David of Basra

David of Basra, sometimes rendered Dudi of Basra was a 3rd- and 4th-century CE Christian metropolitan bishop who undertook missionary work in India around the year 300 (295 in some sources). He is among the earliest documented Christian missionaries in India, perhaps later only than the apostle Thomas, who may have visited India in the 1st century, The original document was also translated by the Assyrian historian Alphonse Mingana in his Woodbrooke Studies collection of early Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic, and Garshuni.

Alphonse Mingana quotes from the Chronicles of Seert in his book, Hand Book of Source Materials for Student of Church History:

Historians have suggested that David's mission may have targeted communities in Southern India, on the assumption that an existing church there - either descended from the missionary work of the apostle Thomas, or founded by migrant Christians from elsewhere in the region - was in difficulties and required support.

Mission context Some sources describe David as an Arab; others characterize him as a Persian doctor. He came from the Sassanid empire, then a young and expanding polity under the rule of Narseh. Researchers have argued that David's mission should be seen in the context of that empire's expansionist political activities. Though David's mission indicates the extension of the Persian church into India,