerala) to the Pandya realm in south India (Tamil Nadu), and continued his ministry. In this present blog we will see how he came to the opposite coast, Coromandel coast and about his life there. Tradition has it that he came to the Coromandel coast around AD 62. He lived in Mylapore area in a place called Little Mount and continued his ministry. He suffered martyrdom in AD 72 by zealous Brahmins of the area, who resented him converting Brahmins to Christian faith, and speared him in the Little Mount area. He straggled to Parangi Malai or St. Thomas Mount with his bleeding wound and died there. He was buried in St. Thomas Mount, and later removed to Santhome church near the beach in Mylapore. In AD 163 a Christian merchant from Edessa (in upper Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq), arrived at the port of Madras, on the eastern coast of Indian subcontinent, and visited the saint’s grave at Mylapore and participated in the Eucharist, observed on 21 December as the day of Thomas’s martyrdom. He returned again two years later in AD 165, stole the body of the saint in the dead of the night and took it away to Edessa. Some of the bones were left as relics in Mylapore. Today the place where the body of St. Thomas is supposed to be in the Basilica of Santhome church, there is nothing but a bone or two.

Little Mount Shrine

St. Thomas lived in a natural cave located beneath the 16^th century church at the Little Mount Shrine in Saidapet, Chennai. He is said to have lived and preached from this place. The Portuguese built a small chapel over the cave in 1551 which is still preserved inside the Little Mount Shrine complex. The natural cave measures about 14 feet wide, 15-16 feet long, and reaches 7 feet at its highest point. There is an ancient stone cross carved directly into the surface of the rock, near the entrance. There are indentations believed to be the marks of hand and feet of St. Thomas inside the cave. A narrow escape window in the wall is said to be the escape way for the saint to slip away in times of attacks. Near the cross on the rock, there is also a freshwater spring on the hillock, which is said to have sprung when the Saint struck the rock with his staff to bring water to quench the thirst of the people who came to hear him. It is called St. Thomas Fountain. This water is said to have healing properties.

Just outside and above the cave, there is a small stone sculpture on the wall. The Apostle is seen in it as a haloed, bearded figure, holding the Bible and a carpenter’s scale in one hand and the right hand, raised as if to bless people. According to the second century apocryphal text, Acts of Thomas, originally composed in Syriac literature in Edessa (upper Mesopotamia), St Thomas came to India as a carpenter. Below the sculpture is some inscription in Portuguese, which is translated as: “Antonio Concalvez De Taide made this bulwark of St. at his own cost in 1612,” St. being St. Thomas. East India Company records show that this sculpture was erected on the Fort of Santhome, in Mylapore, which was under Portuguese’ possession then, who had fortified the town to protect the traditions of St. Thomas. But, in early seventeenth century, Mylapore was raided by Hyder Ali of Mysore and much of the heritage was damaged. In 1697, the British who was in power then, demolished the remnants of the fort, and established themselves in St. George Fort. Sometimes during these events, the sculpture was removed to the Little Mount.  

Pillar of Faith, a tall column with a cross on the top has been constructed in 2019 to commemorate the Archdiocesan Year of the Eucharist in 2018-2019. The pillar is chiseled from three huge stones from the same rock, to symbolize the Holy Trinity. At its foot we see the Sacred heart of Jesus, Apostle St. Thomas, a grapevine, a dove, and a lamb denoting the risen Lord. An area known as the Holy Land immediately behind the church building has been developed as a mini-amphitheatre with a raised stage, with a Jesus Tower at one end. It has the capacity to seat 2000 people and is used even today for retreats, worship consorts and so on. Around this area, we see statues of many stations of the passion of Christ, which become very meaningful during Lenten season, as devoted followers of Christ follow each station and pray. The twelfth station is housed inside the chapel of the Holy Cross, with a beautiful depiction of Christ on the cross. A huge crown of thorn adorns the entrance to this chapel.

An Armenian tombstone erected in AD 1663 for one Coja David has been found on this Little Mount. It is believed that he constructed the stone steps leading to the Little Mount church at his cost, as a measure of his devotion to the shrine of St. Thomas.

                                          The Church at Little Mount

                                            The Altar and inside of the Church

St. Thomas preaching 

                             The cave in Little Mount where St. Thomas stayed

                                              Way to  the Cave of St. Thomas

                           The altar and the cross engraved on the rock in the cave

                   Entrance to the Little Mount with the figure of St. Thomas 

                                             Passion of Christ depicted 

                                   A crown of thorn at the entrance of the chapel

                                                 Inside of the Calvary chapel

St. Thomas Mount

St. Thomas Mount is 11 kms south of Madras (today’s Chennai), and there is an ancient church on the top of this mount. According to tradition a cross was chiseled on a stone by Thomas himself, before which the saint used to pray for long hours when he was alive. Tradition has it that he was praying before the cross, when he was speared from behind by an overzealous Brahmin. A stone cross, possibly a seventh century stone cross, believed to be this cross was found when Portuguese dug the foundations for the extension of the church in 1547. This stone is supposed to have sweated blood during the Holy Mass in 1558, and 1561, and thereafter every year for some time and then at longer intervals. The last time it sweated blood was in 1704. Eye-witness accounts of such sweating blood have been recorded in 1711 by Father Guy Tachara. In the seventeenth century a small chapel called the “Chapel of Resurrection,” was built using this cross as the altar. Many miracles of healing are said to have taken in the vicinity by a mere touch of the stone and it is a place of faith, pilgrimage and devotion, both by believers and non-believers. In 1908, after much disputation, the inscription around the stone cross was deciphered as “Through the Cross, the Messiah brought salvation to the world.”

St. Thomas Mount is a small hillock in Chennai, and is also known as Parangi Malai. It lies close to the Chennai airport and Guindy. Even today from this vantage point we can see the flights landing or taking off from the airport nearby. It is just 300 feet elevation. According to the Christian tradition, St. Thomas was martyred here in AD 72, or he straggled up to this mount for refuge after being fatally wounded by a spear in the Little Mount (located in Saidapet/Guindy on the banks of Adayar river) which is 4.7 km from this Parangi Malai. And he died in St. Thomas Mount.

A larger church was built by the Portuguese in 1547 over the place where St. Thomas died and was dedicated to Our Lady of Expectation. The church is believed to have served as a lighthouse for Portuguese and Armenian ships in the 16^th century. The sailors on sighting the church are said to have prayed for a safe voyage or thank for safe journey they had had. In 1830, St. Thomas Garrison Church was built to serve British soldiers stationed in the area since 1774. There are 134 steps to the top of the mount and 14 stations of the cross are situated along this path. These steps leading to up to the top of the hill were built by an Armenian merchant by name Coja Petrus Uscan, with a four-arch gateway in the northern base. The ornate arch was built in 1726, as per the inscription on it. A fully asphalted road was laid down up to the top of the hill in 1962 with an imposing welcome arch. Pope Paul II visited the shrine in 1986, and it was declared a minor Basilica in July 2025.

There stands a Calvary Shrine, built in 1963, atop the mountain, placed in the main courtyard outside the entrance of the St. Thomas Mount National Shrine Basilica, with a central figure of Christ nailed to the cross, and three figures, Mother Mary, Saint John the Apostle, and Mary Magdelene standing at the foot of the cross as written in the Gospels, as witness to the scene in Calvary.    

Millions of people from all faiths visit the hill to pay their respects to St. Thomas and to pray. Many healings and miracles are said to have occurred to people of faith. When I visited the Mount and the shrines along with my brother and sister-in-law, on 3^rd July 2026, the day was being observed as the Remembrance Day of the St. Thomas and all the three places we visited, the Little Mount, St. Thomas Mount and Santhome Basilica were decorated and people made a beeline to the cave in Santhome basilica to attend the service held there, then on to the mounts in the evenings to attend services being held there in the churches. The devotion of the people was palpable. 

Sepulchre of St. Thomas at St. Thomas Mount

 

              Thomas as a carpenter shown as carving a stone cross at St. Thomas Mount

                                          Chapel of Our Lady of Expectation in St. Thomas Mount

                                                    Calvary Shrine in St. Thomas Mount

                                           A flight landing in the nearby Chennai airport

Santhome Cathedral Basilica

This church was built in 1523 AD by Portuguese explorers over the tomb of Saint Thomas, the Apostle. This is only one of the three churches in the entire world built over the tomb of apostles of Christ, along with St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (St. Peter was martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero in AD 64) and St. James’ Santiago de Compostela in Spain (St. James was martyred in Jerusalem in 44 AD and his remains were brought by sea to Spain and buried there). Portuguese missionaries and explorers arrived in Coromandal coast in 1517 to search for the tomb of St. Thomas. On finding a mud shrine in neglected condition, they got the approval of their king John III of Portugal and excavated the burial site and built a new church directly over the original tomb in 1523 in Santhome church. That is when the importance of the tomb commenced and the world got to know about St. Thomas and his martyrdom in South India.

Historically it is recorded that King Alfred the Great (883 AD) sent his royal envoys to travel to south India with offerings for the tomb of St. Thomas. John of Montecorvino (1291) an Italian Franciscan missionary also visited this shrine and prayed at the site of the tomb. Marco Polo visited Mylapore in 1292 and has recorded information about the tomb and that both Christians and Muslims revered the tomb, where the body of the saint was supposed to have interned, as a pilgrim on his return voyage from China. Some Franciscan friars travelled to Mylapore and visited the shrine in 14^th century. Nicolo Conti, the famous Venetian merchant and explorer journeyed to the tomb between 1435 and 1430 and left notes on the same. St. Francis Xavier had visited the shrine in 1545 and stayed for a year or so in the nearby area. Santhome church was renovated in 1896 by the British in the new-Gothic style. The church was made a cathedral in 1906 by Pope Paul V. Pope Paul II visited the church in 1986. Relics of some bones of Thomas the Apostle, the spear head that was used to kill him, are kept in the lower level of the Basilica, in the tomb of St. Thomas in this church today. 

        In front of the Santhome Basilica, with my brother Suri, and sister-in-law Nirmala

                                                      Inside the church - the altar

                        The underground tomb of St. Thomas in the Santhome Basilica

We the Protestants avoid even visiting these places, as we think it is all steeped in superstition encouraged by the Catholic church. But I do find Catholics much more pious and devoted as compared to the intellectual attitude of the Protestants. In the end, we all worship the same Christ, who died for us on the cross, to bring salvation to anyone who would believe in him. As far as the core message of Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension are believed, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, I would consider the other fringe differences in the beliefs as not very important. Disciples like St. Thomas stand witness to faith in Christ, by coming all the way to India, as early as AD 52, to spread the truth about salvation in Christ and save people from their sins. The churches, not only in Malabar region of Kerala, but these in the Mylapore area of Chennai, stand as tall witnesses to the devotion and life of Jesus’ disciples, who carried the good news (gospel) to far reaching countries, including India.

Aren’t we in India privileged to have a direct disciple of Jesus Christ visit us so early in history and bring us the message of Christian faith? As Christian churches and organizations face direct and indirect assaults today, when even preaching the good news could invite the wrath of the authorities, maybe we could take encouragement and strength from St. Thomas’s life, for it was no different then.  Jesus had said in John 5:20, “Remember the words that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater that his master.’ If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” Persecution is no stranger to Christian life. We will keep praying for strength and the ability to bear it all in the name of Jesus. Let us say along with Thomas, “My Lord, my God,” and be ready to face anything that confronts us, with prayer and supplications to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. In His strength, let us march forward, for His glory.       

Tranquebar Mission

                             The New Jerusalem church as it stood in Ziegenbalg's time.

     Inside of the New Jerusalem church showing the altar and the burial place of Ziegenbalg

                        The plaque over the body of Ziegenbalg buried inside the New Jerusalem Church

                             The New Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar built by Ziegenbalg

                                                              A bust of Ziegenbalg

The 300th centenary commemoration statue of Ziegenbalg and inscription about his life and Tranquebar Mission

Tranquebar Mission

Tranquebar Mission? What is that? Never heard of it! Yes, not many would have heard of it. It is actually Tarangambadi, a small place near today’s Karaikal, a coastal city in the Union Territory of Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) on the Coromandel coast. On this coast landed two German missionaries, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau, in AD 1706, some 300 years back, to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ, the first ever Protestant Mission in India. As they were not able to, as usual, pronounce a difficult Indian name, they simply called it Tranquebar, which their tongue could manage! I have studied about this mission in my pre-PhD studies at SAIACS and recently my sister-in-law Nirmala had visited the place with her church members as a group. This kindled my interest. After my sojourn to Malabar coast of Kerala, to study the seven churches planted by the direct disciple of Jesus Christ, who had come there in AD 52, I wanted to go and visit Tranquebar and study the history and renown of that place. So, I hopped onto a plane from Bangalore to Tiruchirappalli (Thiruchi for short), and got onto a cab and drove straight to Tranquebar aka Tarangambadi.    

How this mission happened to be established here is an interesting story. It happened like this. In 18^th century European powers were vying with each other to establish ports of trade around Indian coastal area. Though the Portuguese were the first to come to India, and had a roaring trade in pepper in and around Kerala coast, with Goa as their fortress and port, their power soon waned and other European powers like the British, Dutch, French and Danes competed for the space. Portuguese and French were Catholic powers and the others, the British, Dutch and the Danes were Protestant Christians. Though all these powers brought their own chaplains for the benefit of their own staff and families, they never really thought about spreading Christianity in India. They were too preoccupied with their own internal squabbling and competitions in trade.

Strangely, the first person who conceived the idea of sending missionaries to India was King Frederick IV of Denmark (1671-1730). He was a Lutheran (after Martin Luther of Reformation fame). He directed his chaplain to find some suitable candidates for the purpose of sending missionaries to India, and as there were none in Denmark, they turned to Germany, where a revival movement called Pietism had started (Individual piety and commitment to Christ were stressed in this movement) and was on. Professor A.H. Francke was one of the leaders of the Pietist movement and was working in the University of Halle in Germany. Two students, studying under him, volunteered to go and they were taken to Denmark, ordained as Lutheran pastors in Copenhagen, Denmark, against much protest by the local Lutheran ministers and sent as ‘royal missionaries,’ at the personal expense of the King to India. Thus arrived Ziegenbalg and Pluetschau at Tarangambadi on 9^th July 1706 and the Tranquebar mission started. The first Protestant mission to start in India was a result of a combination of German Pietist Lutherans sponsored by a King of Denmark, also a Lutheran!

Not that things went on smoothly as they arrived on Indian shores to the settlement Of Danish East India Company. Danes had just two settlements in India, both famous today, one in Tranquebar (1620) and the other in Serampore (1676) in Bengal area near Calcutta. As the authorities at the Danish Fort had not been properly informed, no welcome awaited them. After three days in the ship, they were given permission to land and they presented their credential to the Danish Commandant, who was not happy at all to receive them, but grudgingly gave them permission to settle in their area. The official party took them to the market place and deserted them there. They were left standing there with their bags and hats and all. A junior officer took pity on them and took them to his wife’s parent’s place, who in a few days’ time found them a house in the Portuguese (Eurasian) quarters. And they settled down.

Both the missionaries started sincerely to study the then local official language Portuguese and the language of the people Tamil. As Ziegenbalg progressed rapidly in learning Tamil, Pluetschau was assigned to cater to the Portuguese speaking Europeans and Ziegenbalg was to concentrate on Tamil speaking local population. They started an orphanage for orphan children and their first converts were mostly domestic servants of the Europeans. A Portuguese and a Tamil school were started. Ziegenbalg learnt Tamil quickly and as a European speaking Tamil, he attracted quite a crowd around him. He started to preach to the local Hindus in Tamil, discussed Christ and Christianity with them and also talked with them about their own religion, Hinduism. A little congregation gathered and by August 1707 a small mission church was built outside the fort. Five local people who were being taught catechism for a year were baptized in September of that year.  

Ziegenbalg had the gift of learning the languages, and was very methodical in his learnings. He used to sit on ground in the local school, with the other children and practice writing Tamil alphabets in the sand as they did. He had a punishing schedule for learning Tamil. Morning 7 to 8 am, he will memorize previously learnt vocabulary; 8 am to 12 noon, with the help of a local teacher he would learn Tamil literature; 3 to 5 pm he will read a broad variety of Tamil books on his own to comprehend Tamil grammar, prose and literature; 5 to 7 pm he would attend to administrative duties and interact with the public; and 7 to 8 pm, to rest his eyes, he would make an assistant to read classical Tamil literature to him aloud. No wonder he picked up Tamil within six months and started to write books in Tamil soon thereafter.        

Ziegenbalg translated the New Testament into Tamil in 1711 and it was printed and published in 1715, in Tranquebar’s printing press that he had established in 1712, the first ever translation of Christian scripture into an Indian language. The printing press was a gift from SPCK sent in 1711 but with Latin letters. In 1713 Halle sent a Tamil printing press. Alongside he started the first paper-mill in 1715 in the nearby Porayar. At the time of his death, he had translated into Tamil, Old Testament books up to Ruth. He also brought out a printed Tamil calendar and produced the first Tamil dictionary and Tamil Grammar Book. He wrote in Tamil the Genealogy of South Indian gods.

The Commandant of the Danish Fort was quite antagonistic to Ziegenbalg and got him arrested and put him in solitary confinement in a prison inside the fort for four months in 1708 on some flimsy grounds. The commandant was later transferred by the King. Interest in the Mission spread across Europe due to the published letters of Ziegenbalg. He was the first to start schools for boys and girls in India, introduced a tailoring unit to improve employment opportunities for girls. Three more missionaries arrived at Tranquebar in 1709. They brought large sum of money with them and with it, Ziegenbalg purchased land outside the fort to develop the Mission. A large house was built to accommodate all the missionaries, three schools (Tamil, Portuguese and Danish), the printing press and so on. Mission seemed to flourish. He visited Nagapatam (Nagapattinam) outside the jurisdiction of Danish company and established other centers.

Ziegenbalg went to Denmark in 1714 to appraise the King and others of the progress of his work and toured Germany, during which time he married Dorathea (in 1715). They reached Tranquebar in 1716. With the money made available in these tours, he built the first Protestant church “New Jerusalem Church” for the local people in 1716 at Tranquebar, along with a training school for the teachers and catechists. The church is still standing today. But trouble was brewing as the Director of the mission in Copenhagen interfered with the method of Ziegenbalg’s work. The Director wanted the missionaries to only concentrate on the spiritual needs of the local population and not buy property and build churches. And grants were stopped. Deeply distressed, a depressed Ziegenbalg died on 23.2.1719, at the early age of thirty-six. His death had a sobering effect in Denmark. The king removed the Director from his office. But it was too late and the damage was done. Ziegenbalg’s mortal remains were laid in front of the altar inside the New Jerusalem church, Tranquebar, which he had built, and it can be seen even today.    

Ziegenbalg and his wife Dorathie had three sons, two of whom died young. The surviving son later worked as a Professor of Mathematics in in Copenhagen and was director in a Dutch factory. After her husband’s death, Dorathie married a Danish Councillor of Danish East India Company in 1720. She returned to Copenhagen in 1721 with her family, but she passed away shortly after in 1722.

But the Mission itself carried on with its activities. Many more missionaries came from Halle. Protestant missions were started in the other European stations in South India, Madras (today’s Chennai), Cuddalore, Negapatam (Nagapattinam) and Trichinopoly (Trichirapally). First Indian pastor, Aaron was ordained in 1733, and he ministered until his death in 1745. Many more followed, and fourteen Indian ministers were ordained by 1741, by the Tranquebar Mission, in and around Tanjore (Tanjavur), Tirupalatur, and Kumbakonam. An important missionary who came later in 1750 was Schwartz, who became a close confidant of the Raja of Tanjore (Thanjavur), and was instrumental in spreading Christianity in Palamcottah (Pallayamkottai) in Tinnevelly (Thirunalveli) and it went further beyond. German Pietism reached all over the South India in all the European territories, and touched the local people and brought the light of Christ to all these areas. It set a pattern for all later Protestant missions. Even William Carey, the famous missionary of Serampore, who came in 1792, almost a century after Ziegenbalg, and who translated the Bible into many Indian languages, had learnt a lesson or two from the Lutheran missionaries of his time like Schwartz and Gericke of Tranquebar and their methods.   

Presently Tranquebar is run by Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC), founded in 1919 and its bishops are still ordained as Bishops of Tranquebar. Presently TELC functions from Tiruchi as its headquarters and runs some 182 aided schools, orphanages and old age homes, one art and science college and five hospitals in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka and Kerala. The 300^th anniversary of the arrival of Danish Halle mission headed by Ziegenbalg (Tranquebar Mission) was celebrated in a befitting manner in 2006 and a beautiful Memorial has been erected with his statue and detailed inscriptions at Tarangambadi. His house has been converted into a museum. No wonder Ziegenbalg is celebrated as the “Father of Modern Protestant Mission.”

It was my privilege to visit this small, but historically very important place and learn about the history of the first Protestant mission in South India. I returned loaded with gratitude to the way the Holy Spirit had utilized the services of the two young devoted Pietist Lutheran missionaries in this place some 320 years back to spread the love and concern of Christ. The Holy Spirit that guided the formation of the first church in the first century AD, which was active some 320 years back in Tranquebar, we can be sure, is still active in many parts of the world. Praise be to Him.