38:8 SAINT THOMAS'S M'O UNT
celebrated cross attributed to the legendary visit 'of St. Thomas 'the
Apostle to this part of India. The tradition l; states that after :preaching
in Malabar and other places, St. Thomas carne to Mylapore, a suburb
of Madras; that the Brahmans there stirred up a tumult against himi
and that on December z r,, A. ra. 68, he was stoned by the crowd and
finally thrust through' with a spear near the Mount. Lucena.gives the
following account of the finding of the cross :-
' It was met with on digging for the foundations of a hermitage amid
the ruins which marked the spot of the martyrdom of the Apostle
St, Thomas. On the face of the slab was a cross in' relief, with a bird
like a dove over it, with its wings expanded as the Holy Ghost is usually,
represented when descending on our Lord at His baptism, or on'our
Lady at her Annunciation. This cross was erected over the altar at the
chapel which- was built on the new sanctuary.' .
Dr. Burnell (Indian Antiquary, r874{ p. 313) says,;--
` `This account is no doubt accurate, for the Portuguese on first visit-
ing the 'Mount found the Christian church--in ;ruins,, and occupied by
a native fakir. The description of the slab is also accurate. It does
not appear what cause had destroyed the Christian community here,
but it probably, was owing to the political disturbances attending the
war between the Muhammadans of the north and the Hindu' kingdom
o f . Vijayanagar.'
Referring to an Italian account (in the seventeenth century) of the
cross and the Mount festival, Dr. Burnell continues:-
`
The cross is built into the wall behind the altar in a church on the
Great Mount, which is served by. a native priest under the Goa jurist
diction. An annual festival is held here, which brings a large assem-
blage of native Christians to the spot; and `causes an amount of disorder
which the European Catholic clergy of Madras have in vain tried to
put down.'
Dr. Burnell considered that the date of the cross tablet and its Pahlevi
inscription was probably about the eighth century.
On the plain; on the eastern side of the Mount lies the military can-
tonment bearing the same name. The garrison now consists of two
batteries of field artillery and one regiment of native infantry. The can-
tonment is a pretty place and well kept. In the centre is an open grassy
maiddn, round which cluster the various bungalows and other buildings,
including the handsome mess-house of the artillery. The church, which
stands at he southern end of the parade ground, is one of the best
edifices of its kind in the Presidency.
' Discussions of the credibility of this tiradition' will be found .in the Indian
Antiquary,'vol. xxxii; in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for April, x966,;. .
and in India and the Apostle 7haueas (I9o5), by A. E. 1Vledlyeott, Bishop' of
Tricomia.
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