This book is an account of the Portuguese missions in Southern India in the sixteenth century with special reference to the Syrian Christians. It deals with the circumstances which led to the maritime discoveries in the fifteenth century, followed by the progress of the Portuguese missions, their prosperous and adverse circumstances with reference to the 'heathens' and the Church of Malabar, influence of the Portuguese missions on Syrian Christians and the triumph of Rome.

The book also delves on the attempts made to bridge over the interval between the subjugation of the Syriac Church under Archbishop of Goa, Alexis de Menezes, and Latin Catholic missionary efforts in South India. The book also discusses the first Protestant missions in the Deccan, and the state of the Syrian churches, at the time.