Zacharias Thundy

Nazrani Brahmin Mystery Resolved, Whereas . . . Zacharias Thundy

There are four short volumes in this series about the Nazranis of Kerala, South India. This volume is titled "Nazrani Brahmin Mystery Resolved, Whereas..., which is a historian's attempt to understand why and how Nazranis could claim to be Brahmins; the second volume is Never Shall the Twain Meet?: Eastern Nazranis Collide with Western Christians, which is an attempt to understand the Portuguese colonial resolution passed at the Council of Diamper (1599) that the Law of Peter in Rome supersedes the teaching of Apostle Thomas in India; the third volume is "Shankaravatara Mystery Resolved, Whereas ...", which is an attempt to understand Shankara's connection to Nazranis; the fourth volume is "Sabarimala Mystery Resolved, Whereas..., which is specifically an attempt explain why Kerala Nazranis are ritually and emotionally attached to the pilgrimage to Sabarimala. What I am trying to do in these books is to provide proof for solving the Nazrani mysteries that continue to baffle scholars and inquisitive students of Indian history. Interestingly most Nazranis have the proverbial "chip on their collective shoulder" to defend their Brahmin heritage especially when many North Indians laugh at this Nazrani claim of their sacrosanct tradition when they are told that they, dark South Indians, don't look at all like Northern fair Brahmins of Aryavarta. So we modern Nazranis owe it to our community to examine our tradition and defend it if it is defensible. Now after considerable search and re-search, I can convincingly contend that both the Brahmin legal code of Manu's Dharmasastra and the Christian Bible or the Christian Nazrani Veda help establish the fully acceptable legal fiction that Nazranis were once Brahmins.