ABSTRACT
A close reading of the Jornada, a travelogue by the controversial Portuguese figure, Archbishop Alexis de Menezes, reveals avaricious colonial motives and less so an ecclesiastical mission for the alleged "return" of "heretical" Thomas Christians in the sixteenth century. The study challenges prevailing assumptions among scholars around the "conversion" of the Thomas Christians and their movement from one denomination to another during Portuguese colonialism. This chapter traces how the Portuguese colonial powers strategized Catholic sacraments and how the Thomas Christians promptly interpreted the sacrament of confirmation as a colonial tactic; how the Portuguese used military alliances, especially the brother-in-arms contract, to subdue Thomas Christians; how the Western notion of the "amok" evolved from the Portuguese witnessing Thomas Christian fighters and their supporters; and ultimately how the labelling of Thomas Christians as heretics was primarily a political move.
