WHERE WAS THE TOMBSTONE OF SIMEON DE MIRANDA (d. 1524) DISCOVERED?

In the previous post, I discussed about  how I  came across perhaps the oldest extant European grave marker in India inside the St Francis Church of Fort Kochi. Every day hundreds of tourists flock to see the grave monument of the famous European explorer, Vasco da Gama, who died on a Christmas Eve in the year 1524 and was initially buried in this church. However, I doubt anyone is aware of a tombstone lying at a remote corner in the same church, which is 4 months older than that of Gama's grave slab. It was quite a surprise find to me because the whereabouts of this grave marker was long thought to be untraceable (Bauke van der Pol, 2014, p. 183). What is more important is that the headstone was not originally part of St Francis church, but was discovered elsewhere and brought to the church afterwards. We learn the site of its discovery from Julian James Cotton (1905, p. 272). In his words, "the oldest European tombstone in South India, brought to light while digging the foundations of the new Port Office". He also reports of finding two more tombstones from the compound of the new Port Office at Parade Road. In the inventory given by Roberts and Chekkutty (2017, p. 162), the discovery occurred at the Post Office compound in the Parade Road. Now, where is this 'Port Office' in Fort Cochin today? It took me some time to figure out the actual site, since a Port Office at Parade Road is unknown and tombstones retrieved from Post Office compound are also unheard of. Nonetheless, Fort Cochin’s Head Post Office, just behind the historic St Francis Church, was the location of an early 16th century Portuguese Monastery named after San Antonio or St Antony (Bernard, 1955, p. 12). 

It turns out, the new Port Office referred here was built by the British in late 19th century close to the site where stood a flagstaff tower. The tower was not any ordinary building, but the steeple of Santa Cruz Cathedral built by the Portuguese in early 16th century. This imposing structure was a characteristic feature of old Cochin’s skyline. Almost three centuries ago, in 1739, Captain Alexander Hamilton (vol. 1, p. 239) wrote: “Their Flag-staff is placed on the Steeple of the old Cathedral, on a Mast of 75-Foot-high, and a Staff a-top of it about 60 Foot, which is the highest I ever saw; and the Flag may be seen above 7 Leagues off”. I don't think many are aware that the current impressive Santa Cruz Cathedral at Fort Cochin is only a monument from 1905, and is located about 400 m south of the original Portuguese monument. Traditionally, Portuguese established the Santa Cruz Church on 3rd May,1505, and it was raised to a cathedral in 1558. The Dutch after conquering Cochin in 1663, transformed the cathedral to a storage place with a flagpole. The only other church they spared was the St Francis church which was converted into a Protestant place of worship. It should be noted that there were more than a dozen Portuguese churches inside Fort Cochin before the Dutch, but all have vanished without any trace today! The Dutch rule ended with the conquest of Malabar by the British in 1795.

 

In 1804-1806 period, the British blew up the nave of Santa Cruz Cathedral on strategic grounds, but retained the church-tower to be used for a look-out and signal station, which also functioned as a flagstaff. Sir Charles Allen Lawson (1860, pp. 20-21) describes this demolition in graphic detail, and I think its worthwhile to quote the full passage: "The Tower is a valuable relic of an order of architecture not to be seen in any part of the East but on this coast. With walls at least six feet thick, and strong supporting beams and buttresses one would imagine it had been erected to resist an apprehended bombardment. The nave built from east to west must have covered a large piece of ground, judging from a few traces lately brought to light: and the Dutch showed their appreciation of its spaciousness by making it their principal godown, or warehouse, whilst the English with an eye to a very questionable advantage soon considered it occupied too large a site, and without any hesitation blew it up. The shock was singularly great, and not only were walls and buildings near this spot riven, but a street of godowns on the parade ground a quarter of a mile off, and the upper story_of_the_ present Post Office-by no means a slight erection fell in with a crash. The Tower though seriously injured stood the shock bravely, and its insolation induced the English to continue the use made of it by the Dutch." 

 

In 1863, the tower was struck by lightning and the structural damage inflicted was heavy, the walls cracked and bulged, so the British demolished the building in 1874 (Venn, 1950, p. 34). The last remaining section of the historic Santa Cruz Cathedral was thus erased from history completely. It is around this area, the new Port Office was built and the tombstones were discovered. Therefore, Simeon Miranda was probably buried in the Santa Cruz Cathedral on 8 August, 1524, we do not know where exactly, but it could be either in the churchyard or inside the cathedral. Near the Cathedral was also the  small canal or point within the Fort called Overijsel by the Dutch. Today, two pillars of the old cathedral have survived, one displayed in the compound of the modern Santa Cruz Cathedral and the other on the beach side, opposite to Bastion Bungalow. 

We learn from Cotton (1905) that out of the three tombstones discovered, the grave marker of Manoel de Ceabra (d. 10th June, 1641) was reburied, where found, under the gatehouse of the Port Office, and it had a very fine coat of arms with cross keys. Apparently, the gravestone of Lobo da Gama (undated) is lost and the only one left is that of Simeon Miranda, which was transferred to St. Francis Church. Venn, T W (1950, pp. 35-36) has more details about these tombstones. He however dates Miranda's epitaph to 1534 (instead of 1524); identifies Manoel de Coimbra (‘Ceabra’ in Cotton), the Vicar-General of the See (Santa Cruz Cathedral), whose “dusty bones” were re-interred where it had been found-under the porch; and reports the black granite tombstone of Lobo Gama discovered under a newly planted Mango tree. 

 

When was Miranda’s tombstone transferred to St Francis church? As Cotton does not include the epitaph in his list of 28 Portuguese tombstones inside the church, I was under the impression that it was done after 1905. Thanks to Rene ten Dam, I could access the “Portuguese Inscriptions of the St Francis Church”, by Peiloth, M. D. in 1886. In this rare booklet, Peiloth has given sketches of 28 Portuguese tombstones inside the church, and the last name is of Simeon Miranda. Therefore, it is certain that Miranda’s gravestone was transferred to the church from the Port Office compound before 1886. We know, Manoel Coimbara (Ceabra) was re-interred at the same site where it was discovered, but what happened to Lobo Gama’s tombstone? Could it be one of the large black unidentified (without inscriptions) Portuguese tombstone displayed in the St Francis church? (see my early post). 

 

In the current context, the site of old Santa Cruz Cathedral is near the ‘Nehru (Jawahar) Children's Park’, close to the area of Cochin’s famous ‘Chinese fishing nets’ (Cheenavala). The historic buildings near the old Port Office until recently functioned as Laurel Club, Coal Shed (Karipura), Gear Shed etc. All were demolished on 6 December, 2020 for a Water Metro Jetty (Terminal) proposed by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL)!

 

Pictorial representation of Santa Cruz Cathedral of Fort Cochin extracted from old paintings.

The red arrow marks the position of Santa Cruz Cathedral in the image. Photo Credit: 1-Johannes Vinckboons, Rijksmuseum; 2-Philippus Baldaeus, in 'A True and Exact Description of the Most Celebrated East-India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel'; 3-Rijksmuseum, published by Bauke van der Pol in 'The Dutch East India Company in India'; 4-Thomas Whitehouse, in 'Some Historical Notices of Cochin on the Malabar Coast'; 5-Online Gallery, British Library; 6-James Forbes in 'Oriental Memoirs'; 7-Thomas Whitehouse, in 'Some Historical Notices of Cochin on the Malabar Coast'; 8-Charles Lawson in 'British and Native Cochin'.

 

Two rare photographs of the tower of old Santa Cruz Cathedral before it was demolished in 1874 

Photo Credit: A-Albrecht Frenz in 'Reise nach Malabar' (1-Church Tower, 2-Warehouse & 3-Tower Road); B-British Library, image retrieved from Wikipedia  

 

 Pillars supposedly from the old Santa Cruz Cathedral

 

Location of the Old Santa Cruz Cathedral

The area behind these Chinese fishing nets, where the present 'Kochi Water Metro Terminal' is coming up, is close to the site of the extinct Portuguese Santa Cruz Cathedral. The three Chinese nets in the image are known as: 1) Karipura net, 2) Bank net and 3) Society net. The Karipura net (1) is known that way, because it was close to the Coal Shed  (Karipura) in the region (demolished with 2 other buildings in 2020).

 

The Site Near Former Santa Cruz Cathedral (November, 2022)

 

References

Bauke van der Pol (2014)-The Dutch East India Company in India.

Bernard, K L (1995)-History of Fort Cochin

Cotton, Julian James (1905)-List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras
Hamilton, Alexander (1739)- A New Account of the East-Indies, Volume 1
Lawson, Charles (1860)-British and Native Cochin 

Peiloth, M D (1886)-Portuguese Inscriptions of St Francis Church

Roberts, John Cantwell and Chekkutty, N P (2017)-Malabar Christian Memorials-Wynad to Travancore, 1498-2014
Venn, T W (1950)-Cochin-Malabar Palms and Pageants

(A special thanks to Rene ten Dam for Peiloth (1886) and extracts from Venn (1950), both extremely difficult to find).