Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar (1736-1799) is the author of Varthamanapusthakam (1790), the first ever travelogue in an Indian language [1]. He was Administrator (Governador) of the Archdiocese of Cranganore from 1786 till his death.
He is also considered to be the father of modern Malayalam prose. He was also a polyglot, an efficient administrator and a Roman Catholic priest of Kerala who tried to bring about unity in the Church and also to maintain its unique heritage.
Paremmakkal Thoma was born as the fourth child of Paremmakkal Itty Chandy and Anna of Kadanad in Kottayam district on 10 September 1736. Initially he studied Sanskrit and Syriac from teachers nearby. Then he joined Alengad Seminary to learn Latin and Portuguese and for priesthood. In 1761, he was ordained as a Kathanar (priest). He served as vicar in different churches up to 1778.
Thomma Kathanar made tireless efforts to bring about unity in the Church in Kerala which had split following the Coonan Cross Oath. He also strived to get bishops from among the members of the Catholic Church in Kerala, and also to retain the rich heritage of the Malabar Church. In order to achieve those goals he undertook a hard and perilous journey to Rome in 1778 along with Mar Joseph Kariattil.
The breath-taking description of this journey is recorded in his famous book Varthamanapusthakam, considered to be the first travelogue among all Indian languages. The historic journey to Rome to represent the grievances of Kerala's Syrian Catholics started from the boat jetty in Athirampuzha in 1785. From Athirampuzha they first proceeded to Kayamkulam by a country-boat. The journey then took them to Chinnapattanam, as Chennai was then known. From there they went to Kandy in Ceylon (Sri Lanka of today). From Ceylon they sailed to Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa. They were to sail to Portugal from there but adverse winds drifted their ship in the Atlantic Ocean taking it to the coast of Latin America. A further journey from the Latin American coast took them to their destination.
The journey to the destination took more than a year. While they were in Europe, Mar Joseph Kariattil was ordained in Portugal as the Bishop of Kodungalloor Archdiocese. The two representatives of the Kerala Catholic Church succeeded in convincing the church authorities in Rome and Lisbon about the problems in Kerala Church. On their way back home they stayed in Goa where Mar Kariattil died. When realizing that his end was near, Mar Kariattil appointed Thoma Kathanar as the Governador (governor) of Cranganore Archdiocese after him [2], and handed over the cross, chain and ring, the tokens of his power, which had been presented to him by the Portuguese queen.
The new Governador administered the affairs of the church establishing his headquarters at Angamaly. In 1792, the headquarters of the Archdiocese had to be shifted to Vadayar because of the attacks of Tippu Sultan. In the last four years of his life, Thoma Kathanar managed church administration from his own parish, Ramapuram.
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar remained the Governador for thirteen years. He died on 20 March 1799.
Vathamanapusthakam was first published in the 18th century [3] but was first printed in Malayalam in 1936. The manuscript of the book is kept at the St Thomas Christian Museum in Kochi [4].