Jewish copper plates of Cochin: Difference between revisions

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[[File:9th to 10th century Vatteluttu script, Kochi land grant copper plate inscription to Jewish immigrants Israelites by King Sthanu Ravi Varma.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Jewish copper plates of Cochin (plate I, side I).]]
[[File:9th to 10th century Vatteluttu script, Kochi land grant copper plate inscription to Jewish immigrants Israelites by King Sthanu Ravi Varma.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Jewish copper plates of Cochin (plate I, side I).]]
'''Jewish copper plates of Cochin''' ([[Malayalam]]: <small>ജൂതശാസനം</small>), also known as '''Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravivarman''', is a royal charter issued by the [[Chera dynasty|Chera/Kulasekhara]] king at [[Cranganore|Kodungallur]], south India to [[Joseph Rabban]], a Jewish merchant living in the entrepôt.<ref name=":0">Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 136, 144.</ref><ref name=":1">Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013), ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, pp 451-52.</ref> The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur (near [[Kochi|Cochin]]). It is engraved in Vattezhuthu and [[Grantha script]]s in [[Malayalam|old Malayalam language]] (on three sides of two copper plates).<ref name=":1" />{{sfn|Fischel|1967|pp=230,236}} Although the traditional date according to the [[Cochin Jews]] is 379 CE, the presently accepted date of this charter ranges between 849 CE<ref name="KatzGoldberg1993">{{cite book|author1=Nathan Katz|author2=Ellen S. Goldberg|title=The last Jews of Cochin: Jewish identity in Hindu India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6dtAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-87249-847-1|pages=41–45}}</ref> and 1000 CE.<ref name=":1" />
'''Jewish copper plates of Cochin''' ([[Malayalam]]: <small>ജൂതശാസനം</small>), also known as '''Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravivarman''', is a royal charter issued by the [[Chera dynasty|Chera/Kulasekhara]] king at [[Cranganore|Kodungallur]], south India to [[Joseph Rabban]], a Jewish merchant living in the entrepôt.<ref name=":0">Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 136, 144.</ref><ref name=":1">Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013), ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, pp 451-52.</ref> The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur (near [[Kochi|Cochin]]). It is engraved in Vattezhuthu and [[Grantha script]]s in [[Malayalam|old Malayalam language]] (on three sides of two copper plates).<ref name=":1" />{{sfn|Fischel|1967|pp=230,236}} Although the traditional date according to the [[Cochin Jews]] is 379 CE, the presently accepted date of this charter ranges is c. 1000 CE.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":02" />


The charter records a grant by king Bhaskara Ravi Varma (old Malayalam: Parkaran Iravivanman) to Joseph/Yusuf Rabban (Old Malayalam: Issuppu Irappan) of the rights of merchant guild [[Anjuvannam|hanjamana/anjuman (anjuvannam)]] along with several other rights and privileges.<ref name=":2">Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." ''Indian Historical Review'', Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.</ref> Rabban is exempted from all payments made by other settlers in the city of Muyirikkode (at the same time extending to him all the rights of the other settlers). These rights and privileges are given perpetuity to all his descendants. The document is attested by a number of chiefs from southern and northern [[Kerala]].<ref name=":1" /> Anjuvannam, the old Malayalam form of hanjamana/anjuman<ref name=":22">Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." ''Indian Historical Review'', Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.</ref> was a south Indian merchant guild organised by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic merchants from West Asian countries.<ref name=":02">Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 136, 144.</ref><ref>Y. Subbarayalu (1 June 2015). "Trade guilds of south India up to the tenth century". ''Studies in People's History''. '''2''' (1): 21–26. [[International Standard Serial Number|ISSN]] 2348-4489</ref>
The charter records a grant by king Bhaskara Ravi Varma (old Malayalam: Parkaran Iravivanman) to Joseph/Yusuf Rabban (Old Malayalam: Issuppu Irappan) of the rights of merchant guild [[Anjuvannam|hanjamana/anjuman (anjuvannam)]] along with several other rights and privileges.<ref name=":2">Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." ''Indian Historical Review'', Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.</ref> Rabban is exempted from all payments made by other settlers in the city of Muyirikkode (at the same time extending to him all the rights of the other settlers). These rights and privileges are given perpetuity to all his descendants. The document is attested by a number of chiefs from southern and northern [[Kerala]].<ref name=":1" /> Anjuvannam, the old Malayalam form of hanjamana/anjuman<ref name=":22">Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." ''Indian Historical Review'', Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.</ref> was a south Indian merchant guild organised by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic merchants from West Asian countries.<ref name=":02">Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 144.</ref><ref>Y. Subbarayalu (1 June 2015). "Trade guilds of south India up to the tenth century". ''Studies in People's History''. '''2''' (1): 21–26. [[International Standard Serial Number|ISSN]] 2348-4489</ref>


The grant is or was cherished by both "Black Jews"<ref name=":2" /> and the "White Jews" (the Spanish Jews) of Cochin as a historical document and their original settlement deed. It is carefully preserved in an iron box, known as the Pandeal, within the [[Paradesi Synagogue|White Jews’ Synagogue]] at [[Mattancheri]] (Cochin).{{sfn|Fischel|1967|pp=230}}<ref name=":2" />
The grant is or was cherished by both "Black Jews"<ref name=":2" /> and the "White Jews" (the Spanish Jews) of Cochin as a historical document and their original settlement deed. It is carefully preserved in an iron box, known as the Pandeal, within the [[Paradesi Synagogue|White Jews’ Synagogue]] at [[Mattancheri]] (Cochin).{{sfn|Fischel|1967|pp=230}}<ref name=":2" />

Revision as of 06:28, 20 October 2019

Jewish copper plates of Cochin (plate I, side I).

Jewish copper plates of Cochin (Malayalam: ജൂതശാസനം), also known as Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravivarman, is a royal charter issued by the Chera/Kulasekhara king at Kodungallur, south India to Joseph Rabban, a Jewish merchant living in the entrepôt.[1][2] The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur (near Cochin). It is engraved in Vattezhuthu and Grantha scripts in old Malayalam language (on three sides of two copper plates).[2][3] Although the traditional date according to the Cochin Jews is 379 CE, the presently accepted date of this charter ranges is c. 1000 CE.[2][4]

The charter records a grant by king Bhaskara Ravi Varma (old Malayalam: Parkaran Iravivanman) to Joseph/Yusuf Rabban (Old Malayalam: Issuppu Irappan) of the rights of merchant guild hanjamana/anjuman (anjuvannam) along with several other rights and privileges.[5] Rabban is exempted from all payments made by other settlers in the city of Muyirikkode (at the same time extending to him all the rights of the other settlers). These rights and privileges are given perpetuity to all his descendants. The document is attested by a number of chiefs from southern and northern Kerala.[2] Anjuvannam, the old Malayalam form of hanjamana/anjuman[6] was a south Indian merchant guild organised by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic merchants from West Asian countries.[4][7]

The grant is or was cherished by both "Black Jews"[5] and the "White Jews" (the Spanish Jews) of Cochin as a historical document and their original settlement deed. It is carefully preserved in an iron box, known as the Pandeal, within the White Jews’ Synagogue at Mattancheri (Cochin).[8][5]

During the visit of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to India in 2003, the then provincial tourism minister K. V. Thomas presented him with a replica of the copper plates.[9] Similar replicas were also gifted by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a state visit to Israel in 2017.[10]

Text

The plate is engraved in old Malayalam[2] using the Vattezhuthu script[2].

The 1894 translation of the charter reads:

Hail! Prosperity!

"[The following] gift was made by him who had assumed the title "King of Kings," His Majesty the king, the glorious Bhāskara Ravivarman, in the time during which [he] was wielding the sceptre and ruling over many hundred-thousands of places, in the thirty-sixth year after the second year, on the day on which [he] was pleased to stay at Muyirikkôdu:—

"We have given to Issuppu Irappân [the village of] An̄juvannam, together with the seventy-two proprietary rights, the tolls on female elephants and [other] riding-animals, the revenue of An̄juvannam, a lamp in day-time, a cloth spread [in front to walk on], a palanquin, a parasol, a Vaduga [Telugu] drum, a large trumpet, a gateway, an arch, a canopy [in the shape] of an arch, a garland, and so forth.

"We have remitted tolls and the tax on balances.

"Moreover, we have granted, with [these] copperleaves, that he need not pay [the dues] which the [other] inhabitants of the city pay to the royal palace, and that [he] may enjoy [the benefits] which [they] enjoy. To Issuppu Irappān of An̄juvannam, to the male children and to the female children born of him, to his nephews, and to the sons-in-law who have married [his] daughters, [we have given] An̄juvannam [as] an hereditary estate for as long as the world and the moon shall exist"

Hail!!

— Translated by Eugen Hultzsch[11]

The charter ends with a list of witnesses to the deed which includes several chiefs of southern and northern Kerala, the sub-commander of the forces, and the scribe who drafted the grant.[2]

A later translation (1972) is as follows:

Jewish copper plates (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 [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 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.

— Translated by M. G. S. Narayanan[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 136, 144.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013), Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, pp 451-52.
  3. ^ Fischel 1967, pp. 230, 236.
  4. ^ a b Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 144.
  5. ^ a b c Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." Indian Historical Review, Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.
  6. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S., "Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin." Indian Historical Review, Vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.
  7. ^ Y. Subbarayalu (1 June 2015). "Trade guilds of south India up to the tenth century". Studies in People's History. 2 (1): 21–26. ISSN 2348-4489
  8. ^ Fischel 1967, pp. 230.
  9. ^ "Sharon delighted with gift from Kochi". The Hindu. UNI. 10 September 2003. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Here's what PM Narendra Modi gifted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu". The Indian Express. 5 July 2017.
  11. ^ Fischel 1967, p. 231: Quoted from Epigraphia Indica, 1894, Vol. 3, p. 69
  12. ^ Narayanan 1972, pp. 79–82.

References

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