St. Thomas (really and totally) converts India

If the Christian population of India OTL was descended from high-caste and Jewish families who were converted by St. Thomas, and the caste system works to prevent evalgelizing by the original converts, why not make the POD that St. Thomas converts different people?

This is a good point but this gives you a higher risk of Thomas being killed as a troublemaker. IOTL he travelled all over S. India but what happens if he lands at Cochin, starts preaching to the untouchables and pissess off the local elites? They have him killed and he never gets to do the extended missionary journey he did IOTL.
 
A Christian India would be very fascinating.
I think it's very likely that if it happened, the major Hindu gods (Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu), could become indentified with the three major parts of god in Christianity. It probably wouldn't be the Trinity, of course (It might just be Brahma and one of the other two), but it seems likely that Brahma could become identified with God the Father, possibly with Shiva as Jesus. Lesser gods might become associated with saints.
 
This is a good point but this gives you a higher risk of Thomas being killed as a troublemaker. IOTL he travelled all over S. India but what happens if he lands at Cochin, starts preaching to the untouchables and pissess off the local elites? They have him killed and he never gets to do the extended missionary journey he did IOTL.

He just got what was always a great boost for any beginning religion, a great story of martyrdom.

"St. Thomas' martyrdom in defense of the Church in Cochin led to renewed missionary activity by his followers. Spreading tales of his life and works, those who were once known as "untouchables" spread the leavening Word of Christ across the land."
-A Concise History of the Indian Church, St. Thomas University, Cochin
 
A Christian India would be very fascinating.
I think it's very likely that if it happened, the major Hindu gods (Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu), could become indentified with the three major parts of god in Christianity. It probably wouldn't be the Trinity, of course (It might just be Brahma and one of the other two), but it seems likely that Brahma could become identified with God the Father, possibly with Shiva as Jesus. Lesser gods might become associated with saints.

Actually Jesus would be more identified with Vishnu instead of Shiva.
 
The "People of the Book" is a Islamic tearm, not a christian one. But telleing
Buddhist that they are following the teaching of a saint, st.josephata could work.
 
Hi- I'm one of them. The trouble is getting Christianity to become widespread. Caste is going to be a huge problem- IOTL the St. Thomas Christians are relatively high caste- if Christianity extends to the lower castes it's not going to be a very unified religion.

Hrmm. I'm not entirely comfortable projecting the modern caste system onto ancient India.
 
Hrmm. I'm not entirely comfortable projecting the modern caste system onto ancient India.

Even if you don't project the caste system on ancient India, there is still going to be a class structure (just not as fully formed as the modern caste system).

What do you think of the idea Christianity could prove more successful in India if it was aimed at the lower classes? In the Roman Empire, Christianity started out much the same way, as a lower-class religion that eventually gained ruling class converts.

With Cochin as the Seat of St. Thomas the Apostle, with a Patriarch who claims direct succession from St. Thomas, and perhaps a merge with Buddhist monasteries escaping destruction at the hands of the Muslims, I think you would have a pretty large and well-organized Christian Church in India.
 
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