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WHEN THE HOMELAND
WAS IN INDIA
A Romantic Chapter of Jewish History
is Recalled by Two Plates of Copper
Bv C. Z. Kloetzel
// till the whole Jewish world
debating the pros and cons of
the Jewish stale in Palestine,
Jlr. Kloetzel turns hack the
pages of lustorg and gives us a
glimpse into the strange land
of Ajuvanam, a district in
India where in the Middle
Ages there existed for 500 gears
the first independent Jewish
state since the Dispersion of
Israel from Palestine.
I t was not so long ago that 1
stood in the synagogue of the
“white" Jews (railed white to
distinguish them from the colored
B'nai Israel of India) of (’ochin, in
Southern India, and held in my
hand one of the oldest and strangest
historical documents belonging to
Diaspora Jewry. They were two
little plates of soft copper engraved
with indian letters and re-drawn in
white. The writing on these plates,
which is in ancient Tamilian, a
dialect "till widely used in Northern
(Yylon, has been known and de
ciphered for many centuries.
Nevertheless, it was a strange sensa
tion for a Jew to touch these plates
for they represented the charter of
the first Jewish state to be created
after the dispersion of the Jews
from Palestine.
The (plaint language on the
plates rings strange to modern ears
but the wording plainly indicates
what it was meant to bo. It reads
as t < tllows:
“Hail and blesdng! The follow
ing vassalage is graciously granted
by II. M. the King Sri Parkaram
Iravi Vaninar, whose ancestors have
held tht‘ scepter for many hundred
thousands of years. In the thirty-
sixth year after the second year
where he dwelt in Mujirikote he
chose to grant the following decree
of grace:
“We have ceded to JOSEPH
RABBAN (Rabbi Joseph) the terri
tory of AJI'YAXAM, with the
seventy-two property rights, trib
utes of boats and carriages, income
and claim of Ajuvanam, a lamp a
day, a carpet spread before him to
walk over, a palanquin, a vaduga
drum, a trumpet, a triumphal arch,
a garland and so forth. We have
transferred to him the land tax
and the weight tax. Moreover, we
have confirmed with these copper
plates that he need not pay those
taxes, which the inhabitants of the
other towns have to pay to the
Royal palace, and that he shall
nevertheless enjoy the saint' advan
tages that they enjoy.
“(iiven to Joseph Kabban, prince
of Ajuvanam, and his descendants,
sons and daughters, his nephews
and his sons-in-laws, whom his
daughters have married in natural
succession. As long as tin* world
and t lie moon exist, Ajuvanam
shall remain their hereditary prop
erty."
Thus far it has been impossible to
establish the exact date when these
plates were written. Historians,
however, agree that it was no
earlier than 700 A. I). and no later
than 1,000 A. 1). Since Ajuvanam
was not finally destroyed by the
Portuguese until la(k), this Jewish
state in Southern India enjoyed
an existence of more than half a
millcnium.
Where was Ajuvanam located and
how did the Jews come to the
Malabar (’oast? Ajuvanam lay
close to the city of Cranganore,
about twenty miles north of the
present city of ('ochin. Colonial
wars reduced Cranganore to a more
village but in the Middle Ages it
was the most important port of
Southern India. The ancients called
it M usiris. I Titil the year 22(5 the
Romans maintained a garrison there
to protect their perfume and spice
trade. Some writers believe that
the Jews came to Malabar as early
as Biblical times, because the peo
ples of the \rabian peninsula en
joyed an extensive trade with Mal
abar. there is a theory that the
famous land of Ophir, to which
Solomon and Hiram sent their
fleets, is identical with the Malabar
('oast. But the Jews of (’ochin, as
the bearers of the traditions of old
Ajuvanam, have a legend according
to which thousands of Jews are
supposed to have come to ('ochin
after the destruction of the second
Temple in 70 A. I). That there
must have been a considerable
Jewish population on the Malabar
( oast long before the creation of
the Jewish state of Ajuvanam is
obvious, else how explain the grant
to Joseph Rabban.
There can be no doubt as to the
authenticity of the copper plates and
their text. No one has yet been able
to decipher every detail of the text,
but through an accident I happened
upon an illustration which throws
considerable light on the text.
In the National Library in Jerusa
lem I found the facsimile edition
of a travel journal written in Dutch
(Please turn to page 26)
* THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
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