The Shell of Kerala’s Past Jewish Communal Life

Jahnavi J

The Shell of Kerala’s Past Jewish Communal Life

Contrary to the fate they suffered in world history until their mass religious migration to Israel, the Jewish community of Kerala enjoyed a respectable lifestyle. However, the synagogues in Cochin that were built as a compound of Kerala’s vernacular and Jewish architectural elements now remain empty shells as the community dwindles.

Paravur synagogue yard with a path for circumambulation. Source: Kerala Tourism website

Of the seven important synagogues in Cochin, Paravur Synagogue, with its rocky past, is the most expansive and complete one with a unique mix of vernacular Kerala architecture (the thick walls of locally quarried ashlar laterite stone and lime plaster and the wooden roof framings paired with the deep eaves)$^7$ and Jewish elements.

On plan, the synagogue’s long procession incorporated the highly axial arrangement of spaces of traditional sacred architecture. The entry was through a gatehouse followed by a walled court. Above the gatehouse was a center for teaching scriptures, which in later restorations was converted into an office. The court led to a foyer flanked by two storage rooms. A narrow columned breezeway connected it to the anteroom, where devotees were expected to leave their footwear. The azara or the anteroom, earlier meant for convocation, was converted into a display for the ancient inscriptions.

The Jewish community of Kerala once enjoyed a respectable lifestyle. Forty-one kilometers to the north of Mattancherry, in a place called Parur or Paravur, there is the Jew Street whose entry is marked by the Paravur market, built on the land of the Kottekkavu Church and flanked by two cylindrical ceremonial posts made of chunam$^1$ over local laterite stone with conical tops. The street ends at the picturesque canal connecting the Paravur Boat Jetty, a thriving community recognized by the neighboring Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. With its entry facing the street, the Paravur Jewish Synagogue is nestled between traditional Kerala houses and a handful of modern concrete commercial structures.

For a casual tourist in Mattancherry, an art enthusiast visiting the Kochi Muziris Biennale, or someone interested in the roots of Jewish history in Kerala, this place is fascinating. The legacy of Jews in Kerala goes way back to the tenth century under King Solomon’s reign when the Hindu king welcomed the merchants to fill the trade void in Cochin’s economy. Kodungallur$^2$, also called Muziris by foreigners, became a safe haven for the Jewish refugees even during the period of the Jewish Diaspora$^3$, contrary to the anti-Semitic practices at the time around the globe.

After a particularly difficult period of persecution by the Arabs and Portuguese in Kodungallur in 1524, the Jewish community found solace under the protection of the Cochin Rajah at Paravur. In his documentation of Kerala’s synagogues, David Solomon Sassoon records 1164 as the year of construction of the synagogue that, along with houses and shops, was wrecked during a siege. But the structure was quickly rebuilt with the efforts of the fourth mudaliyar$^5$ David Yaacov (Jacob) Castiel, as confirmed by a Hebrew dedicatory inscription on the exterior, sometime between 1614 and 1621. Oral narratives also indicate that the lamp hanging near the ark or heckal of the old synagogue was transferred during the seventeenth-century reconstruction.

Ruby Daniel, in her book Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers, reminisced about the legend of the smallpox epidemic that hit the thriving city, where in an act of mimicking the Sinai Jews by burning ketoret or incense without complete knowledge of its ingredients, the rabbanim$^6$ invited deaths of hundreds. The final blow to the synagogue came from Islamic propagation in South India under the rule of Tipu Sultan of Mysore in 1783 when he sabotaged non-Muslim religious buildings, following which it lay in despair until its nineteenth-century restoration.

From inside the sanctuary, wooden steps lead up to the balcony with a second bimah, used during special occasions. The wooden mechitza or partition separated the balcony from a seating area reserved for women, an aspect of Jewish culture to avoid distraction during prayer. The breezeway connected this space to a staircase outside the foyer exclusively for women. These women sang tunes interpreting Midrash folk wisdom in daily communal life, which remains popular to this day. The Ner Tamid (Eternal Flame) is a lamp that is constantly lit above the ark even when the synagogue is not in use. Specific to Kerala synagogues, one can also find a multitude of other hanging lamps.

The synagogue was, along with a cultural center, the nucleus of political and economic activity of the community. A Jew in Paravur would catch fish or grow a produce, sell it in the market, and then congregate at the synagogue for prayers or small talk. The community funding for education and work ventures were also decided at the synagogue. Overall, it was the epicenter of life and religion for the Jews of Cochin.

The subsequent double-height rectangular sanctuary with a low mezzanine$^9$ has a central horseshoe-shaped podium, called the Bimah, with three levels of wooden railings and a ledge, which in Jewish architecture served as a space to rest the Torah scrolls during prayers; it terminated with the heckal.$^1$$^0$ On either side of the Bimah were two rows of seats.

Although the exterior fan-shaped stucco mouldings and curled rope motifs reflected Portuguese influence, the décor of the interior followed emblems of Jewish traditions like the lotus flower-shaped carvings on the roof and interlacing triangular details. On the door frame of the sanctuary was the traditional mezuzah, a parchment with Torah verses in a decorative case.

As it turned out, with the creation of Israel in 1948, many Cochin Jews departed the country in search of a new life by 1961. The community of about 2500 people dwindled to 22 who remain in Kerala. The synagogue's rituals and prayers also came to an end along with the fading community. It remained abandoned until the Paravur synagogue was converted into a museum in 2012 under the Kerala government's Muziris Heritage Project with assistance from Benny Kuriakose and Associates. The original ark and bimah were transferred to Israel and a replica in wood with elaborate Torah carvings was installed instead. A few other minor changes were made and the structure was painted white instead of the pale yellow and green of the original synagogue.

Silent religious musing replaces the mangled sounds of the pizmonim, bhajans, and azaans$^1$$^1$ within the synagogue, which is but a shell of the past. However, it remains one of the last remaining glimpses of over 2000 years of respectable lifestyle the Cochin Jews enjoyed in contrast to their contemporaries around the globe.

Bottom: Section of the azara/anteroom$^8$ and sanctuary. Source: Issuu| Vivek Venugopal

One of the copper plate inscriptions at Paradesi$^4 $synagogue in Mattancherry describes privileges enjoyed by the Jewish merchant guild Anjuvannam under King Bhaskara Ravi Verman. Source: Cochin Jewish copper plates blog by Bala Menon| Blogger

Entry porch and court. Source: Benny Kuriakose and Associates

Entry to the Paravur Synagogue facing Jew Street. Source: Department of Archaeology

Top: Plan of the synagogue at Paravur. Source: Issuu| Vivek Venugopal

Spaces of a typical Kerala synagogue. Source: Robin ThomasSpaces of a typical Kerala synagogue. Source: Robin Thomas

Images comparing the synagogue before and after restoration. Source: Benny Kuriakose and Associates

Synagogue during restoration. Source: Jyotika Jain

Images comparing the synagogue before and after restoration. Source: Benny Kuriakose and Associates

The balcony outside rabbanim and the wooden steps lead to the same from the inside. Source: Benny Kuriakose and Associates

Top left: Anteroom and copper tablets display. Top right: Mezuzah at the entrance. Bottom: Inner sanctuary with bimah and ark. Source: Benny Kuriakose and Associates