Marth Mariam Church, Kuravilangad

The Marth Mariam Syro-Malabar Church at Kuravilangad, Kottayam district, is regarded by India's St Thomas Christians as their Mother Church. It claims to date from 105 AD. Christians have lived at Kuravilangad since the 1st century; tradition says the Pakalomattom and Sankarapuri families, baptised by St Thomas at Palayur, later settled here.

The church is tied to a story of children who, lost and hungry while tending sheep, saw a woman with a child holding a cross; she turned stones into bread and drew a spring from the ground with her fingers. The church keeps an old bell engraved Mother of God in Syriac, and three large bells brought from Germany in 1911, described as among the largest in Asia. It is also known for the Kappalottam, a racing-ship ritual recalling the story of Jonah and the whale.