Devasahayam: The First Martyr For Jesus Christ In Travancore

Travancore was the first and foremost among the princely states of India to receive the message of Jesus Christ. According to tradition, St. Thomas the Apostle came to India in 52 A.D. He made many conversions along the west coast of India. It had to the beginning of the Christian Community in India from the early Christian era. He attained martyrdom in 72 A.D. At Calamina in St. Thomas mount, Madras. He was the first to be sacrificed for the sake of Christ in India. During the close of the second century A.D. The Gospel reached the people of southern most part of India, Travancore. Emperor Constantine deputed Theophilus to India in 354 A.D. To preach the Gospel. During this time the persecution of Christians in Persia seemed to have brought many Christian refugees to Malabar coast and after their arrival it strengthened the Christian community there. During the 4th century A.D. Thomas of Cana, a merchant from West Asia came to Malabar and converted many people. During the 6th century A.D. Theodore, a monk, visited India and reported the existence of a church and a few Christian groups at Mylapore and the monastery of St. Thomas in India. Joannes De Maringoly, Papal Legate who visited Malabar in 1348 has given evidence of the existence of a Latin Church at Quilon. Hosten noted many settlements from Karachi to Cape Comorin and from Cape Comorin to Mylapore. The Portuguese were the first European power to establish their power in India. Under the Portuguese, Christians experienced several changes in their general life and religion. Vas-co-da-gama reached Calicut on May 17, 1498. His arrival marked a new epoch in the history of Christianity in India. Many Syrian Catholics were brought into the Roman Catholic fold and made India, the most Catholic country in the East. Between 1535 to 1537 a group of Paravas were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese. In 1544 a group of fishermen were converted to Christian religion. St. Francis Xavier came to India in the year 1542. He is known as the second Apostle of India. He laid the foundation of Latin Christianity in Travancore. He could make many conversions. He is said to have baptized 30,000 people in South India. Roman Congregation of the propagation of Faith formed a Nemom Mission in 1622. The conversion of the Nairs was given much priority. As a result, several Nairs followed Christian faith particularly around Nemom about 8 k.m. South of Trivandrum. Ettuvitu pillaimars, the feudal chiefs began to persecute the Christians of the Nemom Mission. Martyr Devasahayam, belonged to the Nair community and was executed during the reign of Marthandavarma (1729-1758). It is an important chapter in the History of Christianity in South India in general, and of Travancore in particular.

Risk of Childhood Asthma in a Tropical African Urban Setting: A Case - Control Study at the Aga Khan Hospital, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania

Objective: To determine the modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for childhood asthma in children aged between two and 15years in a tropical urban East-African setting. Methods: Hospital based case-control study matched for age + two months and sex. Data were obtained from parents of cases and controls using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 226 cases of two to 15years old, with physician-confirmed asthma, who met a set of defined clinical criteria and 226 controls with no previous diagnosis or symptoms of asthma matched by sex and age (+two months). The Risk Factors included in this study are broadly classified under family history of asthma, race, socio-economic factors, pre and perinatal factors, comorbid history of eczema or worm infestation and indoor environmental pollution. Setting: The outpatient paediatric clinic at Aga Khan Hospital, a secondary care hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania between July 2012 and January 2013. Results: Of the modifiable risk factors for asthma in this study, maternal smoking during pregnancy yielded an infinite Crude Odds Ratio P = 0.0207. Maternal diet rich in fish and other seafood during pregnancy showed a protective association with asthma (Adjusted Odds Ratio- 0.60; 95% confidence intervals 0.37 – 0.99, P =0.044). A diet rich in milk and dairy products during pregnancy was protective in children older than five years. (Adjusted Odds Ratio - 0.63, 95% confidence intervals 0.38- 1.06, P = 0.024). Family history of asthma is an important non-modifiable asthma risk factor; Paternal Asthma - Adjusted Odds Ratio of 3.14; Confidence Interval 1.49 -6.63, P=0.03), Maternal Asthma - Adjusted Odds Ratio 2.63; 95%Confidence Interval 1.34 – 5.15, P = 0.005and sibling asthma -Adjusted Odds Ratio 2.57; 95%Confidence Interval 1.60 – 4.14, P < 0.0001. Conclusion: Family history of asthma is strongly associated with asthma. Maternal diet during pregnancy is an important modifiable asthma risk factor in the tropical African setting with fish and sea-foods being protective. Further research in a more powered study is required to determine the role of maternal diet rich in milk and dairy products.