By the south-Indian tradition the bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth landed on the Malabar coast in 825 and the church at Quilon rose under royal favour. Kerala has counted its years from that arrival ever since — the Kollam era, still used in the state's calendar and still, in 2026, running in the twelfth century. A church foundation on the far edge of the Persian church's reach became a civil epoch, and the copper plates of 849 confirm the community that kept it.
Tharisapalli copper plates