page_title: Paradesi Jews
section_title: History of Madras (Chennai) Jews
hierarchical_section_title: Paradesi Jews / History of Madras (Chennai) Jews
caption_attribution_description: தமிழ்: Fort St. George
context_page_description: During the 15th and 16th centuries Paradesi Jews were Sephardic immigrants to the Indian subcontinent from Sepharad, who fled forced conversion, persecution and antisemitism in the wake of the Alhambra Decree expelling Jews from Spain, and King Manuel's 1496 decree expelling Jews from Portugal. They are sometimes referred to as "White Jews", although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and refers to relatively recent Jewish immigrants, predominantly Sephardim.
  During the 18th and 19th centuries Paradesi Jews were Mizrahi immigrants to the Indian subcontinent from Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries who fled forced conversion, persecution and antisemitism.
  The Paradesi Jews of Cochin traded in spices. They are a community of Sephardic Jews settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state of India.
  Paradesi Jews of Madras traded in Golconda diamonds, precious stones and corals, they had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda, they maintained trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful.
context_section_description: The East India Company (EIC) wanted to break the monopoly of Portugal in trading with Golconda diamonds and precious stones from the mines of Golkonda. The EIC entered India around 1600 and had built the Fort St. George (White Town) fortress by 1644 at the coastal city of Madras, now known as Chennai.
  EIC policy permitted only its shareholders to trade in Golconda diamonds and precious stones from the mines. The Company considered the Madras Jews to be interlopers because they traded separately through their Jewish community connections.
  Madras Jews specialised in Golconda diamonds, precious stones and corals. They had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda and this was seen as beneficial to Fort St. George, so Madras Jews were gradually accepted as honourable citizens of Fort St. George/Madras.
  Jacques de Paiva (Jaime Paiva), originally from Amsterdam and belonging to Amsterdam Sephardic community, was an early Jewish arrival and the leader of Madras Jewish community. He built the Second Madras Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery Chennai in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the South end of Mint Street,
  De Paiva established good relations with those in power and bought several Golconda diamond mines to source Golconda diamonds. Through his efforts, Jews were permitted to live within Fort St. George.
  De Paiva died in 1687 after a visit to his Golconda diamond mines and was buried in the Jewish cemetery which he had established in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the north Mint Street, alongside the synagogue which also existed at Mint Street.
  After de Paiva's death in 1687, his wife Hieronima de Paiva fell in love with Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras and went to live with him, causing quite a scandal within Madras’ colonial society. Governor Elihu Yale later achieved fame when he gave a large donation to the University of New Haven in Connecticut, which was then named after him — the Yale University. Elihu Yale and Hieromima de Paiva had a son, who died in South Africa.
  In 1670, the Portuguese population in Madras numbered around 3000. Before his death he established ‘The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam’ with Antonio do Porto, Pedro Pereira and Fernando Mendes Henriques. This enabled more Portuguese Jews, from Leghorn, the Caribbean, London and Amsterdam to settle in Madras. Coral Merchant Street was name after the Jews' business.
  Three Portuguese Jews were nominated to be aldermen of Madras Corporation. Three - Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto and Alvaro da Fonseca - also founded the largest trading house in Madras. The large tomb of Rodrigues, who died in Madras in 1692, became a landmark in Peddanaickenpet but was later destroyed.
  Samuel de Castro came to Madras from Curaçao and Salomon Franco came from Leghorn.
  Isaac Sardo Abendana (1662–1709), who came from Holland, died in Madras. He was a close friend of Thomas Pitt and may have been responsible for the fortune that Pitt amassed.
  Portuguese Jews were used as diplomats by the East India Company to expand English trading. Avraham Navarro was the most prominent of these.
  In 1688, the famous Sephardi poet Daniel Levy de Barrios wrote a poem in Amsterdam, with historical and geographical meaning. His information was usually most precise and drawing upon him we may receive a panorama of Sephardi life in the seventeenth century. There were six Jewish communities — Nieves, London, Jamaica, fourth and fifth in two parts of Barbados, and the sixth in Madras-Patan.
  During the 18th and 19th centuries Yemenite Jews started coming to Madras via Cochin. They were very religious. Some came from Najran. They were Rabbis and jewelry-makers.
  From the 19th centuries Yemenite Jews and Portuguese Jews started intermarrying .
caption: Paradesi Jews of Madras at Fort St. George
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