Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 149

JULY, 1930
A HEBREW INSCRIPTION FROM CHENXAMAXCALAM
133
tradition two things have to be accepted :-(1) the quarrel between the White and the Black Jews over the disputed succession to the chieftainship of the principality of Anjuvannam, and (2) the victory of the White Jews over the Black Jews. That the defeat of the Black Jews was followed by their subsequent dispersal to other more peaceful centren, where they could exercise better freedom, is undisputed. That one of the centres in which they found it conve. nient to settle was the nearest island of Chennamangalam is also confirmed by tradition. What now remains to be decide is when were the Black Jows forced to leave their chief settlement at Cranganore, and when did they first come to colonize Chonnamangalam. The fact that the tombstone, with its inscription in the Hebrew script dated 1269 A.D., was brought with the Jews from Cranganore when they first left that place precludes us from assuming an earlier date for their advent to Chennamangalam. Ibn Batuta, the famous Arab traveller (1342-47 A.D.), who makes mention of a prosperous colony of Jews at the eastern end of this island, throws definite light on the point. Speaking of his journey by the back-water in 1342 A.D. from Calicut to Quilon, he says: "It (Quilon) is situated at the distance of ten days from Calicut. After five days I came to Kanji. rakkara which stands on the top of a hill, is inhabited by Jews, and governed by an Emir, who pays tribute to the king of Kawlam (sic)."4 Mr. C. P. Achyuta Menon, commenting upon this passage, writes :-"This Emir was evidently the Villárvattat Chief. The river hereabouts used to be known as Kanjirappuzha, and the palace of the chief, the site of which is still pointed out, was on the top of the hills at the eastern end of the island of Chennamangalam. At the foot of the hill is a Jewish settlement, one of the oldest in Cochin."
Thus, while the tradition helps us to assume a date near about 1269 A.D. for the first dispersal of the Black Jews from Cranganore, the interesting account left behind by Ibn Batuta definitely suggests a date much earlier than 1342 A.D., by which time one section of the Black Jews had stably settled down at Chennamangalam. "If the statement that some of the tombstones of the Black Jews are said to be six hundred years old is a fact," writes Mr. C. V. Subrahmanya Iyer in the Malabar Quarterly Review (vol. I, No. 2, p. 133). " then the Jews must have migrated to Cochin from Cranganore about the year 1200." We do not know to which tombstone reference has been made here, but the tombstone that we now edit is nearly 660 years old. It is impossible to say whether this latter is that of a Black Jewess or & White Jewens. Mr. E. I. Hallegue of Cochin, himself a White Jew and a Hebrew scholar, holds the opinion that the feud between the reigning head of the Jews and his brother, which caused the dispersal and the consequent advent of the Black Jews to Mattancheri (Cochin), Parur and Chennamangalan, had taken place about the date of the inscription or soon after it. This view, I think, is more plausible.
I am indebted to Professor M. Winternitz, of Prague University, for the English translation of the inscription which I give below. The era of contracts is the so-called Seleuci. dan era, which dates from the battle of Gaza ir 312 B.C. "It is called . era of contracts,'” remarks the Professor," because it was used by the Jews in legal documents. It was used by the Jews as early as the Book of Maccabees, and it was likowise used by the Oriental Jows and Syrians until lato in the Middle Ages and is still occasionally employod by Jows in the East." The word "Rock" in the inscription means God."He is the Rock, his work is perfoot." (The Bible, Book of Deuteronomy, ch. 32, verse 4.)
TRANSLATION. Praised be the true Judge. the Rock; perfect is his doing. And there was buried Sarah, daughter of Israel, in the year 1581 of the era of contracts, on the tenth day of the month of Kisier."
The Cochin State Manual, p. 96, f.n. l'ide the Annual Report of the Archwolwicul Department, Coulin Satu (1930-27), plutu 1 (a). The Cochin State Manual, p. 96, l.lt