TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL COORDINATES OF CHASTITY TRIALS

Abstract

The erstwhile princely states of Travancore and Cochin (which were merged with the British Malabar in 1956 to form the linguistic state of Kerala) witnessed an unprecedented mushrooming of organisations which can generally be described as community-based in the decades around 1900. Most of them used caste as their principal rallying point while a few sought to forge larger religious identities^[1].

^[1]The most noteworthy platform which sought to merge denominations was The Syrian National Union Association. Generally speaking, the Association was a common but abortive platform founded by the Jacobites (Antioch Syrians) and Catholics (Romo Syrians) in the closing decades of the nineteenth century with a view to achieving immediate material goals of upward social mobility through greater numerical strength, modern education, entrepreneurship, financial instruments and cultural innovation and to bring about the eventual merger of the partner communities.  The most important role in its formation was played by Fr. Manual Nidhiry, a catholic priest who would later adorn the garb of a pontifically-privileged Vicar General for a brief tenure, and Pulickottil Mar Dionysius, the Metropolitan of the Antioch Syrian Christians. Though the motives behind such a coming together can be understood and interpreted in a multitude of ways, it seems logical to see it as entailed by the developments within the churches under consideration.  For a detailed understanding of the movement see George, Mathew and Nidhiri.