Impact of Chrstianity on Keral Society

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to bring to light the multifaceted impact newlineof Christianity on Kerala Society. A seed of Christianity, the way of life that newlineoriginated in a foreign land, was sown in this remote land of hills and valleys, newlinesprouted, grew, branched out, flowered and yielded fruits. It came here as an alien newline religion but settled here as an indigenous way of life amalgamating itself with the newlinedivergent cultural elements of the people of Kerala yet maintaining its own identity newlinewith individual characteristics. newlineThe first chapter is an introduction that gives a brief description about the newlineorigin of Christianity detailing the birth and activities of Jesus Christ, the persecution newlineof the first Christians and how Christianity started spreading and reached in Kerala. newlineThe Chapter briefly discusses about the region of Kerala its location, geographical newlinefeatures, and cultural elements etc. that attract thousands of tourists from around the newlineworld; its religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence by the inhabitants who live newlinetogether harmoniously for centuries, though divergent in religious beliefs and newlinepractices. The chapter also discusses the arrival of St. Thomas who founded newlineChristianity in Kerala; the arrival of Knai Thommen with a group of Christians from newlineSyria, how whose arrival and settlement in Kerala rejuvenated the almost extinct newlineChristianity. newlineThe second chapter mainly deals with the impact of Christianity on the social, newlinereligious, and cultural life of the people of Kerala. It tells of the Christian settlements newlinein this land and the progress of transformation into an indigenous group framing its newlineown code of ethics and administration. The chapter further explains the inter-cultural newlineadoption of the Christian immigrants and the local communities, and how they lived newlinetogether harmoniously, and the role of the Christian missionaries who played their newlinemagnificent role in reforming the Kerala Society infected with caste discrimination, newlineeducational disparities, social evils like i