The narratives of Joseph the IndianIntroduction: In the famous collection "Asian Educational Services" we find a book, Church History ofTravancore, printed in 1990 (a reprint of an 1903 book). Speaking about Joseph the Indian, the author, C.M.Agur, says as follows: "When the Portuguese arrived in Malabar in 1498 they were quite surprised to find anumerous body of Christians, Nestorians in belief, ignorant alike of the Latin tongue and the Roman Pontiff.The Christians received the great Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama with all courtesy and submissivenessand presented him the scepter of their extinct Royal House, in token of their allegiance to him... Seeing that theSyrians had thus done obeisance and implored support, Vasco de Gama and his followers not only grantedformal protection, but they, at once, formed a firm resolution to bring this strange Native Church under theauthority of the See of Rome. Three years subsequent to this, after the first meeting of the Syrians with PadroCabral at Cranganore in 1501 he took two Syrian youths, brothers, with him to Portugal. With great foresightand policy he trained these youths. The elder, Matthias, died at Lisbon; whilst the younger, Joseph, visitedRome and Venice, and after years his experiences were embodied in a book entitled "The travels of Joseph theIndian".A study of the canonical and historical sources of our Church not only gives us an idea of the development ofher life and organization; It also enables us to correct mistakes, which we can find commonly in books treatingof the history of the St. Thomas' Christians. Real history cannot be written without an adequate knowledge ofthe sources. The forenamed author should better have kept silence about subjects for which he was not able, orfor which he had no time to get in touch with the sources. In this short study we will try to enumerate theinformation we get from Joseph the Indian, and we will compare it with witnesses, contemporary to him.1. SourcesMany times we...