Kerala has been an open field for the missionaries of all religions. Of all religious groups ,the Syrian Christian are special to Kerala. The first of this group is said to have baptised by St: Thomas who landed at Kodungallur in AD 52. He converted several people including a group of high-caste Numbudiris to Christian community. ‘Chronique de Seert’ has references to the visit of David Dudi, the Bishop of Assyria between 295 and 300 AD. Thomas the Manichan in 277 AD and Thomas of Cana in 8th the century showed missionary zeal.

Three separate groups of Jews landed at Kodungallur in 68, 370 and 490 AD. The edict of 999-1000 of Bhaskara Ravi Varman of Kodungallur conferred upon the Jew, Joseph Rabban the Title and Coat of Arms of a Naduvazhi with rights to land and collect taxes etc. By the Tharisappally Edict of 849 AD, the Venad Aayyanadigal granted lands to a Christian Church. The Jews are supposed to have first come in King’s Solomon’s ship as traders and later as refugees in AD 69 fleeing Jerusalem because of the persecution of Cyrus. Even when the atrocities in Jerusalem was over, many of them were reluctant to return and remained in Kerala. Some of them have recently migrated to Israel after the realisation of their ‘Promised Land’. The first Jewish Synagogue in India is in Mala, though the most renowned one is at Mattancherry. While the Jewish diaspora languished for centuries under oppressive conditions in Europe, the Jews in Kerala were equal citizens, prominent in trade and public life. In 644 AD, Malik –bin- Deenar arrived in Kerala to build mosques and spread Islam.

All these diverse visitors were welcomed by the rulers and the response from the natives towards the calls for conversions belied all expectations. The lower classes among them who were oppressed for generations found their Messiah in the Christian Missionaries. A Christian did not suffer from untouchability and this improved one’s status in society. There has never been such peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths. But there had been some troubles also. The Portuguese succeeded in banishing the Jews from Kodungallur

The Muslims of Kerala are the descendents of the Arab traders who came to Kerala and married locally and finally settled down here. The Arabs who landed here after the Jewish men, brought the first wave of Muslims settlers. They were the first peoples to build the first Mosque in this sub-continent at Kodungallur. They concentrated in the Malabar area and up to the 18th century they were mostly agricultural labourers, petty traders and soldiers in the Zamorin’s army. The agriculturists in Malabar were oppressed under a system of land tenure in which the landlord had a strangle hold on them. They were accused of throwing their lot with Hyder Ali and Tippu during their invasions. There were forced conversions and selective liquidations also. After the British restored peace, the Hindus who suffered started taking it out on the Muslims. Since the land mostly belonged to the Hindus, there were peasant uprisings, which gradually got a communal tinge, which was later termed as Mopilah rebellion of 1921. Subsequently, It gained momentum and developed into a peasant revolt- the peasants were Muslims and the land lords were Hindus, among whom the Namboodiris were predominant. The British ruthlessly put down the revolt.

After the British take over in the late 18th century, English language assumed importance. This brought about a tremendous impact upon the life and culture of the Keralites. In this respect, Kerala owes a great deal to the Christian Missionaries. They not only educated the people but also introduced health-care programmes. They were careful not to disturb the majority community and easily blended into the Kerala culture. Latin was replaced by Malayalm for Church services, and the traditional Kerala ‘nilavilakku’ was brought in replacing candles and they wholeheartedly participated in the Hindu festivities. Thus they enriched Kerala’s ethnic culture.

Intermingling with the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British has had its fall out in the creation of a ‘Eurasian’ community. Most of them are Latin Christians and their culture is distinctly different from the traditional Kerala culture. There were infiltrations from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too and so also Gujaratis and Marwaris, Konkanis, the Gowda Saraswat Brahmins, Shenoys, Parsis, Kudumbis etc. No wonder Swamy Vivekananda called Kerala a ‘lunatic asylum of castes’. Historians poit out that even during the Sangam period, there were no strict divisions based on castes. Caste consciousness and untouchability came much later and it is also difficult to pin point the antiquity of any of the original races now in Kerala. The transformation into a cosmopolitan and egalitarian society was comparatively quick. The inherent tolerence and resillience of all original classes ensured a peaceful reformation. The gradual fusion of various groups have brought about a superficial uniformity.