• Comprehensive study of the St. Thomas in India myth with reference to Christian iconoclasm in South India from the 7th century till today. • Reviews and related material for this book can be accessed on the Acta Indica website at https://ishwarsharan.com/. • The copyright © of this book belongs to Voice of India, 2/18 Ansari Road, New Delhi 110002. The Creative Commons licence for this book is Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND).

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures -- Acknowledgements -- 1 A brief history of Indian Christianity and the politics of modern-day Catholic renewal in Chennai, Tamil Nadu: research objectives and methodology -- 2 Reviving the history of St. Thomas: martyrdom and burial as a new myth of origin for Indian Catholics in Chennai -- 3 The influences of Indian political ideologies on Catholic revivalist strategies in Chennai -- 4 The physical renovation of San Thome Cathedral: revival through tourism, branding, and heritage preservation

Christians form the third largest religious community in India. How has this come about? There are many studies of separate groups: but there has so far been no major history of the three large groups - Roman Catholic, Protestant and Thomas Christians (Syrians). This work attempts to meet the need for such a history. It goes right back to the beginning and traces the story through the ups and downs of at least fifteen centuries. It includes careful studies of the political and social background and of the non-Christian reactions to the Christian message. The narration is non-technical and should present few difficulties to the thoughtful reader; the more technical matters are dealt with in notes and appendices. This book will be of interest to all students of Church History and will also prove fascinating to many who are concerned with the development of Christianity as a world religion and in the dialogue between different forms of faith.