Immigration Tales: the Jews of Shingly (Cranganore)

Fondly remembered as the ‘Jerusalem of the East’, Shingly (Cranganore), the earliest Jewish settlement in South India has a fascinating tale, tied to the mythic past of Kerala. Very little evidence survives to validate this tale, but in the memory of the descendants, Shingly remains one of the most glorious colonies of the Jews in India.

The earliest Jewish community was formed in Cranganore, north of Cochin. Image Source: Wikipedia

The Synagogues of Kerala are the ultimate representation of Jewish community life. Image Source: Kerala Tourism

The Jutha (Judah) Kulam is located in Shingly (Cranganore). Image Source: Blogspot

To know about the first Jewish community, we must first understand the importance of Cranganore in ancient India. Cranganore, also known by several other names like Muziris, Kodungallur, Mahodayapur and so on, was once at the centre of a prosperous trade network existing between Malabar and the rest of the world. According to local beliefs, oceanic convulsions in 1341 AD caused massive floods and silted up the Cranganore port, making it unusable. Following this, the focus of all trade activity and settlements shifted to Cochin.

Nobody knows how the name ‘Shingly’ came into existence and why the Jews called it that. Yet, there is little doubt among the Indian-Jewish community of Malabar in Kerala that their ancestors first landed in the ancient trade centre of Cranganore. Some say that they sailed on the ships of King Solomon which would mean that the Jews arrived in India as early as in the first millennium BCE (1000 BCE to 1 BCE). But others believe that the Jews came as refugees to the Malabar after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Despite this discrepancy, the legend about the earliest Indian Jewish community remains a shared memory among the descendants today.

Through hazy and largely forgotten memories, we find traces of a fascinating story about the first Jews of Cranganore and their ultimate tragedy. It majorly comes from Ruby Daniel and Barbara C. Johnson’s book, Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers. Here’s how the legend goes.

The earliest Jewish settlement in Shingly came under the leadership of a powerful widow by the name of Kadambath-Achi. The Jews built many synagogues (Jewish house of worship) in Cranganore during that time and led a prosperous life, living in harmony with the pre-existing communities. All of this changed when the son of the local king of Cranganore fell in love with Kadambath-Achi’s daughter. But the widow rejected the prince’s offer and refused to marry her daughter to him. The prince kept pining for the girl and soon fell ill. Talk about love-sickness!

The king could no longer bear to see his son’s misery and in his wrath, he ordered all the Jews to move out of Shingly. The Jews complied and left their beloved settlement behind. Later, the Jews settled around the new bustling city of Cochin, and their community exists to this day, although in small number.

Only the widow and her daughter stayed behind. In Ruby Daniel’s account, she mentions that they both ground their jewelry and precious stones into powder, threw them into a pool, and committed suicide by swallowing diamonds.

Till date, the pool goes by the name Jutha (Judah) Kulam (Jewish pool) and another hill nearby is called the Jutha (Judah) Kunna (Jewish hill). These are the only sites attesting to the presence of the Jews and their eventual exit from Shingly but even the importance of these locations is fading away in the present times. Yet some people living there still say they sometimes find tiny pieces of gold in the sand of that pool. Perhaps the pool wants people to keep the tragedy of Shingly alive as well.