its designated head, brought into full communion. This would have the double aim of solidifying his authority, and re-uniting all the Saint Thomas Christians, who had been split into Pazhayakoor (Catholic) and Puthenkoor (independent) factions since the Coonan Cross Oath of 1653. His appeals were considered in Rome, where the Church was willing to grant him temporal but not spiritual authority over the Saint Thomas Christians. In the end, however, no satisfactory deal was ever made and the factions remained separate. In 1771, Gregorios consecrated a second bishop, Kattumangatt, who took the name Cyril (Koorilose). Dionysius saw Cyril as a threat to his authority, and appealed to the colonial authorities to suppress the rival bishop. Cyril left for Thozhiyur, outside of the colonial jurisdiction, and established what would become an independent church. This body is now known as the Malabar Independent Syrian Church. Subsequently, however, Gregorios and the other Syrian bishops died and were not replaced, leaving no further internal challengers to Dionysius. Invasion by Mysore Mysore was a land locked kingdom. Hyder Ali, ruler of this kingdom decided to invade Malabar to get access to the Arabian Sea. He entered Malabar in 1781 and crushed the Nair soldiers. After his death Tippu Sultan came to the throne. During that period Christians were persecuted. Bala Rama Varma was the ruler of Travancore at this time. He was one of the least popular sovereigns whose reign was marked by unrest and various internal and external problems to the state. He became King at the young age of sixteen and came under the influence of a corrupt nobleman known as Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri from Calicut. One of the first acts of atrocities during his reign was the murder of Raja Kesavadas, the existing Dewan of Travancore. Sankaran Nampoothiri was then appointed as Dewan (Prime minister) with two other ministers. Using his influence, Mar Thoma VI was put in jail at Alleppy and was forced to conduct a service according to Catholic rites, but escaped during a rebellion in Travancore under Velu Thampi in 1799. Relations with the Church of England Toward the end of Dionysius' reign, Claudius Buchanan (1766–1815) visited Kerala in 1806, and arranged for the translation of the Bible into Malayalam. Dionysius gave him the manuscript of the Bible written in the Syriac language. This manuscript was later deposited in the public library of the University of Cambridge. During the