PM Modi Gifts Two Sets Of Relics To Israeli Counterpart Netanyahu

July 05, 2017 16:42
PM Modi Gifts Two Sets Of Relics To Israeli Counterpart Netanyahu

PM Modi Gifts Two Sets Of Relics To Israeli Counterpart Netanyahu:- Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi who arrived in Tel Aviv, for a three day-historic visit, has gifted replicas of two sets of relics from Kerala, to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.

These relics are regarded as main artifacts of the long Jewish history in India. Modi presented the relics to Netanyahu at his home in Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister’s Office said, the relics comprise two different sets of copper plates that are believed to have been inscribed in 9-10th Century.

The first set of copper plates is a cherished relic for the Cochin Jews in India.

It is regarded as a charter describing the grant of hereditary royal privileges and prerogatives by the Hindu King, Cheraman Perumal (often identified as Bhaskara Ravi Varma) to the Jewish leader Joseph Rabban.

According to traditional Jewish accounts, Joseph Rabban was later crowned as the Prince of Shingli, a place in or equated with Cranganore.

Before they moved to Cochin and other places in Malabar, Cranganore is where Jews enjoyed religious and cultural autonomy for centuries.

The Local Jews, in each coffin, once placed a handful of earth from Shingli/Cranganore that was remembered as a holy place and a “second Jerusalem”.

The replica of these plates was made with the cooperation of the Paradesi Synagogue in Mattancherry, Kochi.

While, the second set of copper plates is believed to be the earliest documentation of the history of Jewish trade with India.

Modi Gifts To Israeli Netanyahu

These plates describe the grant of land and tax privileges by the local Hindu ruler to a church.

And oversight of trade in Kollam to West Asian and Indian trading associations.

West Asian association included Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, as also a group of Jews, who signed in Judeo- Persian and possibly also in Arabic and Pahlavi (Middle Persian).

The plates bear their signatures that appear to have been cut into the plates by a local workman unfamiliar with the script, the PMO tweeted.

With the cooperation of Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Thiruvalla, Kerala, the replica of these plates was made.

In addition, Prime Minister Mr. Modi also presented Netanyahu, a Torah scroll donated by the Paradesi Jewish community in Kerala.

Modi Gifts To Israeli Netanyahu

Handwritten over a hundred years ago, the scroll had been dedicated to the Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi that had been built in 1568. The Torah is enclosed on wooden staves in a wooden case adorned with silver sheets. And a metal crown covered in gold sheets in floral ornament style, bearing motifs typical of lamps and decorations of south India.

Modi Gifts To Israeli Netanyahu

SUPRAJA

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