Jewish copper plates of Cochin


Jewish copper plates of Cochin, also known as Cochin plates of Bhaskara Ravi-varman, is a royal charter issued by the medieval Chera king of Kerala, south India to Joseph Rabban, a Jewish merchant magnate of Kodungallur. The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur near Cochin on the Malabar Coast.
The charter is engraved in Vattezhuthu with additional Grantha characters in the vernacular of medieval Kerala on three sides of two copper plates. It records a grant by king Bhaskara Ravi Varma to Joseph/Yusuf Rabban of the rights of merchant guild Anjuvannam|anjuman along with several other rights and privileges. Rabban is exempted from all payments made by other settlers in the city of Muyirikkode. These rights and privileges are given perpetuity to all his descendants. The document is attested by a number of chieftains from southern and northern Kerala.
Anjuvannam, the old Malayalam/Middle Tamil form of hanjamana/anjuman was a south Indian merchant guild organised by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic merchants from the Middle Eastern countries. The document is dated by historians to c. 1000 CE. It is also evident from the tone of the copper plates that the Jews were not newcomers to the Malabar Coast at the time of its decree.
The plates are carefully preserved in an iron box, known as the Pandeal, within the Paradesi Synagogue at Mattancherry.

Text

The plate is engraved in vernacular of medieval Kerala using the Vattezhuthu with additional Grantha characters. The charter ends with a list of witnesses to the deed which includes several chieftains of southern and northern Kerala, the Commander of the Eastern Forces, and the Officer who Takes Down Oral Communications.

Dating and analysis

It is evident from the language of Jewish copper plates that the Jews were not newcomers to the Malabar Coast at the time of its decree. The language of the plates "certainly prove that they were present in the midst of the local people for at least several generations if not centuries". Historian Nathan Katz states that the Kochi Jews trace their history to many centuries earlier for good reasons, yet these plates are more likely from the 10th or 11th-century CE.

Traditional dating

The traditional date for the Jewish copper plates according to the Cochin Jews is 4th century CE. The plates have also been variously dated from a period ranging from the 4th to the 11th-century CE. For example, a date was documented in a letter dated 1676 CE from the leaders of Cochin Jews to Portuguese-Sephardic community of Amsterdam. The letter said, among other things, "...now all this was written and sealed with the King's seal, and cut on a bronze tablet with an iron pen and diamond point, so that his successors may never accuse us of lying or change the agreement. This was done in the year 4520 after the creation of the world, and that bronze tablet is still present to our eyes." The year corresponding to 4520 "after the creation of the world" is 490 CE.

Scholarly dating

The inscription is dated to the 38th regnal year of Chera king Bhaskara Ravi. The year of investiture of Bhaskara Ravi, a contemporary to Chola king Rajendra, was found to be 962 CE and hence the plates were dated to 1000 CE. Prominent historians, such as Y. Subbarayalu, Ranabir Chakravarti, Noboru Karashima, Kesavan Veluthat, Pius Malekandathil, Elizabeth Lambourn, Ophira Gamliel and Manu Devadevan, in general, agree with the c. 1000/1001 CE dating.
Some recent findings slightly modifies the initial year of Bhaskara Ravi.

Political context

The decree of the plates by the Chera ruler of Kerala can be taken in the context of the expansion of the neighboring Chola Empire. The Cochin Jewish community likely were already supporting the Chera state and once the Chola attacks on Kerala began, these plates and rights granted therein are "quite possibly" the reward for the financial or military assistance and support from the Jewish leader to the Chera king at Kodungallur.

Legacy

The grant is or was cherished by both "Black Jews" and the "White Jews" of Cochin as a historical document and their "original" settlement deed.