The story of the Thomas Christians in the eighteenth century is dark, obscure, distorted and for the most part highly unedifying. The difficulty arises not from the lack of authorities – there are, if anything, almost too many – but from the tendentious character of most of them; and, as Bishop Brown tartly observes, ‘the assessment of the relative reliability of contradictory statements is almost impossible because no records seem to have been kept in the Jacobite Church at the time’.

Account has to be taken of no fewer than six bodies or systems. Rome continued to appoint bishops of Cochin, but as the Dutch refused permission for any Portuguese bishop to reside in the territory which they controlled these appointments were little more than nominal. In the same way archbishops were appointed to Cranganore, but with limited opportunities for effective service. The Carmelites succeeded in winning the favour, or at least the tolerance, of the Dutch, and a continuous succession of vicars apostolic was maintained. The dissident Syrians were under the rule of their own bishops, all of whom took the name Mar Thomas, until in 1772 Mar Thomas VI changed his name to Dionysius. At various times Eastern prelates of differing allegiances succeeded in making their way to India and in establishing themselves for longer or shorter periods among the Thomas Christians.