St Thomas in Taxila

Among its proudest displays, the Cathedral of Lahore exhibits a small cross in a glass case. Known as the Taxila Cross, it was found in 1935 just outside the ruins of Sirkap, the second city of Taxila, and is commonly believed to signify that Christianity had taken root in the subcontinent shortly after the crucifixion of Christ.

The ‘proof’ supporting this theory is a manuscript titled The Acts of St Thomas that was discovered in 1822 in Syria. According to this document, St Thomas having been assigned by Jesus to teach the gospel in India, arrived by boat at the seaside capital of King Gondophares. Working miracles, he successfully converted the king and all his subjects to Christianity.

Now, whenever the Acts was compiled and even in 1822 when it surfaced in Syria, Taxila had not yet been discovered. Only serious historians well-acquainted with the history of Alexander knew that it lay somewhere to the east of the Indus River in Punjab – and not by the sea as the manuscript claims. Therefore whoever wrote the spurious document on St Thomas had only a smattering of history.

When the cross was discovered in 1935, Cuthbert King the British deputy commissioner of Rawalpindi, evidently knew of The Acts of St Thomas and seized upon this find as ‘proof’ of the existence of Christianity in Punjab as early as the 1st century CE. His belief was strengthened by the fact that newly-excavated Sirkap did indeed date back to the 1st century.

Driven by religious zeal, King completely overlooked the fact that the cross was not discovered inside any identifiable stratum of the ruins but outside in a field by a farmer. And so based entirely on ignorance and enthusiasm, the belief took root that St Thomas had converted northern Punjab to Christianity at a very early date.

According to historians the cross and its derivative the swastika are two of the oldest talismans in much of the world and coins found from Taxila pre-dating Christianity are marked with the cross. Of paramount interest in this regard is the statement of Minucius Felix, a Christian writer of the early 3rd century CE. He states that the Christians ‘neither want nor worship the cross as the pagans do.’ This was so because under the Romans, crucifixion was a common method of implementing the death sentence – and until they had converted, the Romans were famous for executing Christians on the cross.

It was not until the 4th century when emperor Theodosius (reigned 379-95) had abolished death by crucifixion that cross lost its cruel and oppressive connotation and came to be used as a symbol of faith recalling the suffering of Christ. It was only then that Christians began to use the cross as a talisman around the neck or in their homes and churches.

Consequently, even if the Taxila Cross had actually been found within a verifiable stratum in the excavation and pre-dated the reign of emperor Theodosius, it would not have signified the existence of Christianity in Punjab in the 1st century CE.