Talk:Thoma of Villarvattom

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Articles for deletion This article was nominated for deletion on August 28, 2007. The result of the discussion was keep.

[edit] Questionable Claims

While history does mention the existence of Raja Thoma Villarvattom, I find some rather (unreferenced) tall claims in this article. I will see if I can find any sources for these. If not, I will have to delete them and rewrite the article. I found more information about the Raja here. This information seems to be sourced from the Travancore State Manual. It doesn't make any mention of the claims in this article:

  • Villárvattam is the ancient Christian dynasty of south India who were in power from the 10th century to 14th century AD.
I wouldn't really call it a dynasty, because it was only one King. Also, nowhere does it say that they reigned from the 10th to 14th centuries. It only seems to be one king who converted to Christianity.
  • The Villárvattam Empire was the most powerful one in Ancient Kerala.[citation needed]
This is definitely untrue. First of all, the Kingdom of Villarvattom was far from an empire. Secondly, the area used to be under the power of the Cheras. The contemporary powers at the time of the Rajah where the Calicut, Cochin, and Travancore Kingdoms.
  • The Villárvattam dynasty was founded by King Itty Thomman. According to tradition Itty Thomman's family was merchants in Muziris town(Todays Kodungalloor). When Itty was 17 years old he was kidnapped by Arabs and sold to Turks. The Turks were very cruel to him and forced him to convert to Islam. Itty was never ready to be a Muslim. So the Turks decided to kill him. They threw him to the sea from where he was rescued by a Byzantine Ship.
I'm not sure where this is from. I couldn't find any sources for this. Itty Thomman (from my Google searches) appears to have been a vicar of a Syrian church and also a leader who resisted the efforts of the Portuguese to impose Roman Catholicism on the Syrian Christians.
  • With the help of Byzantines he travelled first to Alexandria and then to Europe. He learned more about european culture, tradition and customs. After serving as a soldier in Europe, he returned back to India. He conquered Muziris and founded a new dynasty.[citation needed]
History doesn't record a Christian King conquering Muziris.

I believe this whole article needs to be rewritten. Villarvattom was an estate of the Chera kings. I think this article should be either deleted or rewritten (and moved) to be just about Raja Thoma Villarvattom. --vi5in[talk] 19:46, 13 August 2007 (UTC)