Kodungallur (Cranganore) Synagogue

Die jüdische Gemeinde

Kerala Jewish tradition holds that Jews settled at Cranganore in antiquity and that it was their chief dwelling place, the 'Jerusalem' of Malabar. The best documented early evidence is the copper-plate grant of the Chera king Bhaskara Ravi Varman to Joseph Rabban, which gave him the rights of Anjuvannam, a merchant body or quarter near Cranganore. Arab geographers of the early fourteenth century, such as al-Dimashqi and Abu al-Fida, name Shinkli as a place inhabited by Jews, and Odoric of Pordenone describes Jews at Cyngilin. Ophira Gamliel has shown, however, that the picture of Shingly as a great Jewish centre or kingdom rests largely on legends recorded from the sixteenth century onward, and that none of the medieval references marks it as a prominent Jewish settlement. Local tradition also says that the silting of the port after the Periyar flood of 1341 drew Jews towards Cochin, and that the decline of Kodungallur led to Jewish settlements in nearby Mala, Paravur and Chendamangalam. The size of the community in any period is unknown.

Architektur und Gestaltung

Nothing is known about the architecture of any synagogue at Kodungallur. No drawing, plan, description by a visitor or excavated remains have been found, and the scholars who have studied Kerala synagogues stress that the Cranganore synagogues are known only from oral tradition. Its date of construction, builder, size and layout are all unknown. Jay Waronker's study of Kerala synagogues records that the Jews, after rounds of persecution, abandoned their earlier synagogues and built new ones in places just outside Cranganore, so the later synagogues of Ernakulam, Paravur, Mala and Chendamangalam are the nearest surviving relatives of whatever stood there. The Jews of Ernakulam say that their Kadavumbhagam congregation began in Cranganore, but no source describes the form of its first building, and any resemblance to the later synagogues would be a guess, not evidence. Claims that a synagogue stood there before the fourteenth century have not been confirmed by any source consulted.

Leben in der Synagoge

No record of worship in a Kodungallur synagogue survives. What is known about religious life comes from the later Cochin communities, which preserved traditions about Cranganore in songs, in the stories of Joseph Rabban and in the names of congregations. The Jews of Ernakulam hold that their Kadavumbhagam synagogue was first built at Cranganore and that the congregation carried its name south when it left; a Thekkumbhagam congregation is also remembered in Shingly. The synagogue would have served merchants involved in the pepper trade, which, according to Katz, was the reason for the hostility that ended the community. A Jewish merchant's letter of 1535 still described a large community at Shingly trading pepper with the Portuguese each year, which suggests that some Jewish life continued for a time after 1524. No rabbi, cantor or lay leader of the congregation in this period is known by name.

Zerstörung

The sources disagree on how the Jewish community of Kodungallur, and with it its synagogue, came to an end. The account most often given, set out by Nathan Katz, is that in 1524 the Muslims of Cranganore, backed by the Zamorin, the ruler of Calicut, attacked the wealthy Jews because of their dominance of the pepper trade. Ophira Gamliel notes that the Tuhfat al-Mujahidin of Zayn al-Din Makhdum, completed in 1583, records a violent conflict between Jews and Muslims at Kodungallur in 1524. Ernakulam tradition says the Jews then fled persecution by the Moors and left their synagogue, and the Kerala tourism department's history speaks of large-scale damage to Jewish homes and synagogues in a clash with Arab traders. Walter Fischel noted a bewildering discrepancy: other sources blame Portuguese intolerance, internal disputes or the Zamorin's assault on the town, with dates ranging from 1524 to about 1565. The Jewish Encyclopedia says the last Jews fled to Cochin in 1565 when threatened with the Inquisition by the Portuguese. Whether the synagogue was burned in 1524 or simply abandoned is unknown.

Das Schicksal der Gemeinde

After the attack of 1524 the Jews of Cranganore fled south. According to Katz, the Hindu Raja of Cochin gave them asylum, and Cochin became the centre of Kerala Jewish life; Fischel shows that Portuguese sources already record Jews in Cochin by 1505, so the refugees joined an existing community rather than founding it. Others went to Ernakulam, where the Kadavumbhagam congregation traces its origin to Cranganore, and to towns such as Mala, Paravur and Chendamangalam. A letter of 1535 shows that some Jews were still at Shingly a decade later, but by 1565, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the remaining Jews had left for Cochin under the threat of the Portuguese Inquisition. The Cochin communities kept Cranganore alive as a memory, and the copper plates of Joseph Rabban are preserved by the Paradesi synagogue in Kochi.

Der Ort heute

The site of the synagogue is unknown. No source consulted identifies the Jewish quarter of medieval Kodungallur on the ground, and no archaeological remains of a synagogue have been found there. The town today is a municipality in Thrissur district, Kerala, known for the Cheraman Juma Masjid, which Kerala Muslim tradition regards as the oldest mosque in the subcontinent. Its harbour lost its importance after the Periyar flood of 1341, when trade moved to Cochin. Nothing marks a Jewish presence. The map pin for this entry is a placeholder at the town centre of Kodungallur and does not mark the synagogue. Locating it would need archaeological survey or a careful reading of the Portuguese and Malayalam records.

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