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History Etched on Stones : St. Thomas Church of Saharanpur
- Dr. D.C. Agrawal
The antiquity of the church goes back to early third decade of 19th century as the first Christian marriage was ceremonised and recorded during 1806. At the direction of Anglican Church of England, the church was made by Mr. James Powell, said to be an English army officer. The Dhamola river of Saharanpur - a tributary to Hindon and ultimately to Yamuna flows along railway line very near to church. The dilapidated structure of the defunct Powell's bridge near the newly built flyover serves as a memory of this army officer. This bridge offered access to the church from western ghats of the river in those days.
There is one earliest English Christian cemetery in Saharanpur,
located in Khatakheri village. After a continuous struggle till 1825, the British finally succeeded in establishing rule of the Company over Saharanpur. Catering to the needs of the Christians settling in Saharanpur, the St. Thomas Church was built around 3rd decade of 19th century. At that time, it was known as Army Church since most of the visitors to the church were army officers and their families. There is even a rifle stand in the large prayer hall to hold the guns of the visiting soldiers. The church's main building reflects Anglo-gothic architecture. The prayer hall also used to have an exquisitely carved Bible-stand made of precious metal near the altar which was present during author's earliest visit to this church in 1974 but unfortunately it is not there now.
Adjacent to the church is the Christians' graveyard of nearly the same period, may be a little later. The earliest grave that can be seen today is of 1861. Older ones are not to be found there any more. Some of the graves have beautiful figures carved on white stone. Made in Anglo-Victorian style, some very charming figures of winged angels and decorative symbolic motifs easily hold attention of the visitors coming to the graveyard.
This site has been surveyed and enlisted by Archeological Survey
of India as a preserved monument.
Mr. Prashant P. Singh (Correspondent, Garhwal Post) comments on the above feature as under: Thanks and warm kudos to Dr Agrawal for a nice piece! But James Powell wasn’t an army officer, as his younger brother was. According to the Imperial Gazetteer, 1881, he was a protégé of the King of Oudh, who nominated him to the office of tehsildar on his royal payroll on the recommendation of Mr Pyron, also a lover of Beghum Samru. At that time, our state was called something like State of Oudh. Inspired by Beghum Samru, as the Pope at time highly commended her and on her donation, James conjured up the idea of building the church. The church, as Dr Agrawal has written, has no dome as only Romans built it in their churches. Gothic people articulated their churches with spires and steeples. Furthermore, I couldn’t understand the meaning of the terms like Anglo-Victorian. The date, which Dr Agrawal mentions about the marriage in 1806, remains figment of his imagination. Dr Agrawal has mentioned that Khatakheri is a piece of Anglo-Indian architecture, I don’t think so. Obelisks have not even remotest affiliation with Indian architecture. The piece remains riddled with such other anomalies. Kindly go through my write-up about James Powell and St Thomas Church, published in Garhwal Post. Prashant P.
Singh
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St.
Thomas Church and the cemetery, now a protected monument of the British period,
located at Church Compound, Saharanpur is a mute, yet eloquent
testimony of the sculptural excellence of the British period. Hardly one km.
from Saharanpur Railway station, the Church and the cemetery stand between rail
line (Saharanpur - Roorkee - Laksar ) and the Bajoria Road. The steeply rising conical
shaped dome of the St. Thomas Church is an inseparable part of Saharanpur's
skyline, visible from great distances even though multi-storey buildings are
now eclipsing the view of this white coloured dome.
The cemetery was build during first decade of 19th century. Its historical
background opens the pages of history when on Dec. 30, 1803, a treaty between
East India Co. and Marathas was signed. The Marathas gave the charge of
Saharanpur to the British who had found it hard to establish their rule over this
geographical region. The top British commanders who had died while fighting to
capture this region were buried here in this graveyard. Nine graves can still be
seen here and the graves are surmounted by monumental canopies and cenotaphs are
made in Anglo-Indian architectural style. Their tombstones and informative stone
plates having inscriptions are not found now. Decorative art motifs made in lime
stucco are remnants somewhere on the structures. The graves are completely
neglected and look more like ruins.
The
most striking pieces of art in this prayer hall are coloured glass
pictures in three windows in the wall of altar. These have been
executed in medieval European Gothic style of art. Catholic Christian religious
themes are seen depicted in these pictures. These pictures immortalize James
Powell who had died in the year 1860. The church has always been an imposing tall
structure standing on a vast expanse of lush green land but the time has
replaced the vast green land with a flyover over railway line and
other modern high-rise residential buildings. Now the church is just one of the buildings in that area though an
interesting one due to the conical design of its dome.
