[2][3] He was a prominent face of the Saint Thomas Christians and lead their Catholic faction during a turbulent period of divisions in the community after the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653.

He was widely reputed for his knowledge in Syriac language and literature, and was often praised, both among his own community and the European missionaries who wrote about him in their letters addressed to the Portuguese monarch and to the Pope.

Therefore, the Saint Thomas Christian priests wrote a petition and presented it to the Portuguese viceroy Dom Philip Mascarenhas in 1645, complaining about the abuses that face from their ecclesiastical administrators.

[6] István Perczel, a leading expert on the Saint Thomas Christians,[7] observes as follows:[6] "The stories of the short-lived Congregation of Saint Thomas and of this petition shed an interesting light on the combination of Latinisation and racism that triggered conflicts between the Europeans and a highly learned local elite, who were revolting not against the Catholic faith itself but rather against these twin social tendencies.

On c. 1653 January 3, the Saint Thomas Christians held a protest against the ecclesiastical subjugation from Garcia and the Portuguese Padroado Jesuits that came to be known as the Coonan Cross Oath.

Some are of the opinion that these letters might be forged by Anjilimoottil Itty Thommen Kathanar, an old priest and the vicar of the Kallissery Knanaya Church who was a skilled Syriac writer.

[8] One such letter was read at a meeting at Edappally on 5 February 1653 by Kadavil Chandy Kathanar which gave the Archdeacon Thomas far-reaching jurisdictional power.

Subsequently, was made one of the four advisors given to Archdeacon and he likewise defended Thomas’s episcopal consecration on 22 May 1653 in Alangad [6] based on another letter attributed to Ahathalla.

Before leaving Kerala, Sebastiani consecrated Palliveettil Chandy as the Metran of the Thomas Christians who adhered to the Church of Rome[14][15][16] at Kaduthuruthy Knanaya Valiypally on February 1, 1663.

The copyist was part of the parish of Marth Mariam Church at Kallūṛkkāṭû (Kalloorkkad, present day Champakkulam), Alappuzha, Kerala.

The poem’s title, possibly given by the copyist, reads: Mēmra dawīd l'qaśīśā aleksandrōs hendwāyā deskannī l'mēnāyā d'al qurbān m'śīhā, nemmar b'qal sāgdīnan (Syriac, lit.

"Poetic homily by Father Priest Elder Alexander the Indian, who is called ‘At the Port’ (Kadavil), about the sacrifice of Christ (Holy Qurbana), in the tune of Sāgdīnan”).

[1] Joseph J. Palackal, an Indic musicologist who has studied the poem, explains its rhyming scheme as follows:[2] "There are 22 strophes, one for each letter in the Syriac alphabet.