Ancient Church of Malabar: സുറിയാനി മലയാളം അഥവാ Karshoni

Thursday, June 2, 2011

സുറിയാനി മലയാളം അഥവാ Karshoni


സുറിയാനി മലയാളം-
കേരളത്തിലെ സുറിയാനി കത്തോലിക്കരുടെ ഇടയില്‍ നിലനിന്നിരുന്ന സുറിയാനി ലിപി ഉപയോഗിച്ച് മലയാളം എഴുതുന്ന ഒരു രീതിയായിരുന്നു ഇത് ആം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ അവസാനം വരെ ഇത്രരം എഴുത്ത് രീതികള്‍ സുരിയനികളുടെ ഇടയില്‍ നിലനിന്നിരുന്നു.
(Suriyani Malayalam-
Which used the "Syriac script" to write "Malayalam" Which was a popular medium of written communication among Syrian Christians until the 19th century, like "Arabi-Malayalam" used by Muslims in Malabar.)
സുറിയാനി ഭാഷ

Syriac developed as an Aramaic dialect of Edessa (present-day Urfa, inSoutheast Turkey), a centre of early intellectual activity. It soon became an important literary language around the second and third centuries A.D. According to patriarch Afrem Barsauwm (d. 1957), the original Syriac language was developed by Paul Bar Arqa of Edessa and later was known as Estrangelo (The History of Syriac literature and science). Many experts confirm that Syriac is a very close dialect to the one spoken by Jesus Christ. Aramaic indeed played a very important role before and after the coming of Jesus Christ.
Many words like mishiha, dukhrana, kathanar, metran and methrapoleetha, which Malayali
Christians use , are all derived from Syriac. Suriyani-Malayalam (or Karshoni), which used the Syriac script to write Malayalam, was a popular medium of written communication
among Christians in kerala until the 19th century


Above we present the prayer of the Lord (“Our father in the Heaven”) in the three Syriac scripts.



A sacred language is vanishing from State




Did you know that the Malayalam words ‘maalaakha’ (angel) and ‘koodaasa’ (sacrament) are not Malayalam, but Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic which Jesus Christ spoke 2000 years ago?And that qurbana, mishiha, mammodisa, methrapoleetha and easo, which Malayali Christians use on a day-to-day basis, are all Syriac?



And that Suriyani-Malayalam (or Karshoni), which used the Syriac script to write Malayalam, was a popular medium of written communication among Christians until the 19th century, like Arabi-Malayalam used by Muslims in Malabar?


Well, these show the profound impact of this Semitic language, which is supposed to have arrived on the Kerala shore along with St. Thomas in 52 AD, on Malayalam. The arrival of Thomas of Cana, a Palestinian, in 345 AD, along with 70 families, boosted Syriac’s use and popularity in Kerala.But the language, which thrived in Kerala for so many centuries as the sacred language of Syrian Christians, is now facing extinction.

Vatican Council

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Most Christian denominations, especially the Catholic rites, dropped Syriac as the language of church service in the second half of the 20th century.

This was speeded up by the Second Vatican Council, held during 1962-67, which promoted ‘enculturation’ and encouraged holding of church services in regional languages instead of Latin or Syriac, Fr. Paul Thelakkat, editor of Sathyadeepam and spokesperson for the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, said.All Syriac prayers and religious texts were translated into Malayalam and a profusion of Malayalam prayer songs followed the switch-over from Syriac to Malayalam.Istvan Perczel, a Hungarian scholar of medieval Christianity, who is currently researching Syriac documents in Kerala, pointed out that while the switch-over to Malayalam was good for the faithful as they could understand the meaning of what they were singing and praying, Syriac suffered badly.Prof. Perczel said he was impressed by the rich Syriac heritage of Kerala of the 16th to 19th centuries. “It is very important to preserve this heritage as it will facilitate an in-depth study not only of Kerala Christians’ history but also of the socio-cultural and economic life of the period.”

Portuguese invasion

Syriac lost its growth momentum after the Portuguese invasion of Kerala. The Portuguese tried to impose Latin on the indigenous St. Thomas Christians of Kerala as the liturgical language.In the 1599 Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor Sunnahados), the Portuguese archbishop Alexis de Menesis ordered the burning of most Syriac religious texts. But, in the 1653 Coonan Cross Oath, the St. Thomas Christians revolted and regained their Syriac liturgy.Though mostly restricted to the priestly class and religious texts, Syriac, for several centuries, was to Kerala Christians what Sanskrit is to Brahmins and Arabic to Muslims.But the language is all but vanished now.

See the similarities with Arabi Malayalam


Arabi Malayalam,which used the Arabic script to write Malayalam
Arabi Malayalam (Malayalam script : അറബി മലയാളം) is a system of writing Malayalam language language in a variant form of Arabic script.The Arabic script has been modified to represent the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. Writing Malayalam in this script is mainly carried out in Malaysia and Singapore by the migrant Muslimcommunity.It is also used to teach Malayalam in Madrassas of Kerala and Lakshadweep.It is also used by some Muslims in Kerala to write Malayalam.


Western Middle Syriac (Influenced by Greek)

The oldest known form of the Antiochene Rite is in Greek which is apparently its original language. The many Greek terms that remain in the Syriac form show that this is derived from Greek.Western Syriac is the official language of the West Syrian rite, practiced by the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, the Mar Thoma Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

For Further Information ....


1 comment:

  1. I would like to know from where you got the excerpt of the lords prayer in suryani ( the one you have given above)

    ReplyDelete