Aapla Yeshu

Carols are an intrinsic Christmas tradition but in this town you are more likely to hear Baal Janmale Vishwa Anandle the child was born and the world rejoiced or Gaayichya Gothyaat Khrista Janmala the Christ was born in a manger than Silent Night Along with marzipan and plum cakes you will also be served shankarpali and laddoos And they say that this is the best place for a delicious kheema pattyWersquore referring to Vasai a town and village at the same time located around 55 km from Mumbai where the traditional Christian values are combined with a unique Maharashtrian touch While most may know it because of the historical Vasai Fort few are aware of the history tied to it and what it stands forAccording to the 2011 census 110860 Christians live in Vasai Taluka making up 825 per cent of the local population The community is believed to be as old as Christianity itselfFather Francis Correa Fleur DrsquoSouza and Pascal Roque LopesldquoIn historical records there are references to Christians being present in Kalyan from the sixth century itselfrdquo says Father Francis Correa a retired priest who has also been Editor of Suvarta the local Christian newspaper ldquoAnd we must bear in mind that the Kalyan of today is much smaller that the area that was collectively known by the same name in earlier times before being divided into towns and railway stationsrdquoHe tells us that records of the Archdiocese of Bombay refer to a bishop being present in erstwhile Kalyan and this indicates a sizeable Christian populationldquoThe next referencerdquo says the priest who is also a historian in his own right ldquois from 1321 when a certain Father Jordanus a Frenchman landed at Thana port He and four other Franciscan missionaries were on their way to Kerala but their ship had to halt due to a storm From Thana Father Jordanus came to Sopara where he found a significant number of Christians However these were nominal Christians and he baptised them From here on Christianity picked up againrdquoThe fort is dotted with markers of history including tombs of Portuguese nobles and knights dating back to the 16th centuryThen came the 16th century and with it the Portuguese which led to another wave and the construction of the Vasai Fort Inside this fort are four ChurchesmdashFranciscan Dominican Augustinian and Jesuitmdashstanding for the four phases of Christianity in the districtldquoWith the Portuguese takeover of Bassein Vasai Salsette Suburban Mumbai and Thana several people were converted to the Roman Catholic form of Christianityrdquo says Fleur DrsquoSouza former head of the History department at St Xavierrsquos College whose research can be found on the Archdiocese of Bombay website It includes references to the Christian community in erstwhile Kalyan and Father JordanusldquoThese Italians were hosted by the 15 odd Christian Nestorian families found in the port city of Thana Friar Jordanus himself was serving a Christian community in Sopara now Nallasopara Since Kalyan Sopara Chaul Revdanda and Thana have been at varied points in time portcities claiming internationally mixed populations with an ancient tradition of trade links with West Asia it follows that Christians could be counted among the demographicrdquo the website states DrsquoSouza adds that there is documentary evidence for all of this contentFr Correa has a dark tale to share about the visiting ItaliansldquoThis was during Mughal rule and there was a kazi where the missionaries had landedrdquo he says ldquoHe was hearing a dispute between husband and wife and incidentally this same couple was hosting the missionaries Hence they appeared as witnesses in the case When the kazi asked them a loaded religious question their answer was not to his satisfaction and he sentenced the four missionaries to death They are recorded as martyrs in historical recordsrdquoSubsequently Jordanus brought their bodies to Sopara and buried them near St Thomas Church Unfortunately as the landscape kept shifting and names of places kept changing this church and the four graves are forever lost in time Vasai itself has undergone so many changes in name from Bassie and then Bahadurpur during Mughal rule Bassein in the Portuguese era and Bajipur after the Marathas liberated it from the Portuguese before becoming urban Vasai Sopara earlier known as Shurparak was a bustling trade hub since before the birth of Christ and some of the artefacts in the Temple of Solomon in Mesopotamia are from SoparaPresent day Christians in Vasai have grown up listening to these storiesldquoDuring British rule when local Christians learned that the East India Company was hiring Christians from Goa and Mangalore they were outraged and formed an organisation through which to demand jobs and other rightsrdquo says Rachita Dabre a content writer who lives in Vasai with her parents ldquoThey called themselves East Indians while writing to the Queen of England to pledge their allegiance and the name stuckrdquoToday Vasairsquos Christians are divided into four subcommunities There are the Samvedi Brahmins who converted from Hinduism to Christianity the Wadvals indigenous people who used to work in the wadis of Vasai Kolis the fisherfolk and the sutaars and the dhobis Among these there are some who changed their surnames and there are also those that didnrsquot Hence the Christians of Vasai have a mix of surnames some are Anglican while others are MaharashtrianldquoWe follow all the tenets of Christianity but we also have our own unique touchrdquo said Vasai based coin and fort historian Pascal Roque Lopez ldquoWe sing more Marathi carols written by locals performers than English ones during Christmas Our snacks include typical Maharashtrian goodies such as chakli and karanji along with the traditional ones marzipan and cakes And since many of our forefathers would raise their own livestock in their backyards our meat is always fresh You wonrsquot find better mutton patties anywhere other than Vasairdquo