Moreover, they make their gods black and their devils
white, and the images of their saints they do paint black all over.[NOTE 5]
They have such faith in the ox, and hold it for a thing so holy, that when
they go to the wars they take of the hair of the wild-ox, whereof I have
elsewhere spoken, and wear it tied to the necks of their horses; or, if
serving on foot, they hang this hair to their shields, or attach it to
their own hair. And so this hair bears a high price, since without it
nobody goes to the wars in any good heart. For they believe that any one
who has it shall come scatheless out of battle.[NOTE 6]
NOTE 1. - The little town where the body of St. Thomas lay was MAILAPUR the
name of which is still applied to a suburb of Madras about 3-1/2 miles
south of Fort St. George.
NOTE 2. - The title of Avarian, given to St. Thomas by the Saracens, is
judiciously explained by Joseph Scaliger to be the Arabic Hawariy (pl.
Hawariyun), 'An Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.' Scaliger somewhat
hypercritically for the occasion finds fault with Marco for saying the
word means "a holy man." (De Emendatione Temporum, Lib. VII., Geneva,
1629, p. 680.)
NOTE 3. - The use of the earth from the tomb of St Thomas for miraculous
cures is mentioned also by John Mangnolli, who was there about 1348-1349.
Assemani gives a special formula of the Nestorians for use in the
application of this dust, which was administered to the sick in place of
the unction of the Catholics. It ends with the words "Signatur et
sanctificatur hic Hanana (pulvis) cum hac Taibutha (gratia) Sancti
Thomae Apostoli in sanitatem et medelam corporis et animae, in nomen P. et
F. et S.S." (III. Pt. 2, 278.) The Abyssinians make a similar use of the
earth from the tomb of their national Saint Tekla Haimanot. (J.R.G.S.
X. 483.) And the Shiahs, on solemn occasions, partake of water in which
has been mingled the dust of Kerbela.
Fa hian tells that the people of Magadha did the like, for the cure of
headache, with earth from the place where lay the body of Kasyapa, a
former Buddha. (Beal, p. 133.)
[Illustration: The Little Mount of St. Thomas, near Madras.]
NOTE 4. - Vague as is Polo's indication of the position of the Shrine of
St. Thomas, it is the first geographical identification of it that I know
of, save one.
