page_title: Cochin Jews
section_title: First Jews in South India
hierarchical_section_title: Cochin Jews / History / First Jews in South India
caption_attribution_description: Plate I, reverse/side II (top) Plate I, obverse/side I (bottom) Plate II (not shown) Jewish copper plates of Cochin, also known as Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravi-varman, is a royal charter issued by the Chera-Perumal king at Kodungallur, south India to Joseph Rabban, a Jewish merchant living in the entrepôt. The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur (near Cochin). Although the traditional date according to the Cochin Jews is 379 CE, the presently accepted date of this charter is c. 1000 CE. “ Svasti Sri! "This is the gift [prasada] that His Majesty [Tiruvadi], King of Kings [Ko Konmai Kontan Ko], Sri Parkaran Iravivanmar, who is to wield sceptre for several thousand years, was pleased to make during the thirty sixth year opposite to the second year of his reign, on the day when he was pleased to reside at Muyirikkottu. "We have granted to Issuppu Irappan, the [merchant guild of] ancuvannam, tolls by the boat and by other vehicles, ancuvannam dues, the right to employ the day lamp, decorative cloth, palanquin, umbrella, kettle drum, trumpet, gateway, arch, arched roof, weapons and rest of the seventy two privileges. We have remitted customs, dues and weighing fee. "Moreover, according to this copper-plate grant, he shall be exempted from payments due to the king [koyil] from settlers in the town, but he shall enjoy what they enjoy. "To Issuppu Irappan, proprietor of the ancuvannam, his male and female issues, nephews, and son-in-law, ancuvannam shall belong by hereditary succession as long as the sun and moon endure" Prosperity!! This is attested by Kovarttana Mattandan, the utaiyavar (chieftain) of Venatu" This is attested by Kotai Cirikantan, the utaiyavar of Venpalinatu" This is attested by Manavepala Manaviyan, the utaiyavar of Eralanatu" This is attested by Irayaran Cattan, the utaiyavar of Valluvanatu" This is attested by Kotai Iravi, the utaiyavar of Netumpuraiyurnatu" This is attested by Murkkan Cattan, the Commander of the Eastern Forces" This writing is executed by Vanralaceri Kandan-Kunrappolan, the Officer who Takes Down Oral Messages. ” Français&#160;: Reproduction des deux tablettes dites «&#160;PLAQUES DE CUIVRE DE COCHIN&#160;», donnant des droits à un chef Juif, Joseph Rabban, par le roi de Cranganore, vers la fin du 1er millénaire après Jésus-Christ. Les sources principales parlent toujours de tablettes en cuivre, à l'exception de l'Encylopedia judaïca, qui parle de tablettes en bronze.
context_page_description: Cochin Jews are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the state of Kerala. As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Jews in southern India. The Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, speaking of Kollam on the Malabar Coast, writes in his Itinerary:
  "...throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and Halacha."
  These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in Kerala beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries. They are known to have developed Judeo-Malayalam, a dialect of Malayalam language.
  Following their expulsion from Iberia in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree, a few families of Sephardi Jews eventually made their way to Cochin in the 16th century. They became known as Paradesi Jews. The European Jews maintained some trade connections to Europe, and their language skills were useful.
context_section_description: P. M. Jussay wrote that it was believed that the earliest Jews in India were sailors from King Solomon's time. It has been claimed that following the destruction of the First Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE, some Jewish exiles came to India. Only after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE are records found that attest to numerous Jewish settlers arriving at Cranganore, an ancient port near Cochin. Cranganore, now transliterated as Kodungallur, but also known under other names, is a city of legendary importance to this community. Fernandes writes, it is "a substitute Jerusalem in India". Katz and Goldberg note the "symbolic intertwining" of the two cities.
  In 1768, a certain Tobias Boas of Amsterdam had posed eleven questions to Rabbi Yehezkel Rachbi of Cochin. The first of these questions addressed to the said Rabbi concerned the origins of the Jews of Cochin and the duration of their settlement in India. In Rabbi Yehezkel's hand written response (Merzbacher's Library in Munich, MS. 4238), he wrote: "...after the destruction of the Second Temple (may it soon be rebuilt and reestablished in our days!), in the year 3828 of anno mundi, i. e., 68 CE, about ten thousand men and women had come to the land of Malabar and were pleased to settle in  four places; those places being Cranganore, Dschalor,  Madai [and] Plota. Most were in Cranganore, which is also called Mago dera Patinas; it is also called Sengale."
  Saint Thomas, an Aramaic-speaking Jew from the Galilee region of Israel and one of the disciples of Jesus, is believed to have come to Southern India in the 1st century, in search of the Jewish community there. It is possible that the Jews who became Christians at that time were absorbed by what became the Nasrani Community in Kerala.
  Central to the history of the Cochin Jews was their close relationship with Indian rulers. This was codified on a set of copper plates granting the community special privileges. The date of these plates, known as "Sâsanam", is contentious. The plates are physically inscribed with the date 379 CE, but in 1925, tradition was setting it as 1069 CE. Indian rulers granted the Jewish leader Joseph Rabban the rank of prince over the Jews of Cochin, giving him the rulership and tax revenue of a pocket principality in Anjuvannam near Cranganore, and rights to seventy-two "free houses". The Hindu king gave permission in perpetuity (or, in the more poetic expression of those days, "as long as the world and moon exist") for Jews to live freely, build synagogues, and own property "without conditions attached". A family connection to Rabban, "the king of Shingly" (another name for Cranganore), was long considered a sign of both purity and prestige within the community. Rabban's descendants led this distinct community until a chieftainship dispute broke out between two brothers, one of them named Joseph Azar, in the 16th century.
  The oldest known gravestone of a Cochin Jew is written in Hebrew and dates to 1269 CE. It is near the Chendamangalam (also spelled Chennamangalam) Synagogue, built in 1614, which is now operated as a museum.
  In 1341, a disastrous flood silted up the port of Cranganore, and trade shifted to a smaller port at Cochin (Kochi). Many of the Jews moved quickly, and within four years, they had built their first synagogue at the new community. The Portuguese Empire established a trading beachhead in 1500, and until 1663 remained the dominant power. They continued to discriminate against the Jews, although doing business with them. A synagogue was built at Parur in 1615, at a site that according to tradition had a synagogue built in 1165. Almost every member of this community emigrated to Israel in 1954.
  In 1524, the Muslims, backed by the ruler of Calicut (today called Kozhikode and not to be confused with Calcutta), attacked the wealthy Jews of Cranganore because of their primacy in the lucrative pepper trade. The Jews fled south to the Kingdom of Cochin, seeking the protection of the Cochin Royal Family (Perumpadapu Swaroopam). The Hindu Raja of Cochin gave them asy
caption: The inscription from the Sasanam outlining the grant of rights to Joseph Rabban
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