“മണിഗ്രാമം” (Manigramam)

‘മണിഗ്രാമം’ എന്ന സമുദായം മൂന്നാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൽ തെക്കേ ഇന്ത്യയിൽ ഉടലെടുത്തു.  അവർ ആ കാലഘട്ടങ്ങളിൽ വന്ന “മാണി” എന്ന പേർഷ്യൻ ക്ഷുദ്രക്കാരന്റെയോ പിന്നാലെ വന്ന അയാളുടെ ശിഷ്യന്മാരുടെയോ മതം സ്വീകരിച്ചു് മാർ തോമ്മാ ക്രിസ്ത്യാനികളിൽ നിന്നുംഭിന്നിച്ചു പോയ ഒന്നാണ്. അവർക്കു അന്ന് സമൂഹത്തിൽ ഒരു നല്ല നില ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു, അവർ കച്ചവട പ്രമുഖരും ആയിരുന്നു എന്ന് ഒക്കെ ദൃഢമായി വിശ്വസിക്കത്തക്ക തെളിവുകൾ ഉണ്ട് (See British clergyman Rev. Thomas Whitehouse 1873:47-54).  ഈ സമുദായം ഏകദേശം ഇരുപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടോടുകൂടി അന്യം നിന്ന് പോയി.  പക്ഷെ അവരെയും സുറിയാനി ക്രിസ്ത്യാനികളെയും തമ്മിൽ കൂട്ടിക്കുഴയ്ക്കാതെ വേർതിരിച്ചു മാത്രമേ കാണുവാൻ കഴിയുകയുള്ളു.

The historical figure of Mani claimed that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and that he himself was either the new Messiah or the last Prophet. He performed supernatural feats and converted many to Manichaeism, including for a short time, the Persian Emperor Sapor I. He was put to death on the orders of the same emperor in 277.

Although SCM sources consistently mention the figure of Mani, not all sources refer to him as ‘Mānikkȧ-vāchakar’: Pukadiyil (1869:109) refers to him as ‘Maneekkasa’ and the Syriac version of the MV refers to him as ‘Manik-boshr’, to which, in his Dutch translation, Visscher adds the epithet ‘Tovenar’  (=‘sorcerer’) (Drury 1862:106) indicating the term Mānikkȧ-vāchakar was not universally applied.   In Syrian Christian sources, he is referred to as “Mani”, followed by the epithet ‘the Sorcerer’ (= “മാണി എന്ന കൂടോത്രക്കാരൻ”) (See Mathai Vettikkunnel’s letter to the Dutch Commander, 1720, under the title:  “മലയാളത്തുള്ള സുറിയാനിക്കാർക്കു ഭവിച്ച  ഭവിതങ്ങൾ”. 

According to the Kandanad Chronicle (Cheeran 2008:28), the distinct community present in the Kerala, known as ‘Mȧnigrāmmȧkkār’ up to the 19^th century, were a part of the original SCM who had renounced Christianity and adopted Mani’s teachings.   This chronicle also recounts how, out of the 164 families of Christians in the 2^nd-3^rd century AD, 96 families separated themselves because ‘they renounced the Lord and adhered to Mānikkȧ-vāchakar, having learnt the pȧnjākṣaram (=Five-syllabic-chant) and such other doctrines from him.  They came to be known as ‘Mȧṇigrāmmȧkkār’, and so they are called to this day.’  

Some historians refute that the references to a ‘Mani’ in Syrian texts is not the 3^rd c. Persian Mani, but the great 9^th century Tamil poet “Manikka-vachagar”, and brings in unsubstantiated details such as that this poet, (who composed many sacred hymns still sung by devotees of Shiva), went about converting Buddhists to Hinduism.  They further assert that these ‘Buddhists’ were actually Christians of that region, and also speculate that when Manikka-vachagar is reported to have ‘vanquished’ Buddhists from Sri Lanka through debate, this might have included persecution of the Christians in Coromandel, forcing them to leave their homeland.  On the basis that this poet Manikka-vachagar lived in the 9^th century, he moves the Edessan migration to the 9^th century (See for eg. Perczel 2009:199-200).  The fallacy of this argument is evident in its rather convoluted, inauthentic and inconsistent nature.

Thomas Whitehouse treats the subject of Mȧṇigrāmmȧkkār extensively (1873:47-54), stating: ‘Their connection with the orthodox Syrians is a curious and well supported fact’.  He observes that small enclaves of Mȧṇigrāmmȧkkār were seen in the late-19^th century, in Thiruvithamcode, Kollam, Kayamkulam, Mannar, and Kadmattom (1873:48-52). Whitehouse adds that even from early ages, they are thought to have been ostracized by both the Hindus and the Christians of Kerala as they represented ‘a mongrel system, a patchwork of Christian heresy and Magian superstition’ (1873:54), and that their repeated attempts to re-join either the Syrian or Hindu communities were obstructed by those communities.

Whitehouse also mentions how the C.M.S. missionary Benjamin Bailey (early 19^th century) met four families of Mȧṇigrāmmȧkkār in Kadamattom, and found some of them still practising ‘sorcery’ (1873:50-51).   At the Synod of Diamper, Archbishop Menezes refers to a certain book in Malabar in which ‘there are likewise …. strange names of devils….it contains also many superstitious exorcisms for the casting out of devils…..which is very common in this diocese’.  See the Acts of Diamper, Session III, Decree 14 (Zacharia 1994:103).  See also Whitehouse 1873:51 where he discusses this Decree as a reference to Manichaean texts still in use in Malabar at the time of Diamper (1599). 

For a detailed study of the four different copper plate charters granted to three different communities (Syrian Christians, Jews and Manigrammakkar), see T. K. Joseph: Malabar Christians and Their Ancient Documents 1928.