Flavian Emperors and their successors were averse to the
oriental luxuries which formed its staple, and in 215 the massacre
ordered by Caracalla dealt a blow to the commercial importance of
Alexandria from which it did not recover for a long time. Thus the
period when intercourse between Egypt and India was most active is
anterior to the period when Christianity began to spread: it is hardly
likely that in 70 or 80 A.D. there were many Christians in Egypt.

As already mentioned, colonies of Christians from Persia settled on
the west coast of India, where there are also Jewish colonies of
considerable antiquity. The story that this Church was founded by St.
Thomas and that his relics are preserved in south India has not been
found in any work older than Marco Polo.[1080] Cosmas Indicopleustes
states that the Bishop of Kalliana was appointed from Persia, and this
explains the connection of Nestorianism with southern India, for at
that time the Nestorian Catholicos of Ctesiphon was the only Christian
prelate tolerated by the Persian Government.

This Church may have had a considerable number of adherents for it was
not confined to Malabar, its home and centre, but had branches on the
east coast near Madras. But it was isolated and became corrupt. It is
said that in 660 it had no regular ministry and in the fourteenth
century even baptism had fallen into disuse. Like the popular forms of
Mohammedanism it adopted many Hindu doctrines and rites. This implies
on the one hand a considerable exchange of ideas: on the other hand,
if such reformers as Ramanuja and Ramananda were in touch with these
Nestorians we may doubt if they would have imbibed from them the
teaching of the New Testament. There is evidence that Roman Catholic
missions on their way to or from China landed in Malabar during the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and made some converts. In 1330
the Pope sent a Bishop to Quilon with the object of bringing the
Nestorians into communion with the see of Rome. But the definite
establishment of Roman Catholicism dates from the Portuguese conquest
of Goa in 1510, followed by the appointment of an Archbishop and the
introduction of the Inquisition. Henceforth there is no difficulty in
accounting for Christian influence, but it is generally admitted that
the intolerance of the Portuguese made them and their religion
distasteful to Hindus and Moslims alike. We hear, however, that Akbar,
desiring to hear Christian doctrin