Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Avur Church, Pudukottai

Avur Church, Pudukottai
The Roman Catholic Church at Avur is situated in the village of Avur, 28 kilometers (17 mi) from the town of Pudukkottai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was constructed by Rev. John Venatius Bachet in 1547. The church was rebuilt in 1747. The renowned Italian missionary and Tamil scholar Joseph Beschi served in this church. The Easter Passion play followed by car Festivals, takes place in summer, which attracts people of all faiths.

Once it was the centre for Christian mission not only for Pudukkottai but also for adjoining places of Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Ramanathapuram districts.
Historical Background
Avur is a hamlet near the Pudukkottai - Tiruchirappalli border and was the birthplace of the Sangam poet Avur kizhar.
The village is named as ‘a + oor’ (‘cow-village’), it is claimed, because of the large number of wild bulls and cows that came to drink water in an oorani (drinking water tank) on the outskirts of a jungle here.
Avur in the 15th and 16th centuries was a sparsely inhabited spot in the territories of the Palayakarars of Perambur-Kattalur. Early in the 17th century Father Robert De Nobili of the Madurai Mission extended its jurisdiction to Tiruchirappalli. Later Father Emmanuel Martins selected Avur, a quieter place, for his Mission. The Perambur-Kattalur Palayakarars gifted him the site at Avur in 1686. The place came under the jurisdiction of the Kolattur Tondaimans and later, under the Tondaimans.
Church & Missionary Activities
There is an interesting chapel built in 1747. This monument is built in the form of a cross, 240 feet in length, and 38 feet in width and 28 feet in height. Its eight columns support a dome 56 feet above the pavement.
One of the first missionaries at Avur, Father Venantius Bouchet, who joined the Madurai Mission in 1688, wanted to make Avur a Christian centre of substantial importance. He raised a large compound enclosing the place for the use of the missionaries, the site of the church and shelters for the benefit of visiting Christians. The chapel in particular engaged his imaginative attention. With contributions from well-wishers and the Tondaiman, an impressive chapel stronger than mere mud walls and thatched roofs, which, until then had been the only materials used in Mission buildings, was completed in 1697.

Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman, the founder of the line of Pudukkottai Tondaimans, visited Avur in 1711 to meet the Bishop of Santhome, who was making his first pastoral trip to the Madurai Mission and to Avur. The king treated the visiting priest with great courtesy. This gesture by one who was not a Christian by religion is of obvious significance.
The fortunes of the church declined very suddenly in 1716. The prevailing political strife between the Nayak rulers and the Tondaimans, led to the destruction of the church to its foundations.

Father Homem, who worked amidst enormous dangers and difficulties, rebuilt the chapel in 1747 at a site about two furlongs to the southeast. The new one was larger, but much of the earlier plan was retained. The chapel seen in Avur today is this monument.

A poignant incident took place in 1732 when the celebrated Veerama Munivar was in temporary charge of the church. The incident is narrated in General History of Pudukkottai State "Some soldiers of the Tondaiman, having managed to steal some bullocks from the Mughal army not far from Avur, the Mughal soldiers became furious, and coming to the Missionary required him either to return the bullocks immediately or to surrender himself to them as prisoner.
The missionary that had to answer the charge was Rev. Fr. Beschi who was then in temporary charge of Avur. As getting the bullocks back was not in his power, he quietly submitted to the alternative proposed by the soldiers. The infuriated soldiers immediately chained him and led him to their camp amidst insult and menaces, and as they found that their prisoner bore all the ill-treatment with unruffled equanimity, they became so exasperated that they had him tied, and, stripping him of his clothes exposed him to the midday sun.

As soon as this, however, came to the knowledge of the chief, Chanda Sahib, he issued immediately orders for the prisoner's release. The chief tenderly embraced the missionary and told him to sit by his side; then he protested that what had happened to him had been done without his knowledge. Having witnessed the honour paid to the missionary the soldiers, who, a short while before, had insulted him, began also to do him honour. As a matter of fact, the danger the Father had incurred became the occasion of his safety and that of the village.
This was the first place in the Pudukkottai tract to be occupied by the Jesuits. Once it was the main center of Christian propaganda not only for Pudukkottai but also for Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Ramanathapuram.
Veerama Munivar
A grateful Tamil community has immortalized Father Constant Joseph Beschi, the Italian missionary, by calling him reverentially Veerama Munivar and by installing his statute on the Marina beach in Chennai as one of the twenty Tamil savants. His contributions to Tamil are many fold.
Connectivity

Avur ('aa-voor') is located at 35 kilometers from Tiruchi and 50 kilometers from Pudukkottai. City bus and Taxi services are available from Tiruchi and Pudukkottai.