|
|
Compiled by Mrs. Benedicta Pereira
Like
India in general, Cochin is warm and friendly, with an ancient and multifaceted
Jewish community that, tradition relates, is as old as the Diaspora. It is a city
whose indigenous inhabitants have welcomed, befriended and protected Jews for
centuries.
Located in the tropical state of Kerala and alternately referred to as Venice
of the East and queen of the Arabian Sea, Cochin is one the 3 largest ports on
India's west coast and one of the finest natural harbors in the world. The
markets are filled with the scent of spices and the shouts of vendors; the
docks are lined with merchants' houses and cargo ships and the countryside is
sprinkled with shady lagoons and wooded islands. The crystal-blue sky and
tropical foliage, the pastel houses, the bright raw silk of the clothes and the
ever-present smiles blend into one exquisite rainbow.
Cochin
is a handy name for a cluster of islands and towns sprinkled with shady lagoons,
tropical forests and canals winding past houses on stilts. This is a
multicultural land where, in addition to the Jewish sights, one can see
Portuguese churches, Dutch architecture, mosques, Hindu temples and a British
village green.
HISTORY:
One legend holds that the Jews first settled in India during the time of King
Solomon, when there was trade in teak, ivory, spices and peacocks between the
Land of Israel and the Malabar Coast, where Cochin is located. Others put their
arrival at the time of the Assyrian exile in 722 B.C.E., the Babylonian exile
in 586 or after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE No reliable
evidence exists, but most contemporary scholars fix the date at some time
during the early Middle Ages.
It
is the bible that contains the first mention of Jews in connection with India.
The Book of Esther, which dates from the second century B.C.E., cites decrees
enacted by Ahasuerus relating to the Jews dispersed throughout the provinces of
his empire from Hodu to Kush. Hodu is Hebrew for India; Kush is Ethiopia. Talmudic
and midrashic literature also mention spices, perfumes, plants, animals,
textiles, gems and crockery which either bear names of Indian origin or are
indigenous to the country. The earliest documentation of permanent Jewish settlements is on two copper plates now
stored in Cochin's main synagogue. Engraved in the ancient Tamil language, they
detail the privileges granted a certain Joseph Rabban by Bhaskara Ravi Varma,
the fourth-century Hindu ruler of Malabar. According to the inscription, the
ruler awarded the Jews the village of Anjuvannam, meaning "five
castes," as the Jews were believed to be the lords of the five castes of
artisans. The plates also state that Anjuvannam shall remain in the possession
of the descendants of these Jews "so long as the world and moon
exist."
Twelfth-century Jewish, Christian and Muslim travellers described Jewish
settlements around Cochin. The main community was in Cranganore, north of
Cochin. For a time the Jews of the Malabar Coast served as a way station to the
Jewish community in China. In 1167 Benjamin of Tudela wrote of 1,000 Jews on
the Malabar Coast "who are black like their neighbours and are good men,
observers of the law, and possess the Torah of Moses, the Prophets, and some
little knowledge of the Talmud and the halakha."
The Jews prospered in Anjuvannam for more than a thousand years after the grant
of the copper plates. Then, with the extinction of the line of Rabban,
dissension arose between two brothers of a noble family for the chieftanship of
the principality The younger brother has supporters killed many on those who
came under his elder brother, and neighbouring prioces intervened and
dispossessed the Jews. In 1341 the brothers fled to Cochin with their followers
and established the Kochangadi synagogue there.
In 1524, on the pretext that the Jews were tampering with the pepper trade, the
Moors attacked the remaining Jews of Anjuvannam, burning their homes and
synagogues.
The
destruction was so complete that when the Portuguese arrived a few years later
they found only destitute Jews, who continued to eke out a miserable existence
for 40 more years. Finally, the remaining Jews deserted their ancient
settlement and fled to Cochin.
As the Portuguese made inroads along the coast more Jews arrived in Cochin,
which remained under Indian protection.
Spanish and Portuguese exiles came after the Inquisition, and others arrived
fleeing persecution in the Middle East. In 1560 the Portuguese set up an office
of the Inquisition in Goa, halfway between Bombay and Cochin, and even more
Jews sought the protection of Cheraman Parumal, the raja of Cochin, soon
labeled the "King of the
Jews" by the Portuguese authorities.
The Jews could not have
survived under Portuguese rule (1502-1663) had it not been for Parumal. In 1565
he gave them a strip of land next to his palace and in 1568 permitted them to
build a synagogue not 30 yards from his temple. He appointed a hereditary
mudaliar (chief) from among the Jews and invested the position with special
privileges and jurisdiction in all internal matters in the Jewish community.
This office continued in force under subsequent rajas and even under Dutch and
British rule. The Hallegua family, which still holds the title, continues to be
influential in Cochin.
There are few places in the world where Jews can claim
centuries of peaceful coexistence with the local population . The district of
Jew town in Cochin on the Malabar Coast of Southern India is one of them .
The Jewish community which has survived for more than
a thousand years, witnessing successive waves of conquerors and traders, the
Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. These foreigners, as well as the Jews
who came before them, were enticed by the rich spices of this tropical coast:
cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and above all , pepper. But today most of the Jews
have immigrated.
The present leader (elder) of the Cochin Jewtown
Samuel Hallegua, whose own family came to Cochin in 1590 from Spain via Syria.
The Pardesi synagogue in Cochin's Jewtown is a living history of the vibrant
Jewish community of Cochin-Kerala.
With only few dozens of Jews left here yet a strong
sense of community still exists in Cochin . Jewish identity is infused with the
history of their ancestors in India. There is no contradiction that the Jews of
India have pride in being both Indian and Jewish.
Their identity is infused with the history of their
ancestors in India. Some scholars put it that Jewish settlers came to India
almost 1500 years ago it was a local Hindi Mahraja who offered them sanctuary
and land to build a synagogue.
The festivals are celebrated with a joyous enthusiasm.
There is no rabbi so the elders lead the service and visitors and others join
in. There are prayer books hand-written Hebrew as well as the local language
Malayalam, and many of the melodies sung are unique to Cochin Jewry.
Kerala is diversified as can be when it comes to
religion. Even though the majority of the population is Hindu ,there exists
major minorities of Moslems and Christians and minor minorities of Jains and
Jews. Most people do not know that there are Jewish people in India but these
Jews have very much kept their traditions from the ancient times
People of Kerela and all of India in general do not
marry out of their religion (although time are a changing) Many cinemas,
satirical and serious , have been made depiciting the consequences of marrying
out of religion .
Pardesi (foreigners) Jews known also as "White
Jews" and Malabar (or Black) Jews make allusion to the long past of
tension between them,the Pardesi Jews although they were a minority ,always
managed to win a privileged position in relation to other Jews within the
context of local society . Based
on their influence and economic power , and occupying the high ground of purity
of origins - fundamental aspect in the caste-based society - the White or
paradesi Jews ,despite the fierce criticism of the rabbis, managed to
"push" the majority of Malabar Jews into an inferior social situation
, at least until the advent of Mahatma Ghandi's liberation.
The synagogue and community of Parur - one of the
Malabar synagogue to be found in various places - is closely linked with
the Portugues presence
. It is the oldest of the remaining synagogues - the original building dated
from 1164 and was rebuilt in 1616 on the orders of David Jacob Castiel, the
fourth Mudaliar according to the inscription on one of the walls .
MY Fathers ancestors came from Portugal to Cochin in
around the 17th century along with the mother's ancestors. As told
by elders to me there were 4 families who came to geather 1.Pereira 2.Lyons
3.Jacob's 4.Malabre
Also some families from Portugal settled in Goa in
early 15th century because of persecutions in Portugal but later on the
conquest of Goa they fled to other parts of which Cochin had an influx of
Jewish settlers from the Middle East, North America and Spain ,Portugal etc.
There are three distinct Jewish groups traceable
in India 1.Bene Israel 2. Cochin Jews 3. The white Jews
from Europe. Each group practiced important elements
of Judaism and had active synagoguges.
The Sephardic rites predominated among the
Indian Jews. The most prominent Bene
Israel ("sons of Israel") whose main population centers were Bombay,
Calcutta, Old Delhi and Ahmedabad. The native language of the Bene Israel was
Marathi, while the Cochin Jews of southern spoke Malayalam. The Bene Israel
claim to be descended from the Jews who escaped persecution in Galilee in the 2nd
century BCE .The Bene Israel resemble the non-Jewish Maratha people in
appearance and customs, which indicates intermarriage between Jews and Indians.
However , the Bene Israel maintained the practices of Jewish dietary laws,
circumcision, and observation of Sabbath as a day of rest.
Bene Israel say their ancestors were oil pressers in
the Galil and they are descended from survivors of a shipwreck . In the 18th
Century they were "discovered" by traders from Baghdad. At that time
the Bene Israel were practicing just a few outward forms of Judaism (which is
how they were recognized ) but had no scholars of their own. The teachers from
Baghdad and Cochin taught them mainstream Judaism in the 18th and 19th
centuries.
During the medieval period Jewish merchants travelled
from Europe to India for the purpose of trade and some of them formed small
permanent settlements in Indian coasts and in South especially.
The evidence of Jews living in India comes from the
early 11th century
The first Jews of Cochin (south India ) were the so
called "Black Jews" who spoke the Malyalam tongue and they had very
distinct Jewish traditions of dietary kosher and inter marriages in Jewish
community and observance of Sabbath etc.
The "white Jews" settled later
,coming to India from the western European nations such as Holland Spain and
Portugal .
The Jews of Cochin say that they came to Cranganore
(south-west coast of India) after the destruction of the Temple in 70 ce. They
had very strong financial and cultural life and lived very comfortably in Cochin
until dispute for leadership broke out between two brothers in the 15th
century . And the dispute led neighbouring princess to dispossess them both of
their rights on the land and in 1524 the Moors ,backed by the ruler of
Calicut (today called Kozhikode ) attacked the Jews of Cranganore on
the pretext that they were "tampering" with the pepper trade. Most
Jews fled to Cochin and went under protection of the Hindu Raja (ruler) there .
He granted them a site for their own town which later acquired the name of
"Jew Town" by which it is still know.
Unfortunately for the Jews of Cochin
,the Portuguese occupied Cochin in this same period and indulged in the
persecutions of Jews until the Dutch displaced them in 1660 but due to the
persecutions and fear many Jews converted or were not discovered because of
their assimilation in the culture of Cochin and names identical to Christians . The Dutch Protestants were tolerant and the Jews prospered. In 1795 Cochin
passed into the British sphere of influence . In the 19th century
,Cochin Jews lived in the towns of Cochin ,Ernakulam and Parur.
Today most of the Cochin's Jews have immigrated to
United Kingdom, America and principally to Israel. During the 16th and
17th century migrations created important settlements of Jews from
Persia ,Afghanistan ,and Khorsan (Central Asia) in the northern India and
Kashmir.
By the late 18th century ,Bombay became the
largest Jewish community in India . In Bombay were Bene Israel Jews as well as
Iraqi and Persian Jews.
Near the end of the 18th century the third
group of Indian Jews appears. They are middle eastern Jews who came to India
through trade . They
established a trading network stretching from Alepo to Baghdad to Basra to
Surat/Bombay to Calcutta to Rangoon to Singapore to Hong Kong and eventually as far as Kobe in Japan . There were strong family bonds
amongst the traders in all these places and rarely marriages outside Jewish
community occurred.
The significant of these is the founder of the
Calcutta community , Shalom Aharon Ovadiah HaCohen . He was born in Aleppo in
1762 and left in 1789 . He arrived in Surat (Bombay) in 1792 and established
himself there. He traded as far as Zanzibar . In 1798 he moved to Calcutta . In
1805 he was joined by his nephew , Moses Simon Duek HaCohen ,who married his
eldest daughter Lunah. Soon the community was swelled by other traders and
Baghdadis outnumbered those from Aleppo.
The Jews of India achieved their maximum population
and wealth during the British rule and the community of Jews at Calcutta
continued to grow and prosper and trade amongst all the cities of the far east
and to the rest of the world . The Indians were very tolerant and the Jews of
Calcutta felt completely at home . Their numbers reached a peak of about 5000
during the WW-II when they were swelled by refugees fleeing the Japanese
advance into Burma.
The first generations of Calcutta Jews spoke Judeo-Arabic at home, but by the 1890s English was
the language of choice. After the WWII, nationalism fever caught the Indians
rather strongly and it became less comfortable for the Jews who came to be
identified with English by the Indians. India's Jewish population declined
dramatically starting in the 1940s with heavy immigration to Israel ,England
and the United States. It is in these three nations where the most significant
settlements of Indian Jews exists today. Today there is just handful of old
people and the once vital community with its 7 synagogues is no more.
As told by the ancestors of family my family fled the
Persecutions of the Portuguese around the 17th century along with
other few families and came to Malaysia to the town of Kolatranganore and
settled there and some family members further went to the Cochin now the
business capital of Kerala estate in India where the Jewish community was very
vibrant and safe . As the different Christian sects like Marthomite, Syrian
Catholics ,R Catholics and Protestants whose names were very similar to the
Jewish names did not feel intrusion and were reluctant to take any note of the
Jewish presence also due to the cultural background in India my family along
with above mentioned other families settled in India but in Malaysia our
families too had very strong presence until the late 70s after that they
immigrated to Singapore, America and Canada including Israel.
Although the presence of Jews in Kerala did not meet
any strong resistance but still the culture forced the Jewish people to adapt
to the culture of Kerala
including the Cochin Jewishery spicy foods, dress and even to some extent the
habits and religious style too had strong impact of the Hindi culture on the
Jewish people. Because
of the fear and sufferings in Portugal and Spain the Jewish families living
among areas populated by the Hindus almost adapted secretive ways of worship
which were identical to Hindus or Christians so as not to feel alienated , for
example the Jewish homes use clay pots filled with olive or
Coconut oil to light the Shabbat candles and while attending the prayers in
synagogue or at home they take off their shoes and pray the women cover their
heads with the extra cloth of their traditional Indian dress (sari's) .
Mostly the older people prohibited the use of milk and
meat the same day in the house and to scare the young Jew's so as not to be
inspired by the culture there were stories of bad Omens for those who dare to
think even of milk and meat together.
Chicken curry laced with the hot chillies, coconut and
coriander of Kerala at tempting dishes on festivals.
Although the Jews were never persecuted for their
faith in Kerala but still the fears of their ancestors and cultural pressure
and religious alienation has led them to take many cultural habits of the place
they lived for centuries .
.
The divisions between Jews began to break down after 1948, when large scale
emigration forced everyone together. The majority of Jewish marriages are
still arranged; married couples and their children live with the husband's
parents. Jewish women now wear bindis, the small marks in the middle of their
foreheads that at one time signified a woman's marital status but are now
merely a fashion statement.
Perhaps
the most unique aspect of the Indian Jewish experience is the complete absence
of discrimination by a host majority. The secret of India's tolerance is the
Hindu belief which confers legitimacy on a wide diversity of cultural and
religious groups even as it forbids movement from one group to another.
The Jews have adopted and modified many of their host
country's customs; Colour full oil lamps hang from
synagogue ceilings in keeping with Hindu tradition; all synagogues are entered
barefoot and for hardala flowers are sniffed and then tucked into the pockets
signifying shabbat's end. Those Jews who stayed back and did not immigrate were
the wealthiest ; they did
not want to risk losing their fortunes in the move and are today left with the
burden of sustaining the community.(not forgetting that Cochin Jews ,or
Malabaris (85 percent of Cochinis) ,who regard themselves as descendants of
original settlers, and White Jews , or Paradesim (14 percent) , descendants of
immigrants from various Middle East and European countries. There are also
few Brown Jews, or MESHUHURARUM, who are descended from emanicipated slaves. They
became spice merchants business owners and professionals and spoke the local
language - Malayalam as well as English .
