JOURNEYS, BORROWING, AND ASSIMILATION IN THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF EARLY CHRISTIAN INDIA.

Material evidence of the establishment of Christianity in India suggests, at least, an eighth-century date. However, the widely held Thomasine tradition believes that the apostle Thomas arrived on the west coast of India in the first century, and that the faith was bolstered by further Christian migrations in the fourth and possibly eighth centuries. The timing of the arrival of Christianity on Indian shores hinges on the probability of sea journeys across the Arabian Sea in late antiquity. This paper offers a brief outline of the Thomasine tradition and discusses the material culture associated with it in the form of stone crosses, the concept of which also likely arrived with travellers and missionaries. However, the material expressions of the cross and attendant ritual practices display borrowings and assimilations from Hindu and Buddhist art and architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]