Exit John Ganesh; Enter Theivanayagam

As Dr. Arulappa’s attempt to establish the Thomas story was marred in legal tangles, the Catholic Diocese took the services of a low profile evangelist named Theivanayagam and encouraged him to spread the Thomas canard. While the court battle was going on between Arulappa and Acharya Paul (John Ganesh), Theivanayagam was busy “researching” the history of Thomas.

In 1985-86, he had authored a book titled, “Viviliyam, Thirukkural, Saiva Siddantham – Oppu Aayvu”, wherein he attempted to conclude that Thiruvalluvar was a Christian and a disciple of the mythical St. Thomas, and that most of the Saiva Siddantha and the vivid knowledge found in Thirukkural were nothing but the sayings of the Bible! To achieve this devious objective, he distorted and misinterpreted verses of the Kural and Shaivite philosophical works. The book was published by the ‘International Institute of Tamil Studies, Adyar, Madras’ and a ‘Doctorate’ was conferred on him by the ‘University of Madras’, which goes to confirm the unholy Dravidian-Christian nexus!

Later, Tamil and Shaivite scholars protested and Dharmapuram Adheenam, a famous Shaivite Mutt came out with a book of refutation titled “Viviliyam, Thirukkural, Saiva Siddantham oppaayvin Maruppu Nool” written by eminent scholar Arunai Vadivel Mudaliar. It was released before a congregation of over 300 eminent scholars, including Justice Krishnaswami Reddiar, who strongly criticized Theivanayagam for his perversion of history. This extreme step was warranted to deny legitimacy to such deceitful materials by future generations for ‘research’ purposes.

Senior Journalist R.S. Narayanaswami noted, “Justice Krishnaswami Reddiar strongly criticised the modern tendency of publishing trash in the name of research. He said research must have an aim, a purpose, to get at the truth. Research was not meant to find evidence to denigrate an ancient faith. Research should not start with pre-conclusions or prejudices. Here the author's motive was to show the superiority of Christianity. Religion was based not only on facts but also on faith and beliefs. The book had hurt Hindu beliefs. Justice Krishnaswami Reddiar quoted from the works of Sita Ram Goel and Ishwar Sharan and asserted that the visit of St. Thomas to India was a myth. He wondered how such a book could be published by [the International Institute of Tamil Studies, Adyar, Madras,] set up by the Government. It was a crime that such a book had been written and published and awarded a doctorate degree [by the University of Madras,] he said.”

(Ref: http://hamsa.org/deivanayakam.htm)

Since then Theivanayagam has been writing and publishing many books, all offensive against Hinduism.

Pope’s shocker results in film production!

 As the Catholic Diocese was devising other strategies, Pope Benedict’s statement “St. Thomas never visited India” fell on its head like lightening. This resounding statement from the Papacy, which shocked the Catholic community, shook the very foundations of Christianity in South India! As the Papacy didn't bother to listen to the Indian Catholic community, the Madras and Cochin Bishops met in Cochin, Kerala, during the second week of June 2008, to find out ways and means of re-establishing the history of the so-called St. Thomas.

As a step in that direction, the Archdiocese of Santhome, Madras, decided to produce a feature film on the mythical St. Thomas, at a cost of Rs. 50 crores, under the banner of the St. Thomas Apostle of India Trust; the office bearers included Archbishop A.M. Chinappa, Deputy Archbishop Lawrence Pius, Treasurer of the Diocese Ernest Paul and Script Writer Paulraj Lourdusamy.

The movie will present the life and times of the mythical St. Thomas in South India in general and Madras in particular. It will have supposedly important events like the alleged meeting between Thomas and Tamil sage Thiruvalluvar, establishment of Santhome Cathedral and alleged killing of Thomas by a Brahmin priest. As confirmation of the unholy Dravidian-Christian nexus, the Hon’ble Chief Minister Karunanidhi inaugurated this movie-magnum on the mythical St. Thomas!

In his speech, the Chief Minister did not mention the alleged meeting between Thomas and Thiruvalluvar. Karunanidhi, being a Tamil Scholar and well versed with Tamil literary works, refrained from talking about the connection between the Bible and Thirukkural or Thomas and Thiruvalluvar, thus confirming that the ‘Thomas story’ is an absolute falsehood!

But true to his policy of minority appeasement and majority provocation, he waxed eloquent on the supposed killing of Thomas by a Brahmin and went on to say that the particular scene alone would be enough for the success of the movie, though the church does not have an iota of proof of this alleged murder! The Chief Minister, a well-known expert on Thirukkural, felt it unimportant to ascertain the truth of the so-called meeting between Thomas and Thiruvalluvar. He knows well that questioning the historicity of Thomas will cost him votes, unlike questioning the historicity of Rama or Krishna!

After the much touted inauguration, there has been no information about the film. It is not clear if the Diocese has shelved the idea of producing the film on mythical Thomas.

(Ref: http://www.newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=29&id=8961).

“Thamizhar Samayam” (Tamilian Religion) or “Thoma Kiruththuvam” (Thomas Christianity)

Close on the heels of the inauguration function, Theivanayagam organized a four-day meet titled, “Thamizhar Samayam – Muthal Ulaka Maanaadu”, from August 14-17, 2008, under the aegis of Dravida Anmeega Iyakkam (Movement of Dravidian Spiritualism), a movement started by him to spread the canard called “Thomas Christianity”, in the name of “Adi Christhuvam” (early Christianity). The event was backed by the Mylapore Archdiocese which hosted the event in its own premises in Santhome near Mylapore.

Here, the following blasphemous distortions were projected as researched facts:

-        Adi Christhuvam (early Christianity), promulgated and established in Tamil Nadu by St. Thomas, is the original religion of the Tamils.

-        The Aryan invaders distorted Thomas Christianity and conceived new concepts called Shaivism and Vaishnavism and hence they must be treated as sub-sects of Thomas Christianity.

-        The ‘holy trinity’ of ‘Father-Son-Holy Spirit’ is denoted by ‘Shiva-Muruga-Shakti’ and the same is also denoted by ‘Brahma-Vishnu-Rudra’

-        The ‘holy trinity’ concept has beautified Indian Religions. The ‘Holy Spirit-Father’ combination can be identified with ‘Ardhanarisvarar’ and ‘Sankaranarayanar’ formations.

-        St Thomas’s teachings abound in Thirukkural and Sage Thiruvalluvar was a disciple of St Thomas.

Due to the timely posting of an article titled, “St. Thomas who taught Tamils to think” by famous Tamil writer and novelist Jeyamohan in his blog www.jeyamohan.in and timely action by www.tamilhindu.com and some individual Hindu activists, Theivanayagam tasted defeat and his four-day meet ended in miserable failure. Later he released a book titled ‘Thiruneeraa, Siluvaiya?’ (Sacred Ash, Or, The Cross?), which piled on fresh distortions:

-        The Hindu practice of applying ‘sacred ash’ on the forehead actually started from ‘Ash Wednesday’ the first day of the ‘Penance’ (Lent-days). The sacred ash comprises within it all the three stages of ‘Death, Resurrection & Pardon due to the fact that the ‘ash’ cannot be destroyed, as the resurrected body cannot be destroyed.

-        When Vaishnavism got separated from Shaivism, the style of applying sacred ash was changed from horizontal pattern to vertical pattern.

-        Shiva is supposed to have given his left half to Shakti. If that left half is worshipped as woman, it becomes Shaivism and if the same is worshipped as man it becomes Vaishnavism.

-        ‘Thiruneetru Pathigam’, a collection of Shaivite Hymns sung by Sage Thirugnaana Sambandhar comprises a number of messages of Christianity.

-        All Shaivite literatures namely ‘Thirumurai’, ‘Thevaram’, ‘Thiruvasagam’ and ‘Thirupathigam’ do not talk about the four Vedas namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva; as they carry the messages of Christ, the ‘Bible’ is the only ‘Veda’.

 (Ref: http://www.newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=29&id=12183)

Hindu Munnani president Ramagopalan filed a complaint with the then Commissioner of Police in November 2008, but the Tamil Nadu Police has so far not taken any action against Theivanayagam. Hindu Munnani failed to pursue the matter further despite Theivanayagam slapping a legal notice against it.

(To be continued…)

 The author is a senior journalist; he lives in Chennai