Chendamangalam Synagogue

LOCATION

Twenty-five miles (forty kilometers) to the north of Kochi’s Mattancherry, four miles (six kilometers) to the southeast of Cranganore, and two miles (three kilometers) from the synagogue in Parur just to the south, and reached by a narrow and busy north-south running main road (#14) linking a string of towns and villages throughout the length of Kerala, is Chendamangalam (sometimes written Chennamangalam). A sleepy settlement in Paravoor Taluk in the state’s Ernakuklam district, it was for centuries the home to a Jewish community and a synagogue, yet by the close of the twentieth century not a single Jew resided in Chendamangalam. The Chendamangalam Synagogue sits near the center of the quiet village. The narrow lane, paved only in recent years, leading to the synagogue seems to dead end into the white-washed building, but then it splits and continues onwards along both sides of the walled compound. The immediate area of the synagogue is a neighborhood of modest homes, some once Jewish owned, and a collection of small shops selling a handful of goods.

HISTORY

In 1324, the Arab geographer Ibn Battuta embarked on a ten-day expedition in Kerala from Calicut (now called Kozhikode) to Kawlam (once known as Quilon, or today as Kollam) by boat along the backwaters. On the fifth day of his journey he came to Kunjakari, and he describes this place, “which is on top of a hill; it is inhabited by Jews, who have one of their own number as their governor, and pay a poll tax to the sultan of Kawlam.” (Weil 2006: 1) The historian P.M. Jussay studied Kerala Jewish folksongs in Malayalam, and he linked Kunjakari with Chendamangalam on the basis of the summit location and the Jewish self-rule. Kunjakari has been plausibly identified with the section of the river called Kanjirapuzha to the east of the island of Chendamangalam where there was a very old Jewish settlement. (Weil 2006: 1)

In the Kerala Jewish Malayalam folksong "The Song of Evaray", the long migration of a learned Jew named Evarayi is traced from Jerusalem to Malanad, which was another name for the land of Kerala. Evarayi traveled by way of Egypt, Yemen, and Persia to Palur, north of Cranganore. Welcomed on his arrival in another place that is believed to be Chendamangalam, he set out to build a synagogue, or palli, and a Nayar (high-caste Hindu) killed a deer for a nercca feat to celebrate completion of his vow (Johnson 2004: 38).

According to a second Jewish Malayalam tune, that Evaray was requested to join the local aristocratic Nayars in a local deer hunt is interpreted as signifying that the Jews were accepted as members of the nobility. In "The Song of the Bird", another Kerala Jewish folksong which recounts the transmigration of a bird to India in search of a guava fruit, the bird flies "to a green mansion…in an elevated spot", which is identified with the hill at Kunjakari in Chendamangalam (Jussay 1990). This interpretation would agree with the conclusion drawn by P. Anujan Achan, the Kerala State Archaeologist of Cochin in 1930, who believed that the Jews must have migrated to Chendamangalam from Cranganore around the mid-thirteenth century (Weil/Waronker 2006: 3). A tombstone dating from 1268 belonging to a Jewish woman named Sarah, inscribed in Hebrew, which is the oldest text in Hebrew discovered in the region to date, was restored in 1936 and can today be found just outside the front entrance of the Chendamangalam Synagogue. According to a local narrative, the stone was brought to Chendamangalam from nearby Kottapuram.

In "The Song of Paliathachan", also recited by the Jewish women of Kerala, Jussay claims that the Paliath Achan, the representative of the Chendamangalam Nayar noblemen, bestowed upon the Jews "gifts and books to all those who come, and titles to foreigners". (Weil/Waronker 2006: 3) Paliath Achans, or local chieftains and hereditary prime ministers of the Rajahs of Cochin, reigned in Chendamangalam until the early nineteenth century. Today the chieftain’s descendants remain in residence in town, although without formal power, wealth, and privilege. A popular legend holds that hillocks of the town were planned by one of the Paliath Achams who sought to have four religious faiths prominently represented in town. It is said that in the center of Chendamangalam the tolerant leader designated a site on each of the cardinal points for the construction of a palli, or religious building, for four major faiths: a Hindu temple, Muslim mosque, Christian church, and Jewish synagogue. At the crossing of the axis he set his own residence, the Paliyam Palace, on a hill – the highest point in the village.

The story, an appealing and romantic narrative, is only partially accurate. It is true that the construction of all four places of worship were realized by the Paliath Acham. It is also the case that the structures have for centuries stood in central Chendamangalam. However, they are not neatly positioned on the four points, and the Paliath Acham’s palace is not neatly located at the axis. All structures are indeed close to one another and it is possible to visit by car or foot, although they have been modified, enlarged, or rebuilt over the years. Today a visitor walking around the quiet town will not find a direct road or perceivable axial link from of the religious buildings to another. Behind the mosque, a path leads to the overgrown Jewish cemetery. The prime minister’s residence, an impressive and “high” architectural structure built in the traditional Kerala style that dates in part to the sixteenth century, was constructed not in the village center but rather on the edge of town. It is surrounded by lush vegetation, and today family descendents still live in the compound, which has expanded over the years. Chendamangalam is particularly well known for its inclusive town plan, and it is indeed a significant historical gesture, but it should also be noted that other Kerala towns feature a similar variety of religious buildings. In the Kottayam district of central Kerala is small city of Changanacherry, for example, and associated with it is a comparable story that the local ruler Marthanda Varma, a tolerant man, encouraged the building of a temple, church, and mosque within the town center.

The walled synagogue at Chendamangalam has been rebuilt over the centuries, yet its Kerala vernacular style was maintained. This includes load-bearing white-washed walls of laterite stone veneered in chunam (a polished lime plaster), limited surface details inspired by the Portuguese colonial period such as fan-like alettes or native painted panels, local timber roof framing covered in clay tiles with deep overhangs, and large windows and doors deeply revealed into the thick walls. According to local narratives, the first building dated to 1420, followed by one in 1614, and then another later that same century (Yehudi: 97). Fire was the likely cause of the rebuilding efforts. It is possible that the Portuguese, who persecuted the area’s Jews in the mid-seventeenth century and set the Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi’s Jew Town on fire in 1661, were responsible for also setting the Chendamangalam Synagogue ablaze. The Portuguese period in Kerala was marked by restive activity in the Jewish community. While synagogues in Ernakulam, Parur, and Mala may have been built during this time when the Jews resettled as best as possible away from Portuguese reach, in time the colonial power asserted itself far and wide. As a consequence, synagogues were attacked by the Portuguese and damaged or destroyed. Whether the Chendamangalam Synagogue was completely or partially destroyed at that time is not clear, but a fourth synagogue seems to have been realized. Archeologists from Government of Kerala responsible for the restoration of the Chendamangalam Synagogue in 2005 have a slightly different opinion on the dates of the building. They believe that it was built in 1565 and repaired in 1621 (DOE staff, interview by author, Trivandrum, 2006).

According to the Anglican Church missionary Rev. Thomas Dawson, who visited Chendamangalam in 1817, the synagogue at that time was in ruins. Dawson recorded that the synagogue and the one in Parur and Mala had been destroyed by the armies of Tipu Sultan during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. From 1780 – 90, Tipu Sultan and his forces had attacked and burned down thousands of non-Islamic religious structures in Kerala, including Hindu temples, churches, and synagogues. Based on Dawson’s history, the Chendamangalam Synagogue could not have been rebuilt before the second decade of the nineteenth century (Hunt: 153).

The Jewish community in Chendamangalam, never numbering more than a few hundred, was small even relative to the other Kerala Jewish enclaves. Although the current building served the needs of this community for many years, from the mid-1950s to the turn of the new millennium it sat mostly unused. Many of the local Jews had moved from Chendamangalam to Israel after the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, and most of the remaining community left in the 1960s and 70s. By the 1980s, there were only nineteen Jews remaining in Chendamangalam (Yehudi: 103).

Unattended to during these years and into the 1990s by the tiny, mostly elderly congregation with limited resources, the synagogue deteriorated so badly that portions of the roof and floor collapsed, large sections of the whitewashed veneer eroded, and the structural integrity was severely compromised. Vegetation consumed the building, and its doors and windows had to be sealed against the elements and vandals. Funds for maintenance could not be found even though the synagogue had been declared a protected structure by the Kerala office of the Indian Department of Archeology. During this period, the synagogue often remained locked and its key was left in the custody of P. A. Aron, a Kerala Jew who lived in later years in Fort Kochi. By the first years of the twenty-first century, the last of Chendamangalam’s Jews had emigrated or died. This allowed the Kerala office of the Indian Department of Archaeology to assume formal control of the decommissioned synagogue from the Association of Kerala Jews and embark on its much needed restoration.
At Chendamangalam, the smallest of the extant Kerala synagogues, there no gatehouse per se, but the synagogue compound, which is surrounded by a high chunam over laterite stone wall, includes a deep recessed porch below a room once used as a Jewish school. Otherwise, the Chendamangalam Synagogue follows the pattern of other Keralan synagogues with its azara (anteroom) followed by the double height sanctuary on the ground floor with its central tebah and intricately-carved and painted/gilded teak heckal to the west. Overlooking the prayer space is a balcony with its second tebah. The balcony is supported by two wooden columns with plain shafts that, according to local narratives, are in reference to the twin pillars of Boaz and Jachin that once stood outside the ancient Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. Behind the balcony, and separated by a mechitza, or partition wall, is the naturally-lit women’s seating area that is placed directly above the azara. To the rear of the women’s area is a space with windows that was once used as a classroom. This room connects to a separate small tower that leads via a spiral stair down to the porch.

CURRENT STATUS

Beginning in late 2004, under the direction of Dr. V. Manmadhan Nair and his departmental staff, skilled restoration professionals and craftsmen brought Chendamangalam Synagogue back to form. The work, costing some 40 lakhs, or about US$80,000, was funded by the State of Kerala. By that point the synagogue was in such dilapidated condition that there was concern by these experts that it could even be saved. Although the building was in a most precarious state, it was ultimately determined that it could be restored. Over the course of ten months, the building was restored by a team of government archeological authorities, the privately-commissioned restoration contractor Thampy and Thampy based in Karnataka, and a crew of craftsmen and carpenters trained in vernacular building traditions. During that period, the tradesmen working on the project frequently slept on site, preparing their meals on the property.

In 2005, with the restoration of the synagogue underway, a proposal prepared by Professor Jay Waronker of Southern Polytechnic University in Atlanta, Georgia USA, Dr. Shalva Weil from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem Israel, and Marian Scheuer Sofaer of Palo Alto, California USA was presented to Dr. Nair of the Kerala office of India’s Department of Archeology to allow for the former synagogue to be readapted as India’s first Jewish heritage museum. With funding by the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life in San Francisco and private individuals, a permanent exhibition on the history of the Chendamangalam Jews and their synagogue was created. An opening ceremony, attended by many from the local village, the Kerala Jewish community, former Chendamangalam Jews and their descendants now living in Israel, international guests, and representatives of the Indian and Israeli governments, was held in late February 2006. Today the museum, managed and operated by the Kerala office of the Indian Department of Archeology, is open daily from 9 AM – 5 PM, except Mondays. A small entry fee is charged, which includes a museum brochure produced by the exhibition curators as well as a one page guide on the spaces of the former synagogue and Jewish liturgical practices.

Mala Synagogue

 

LOCATION

The town of Mala lies in the central region of Kerala State in its Thrissur district fifteen miles (twenty four km) to the east of Cranganore and thirty two miles (fifty one km) north of Mattancherry’s Jew Town in Kochi.  Since it is the farthest synagogue from Kochi, a hired car and driver is the easiest and quickest way of getting there, although far less expensive local buses from Ernakulam (perhaps involving a transfer) are available.  Mala, located on a secondary road equidistant between the north-south highway #17, spanning most of western Kerala, and highway #47 beginning in Kochi and running to the northeast, can be described as a typical Kerala town with a small, low-rise commercial center that sprawls out in all directions to a mixture of residential and scattered business districts.  While not positioned directly on water, the town is set very near the famous backwaters of Kerala that connect to the Arabian Sea.  Mala’s former synagogue is in the center of town, and the Jewish cemetery is a short distance to the east along a main road running immediately perpendicular to the gatehouse (now a shop) of the former Jewish house of prayer.

HISTORY

There is a difference of opinion among the sources as to when the Jews who had settled in Mala first built a synagogue.  The building was realized for an active community of Jews who are remembered by the townspeople as productive shop owners, small traders, or involved in agricultural work.
Prem Doss Swami Doss Yehudi, a Dravidian Judaist and historian, wrote about a Jewish Malayalam folk song revealing that the wood used for the building of the synagogue in Mala was donated to Joseph Rabban in 1000 CE by the Rajah of Cranganore on behalf of his fellow Jews.  Mala was then under the sovereignty of Cranganore, and the Rajah was said to have welcomed a diversity of faiths (Yehudi:  93).  Yehudi also claims that the original early eleventh century synagogue was pulled down for an unspecified reason and a new building was erected in 1400, and it was, in turn, renovated in 1792.   This is in conflict with the observations made by the Church of England missionary Rev. Thomas Dawson, who was stationed in Kochi beginning in 1817.  Dawson visited the Mala Synagogue during his tenure in the area, and he observed that the building was still in ruins following Tipu Sultan’s attack during the Second Anglo-Mysore War of the early 1780s.  Dawson seems to confirm that even after the passing of more than a quarter of a century the synagogue had yet to be rebuilt (Hunt:  153).  The nineteenth-century structure was in whole or part upgraded by a new one in 1909 on the same foundation.  In 1914, the Mala Jewish community sent a letter to Sir and Lady Sassoon of London, of the prominent former Indian-Baghdadi Jewish dynasty of central India, seeking a contribution for the beautification of the synagogue (Yehudi:  93).  
Other sources claim that the first Mala synagogue dates to a much later period, to 1597, after Kerala Jews had been driven away from Cranganore by the Portuguese in 1565.   It is the 1597 date that the Jewish scholar and historian David Solomon Sassoon wrote about in his study of the synagogues of India in the early twentieth century (Sassoon:  1056).  Irrespective of its date of origin, this synagogue has been altered or partially rebuilt over time, evident by an inscription in the wood carvings in Hebrew and Malayalam along the balcony frieze, which confirms that the existing sanctuary building dates in full or in part only to 1909.  The gatehouse and breezeway appear to be older, however, so it is possible that these two sections were not rebuilt at this time but survive from an earlier period. 

The former synagogue as it stands today is located at a prominent location in the center of town at a busy intersection. In the immediate area, a hectic place with a constant flow of vehicles, pedestrians, and animals, is a row of small shops lining the street where an assortment of products and services are sold. Running parallel to the façade of the now altered synagogue gatehouse, or north-south, is the paved two-lane Trichur Mala Road.  The perpendicular major thoroughfare that dead ends at the gatehouse leads eastward to the Jewish cemetery a short drive away.
At one time, a great deal of real estate extending quite a distance from all sides of the synagogue was Jewish owned.  Since 1955, not a single Jew has resided in town, and with this came the closing of the synagogue and sale of all Jewish commercial and residential property.

On December 20, 1954, just before the Mala Jewish community of some three hundred immigrated en masse to Israel in early 1955, a formal agreement was signed by the trustees of Mala Synagogue to turn over without financial benefit the ownership, use, and control of the building to the local panchayat, or municipality.  The agreement stipulated that in the synagogue building would be cared for, and it would not be used as house of prayer or slaughterhouse. Mala’s departing Jews were the exception in that they had collectively arranged for their building to be deeded over for use by the broader local community. This was in contrast to other Kerala Jewish congregations, who had passed control of their synagogues to other Kerala Jews or had left the building in the hands of the skeletal community that had not made aliya (immigrated to Israel).
The decommissioned synagogue was converted to Mala village government offices, and it was readapted as a venue for cultural, educational, and communal functions. 

The original entrance to the synagogue’s sanctuary building, on the latitudinal (short) side of the building compound, faced Trichur Mala Road.  Following the formula of Kerala synagogues, at Mala a gatehouse was erected to the eastern end of the synagogue property.  It was through this two-story structure bordering the main road in the heart of town that the formal entrance was found. The gatehouse, which served as a foyer with communal spaces downstairs and a Jewish school upstairs, linked to a covered yet exterior breezeway (now filled in) that connected on axis to the sanctuary building proper.  The sanctuary featured the usual spaces for Kerala synagogues:  an azara, or anteroom, followed by the double height prayer space, or sanctuary.  Located roughly in the center of the room was the tebah (bimah), and at the far end of the sanctuary on the west wall was the heckal (ark).

In the tradition of other synagogues of Kerala, a shallow wooden balcony, reached by a steep corner stair, overlooks the double-height sanctuary and features a second tebah. This space was adjacent to the women’s seating area which was positioned behind a mechitza, or screened partition wall and directly above the azara. Before the synagogue was altered, doors led from the rear of the women’s area to a narrow and long passageway with its ventilated and diffusely lit “walls” made of struts with a latticework of interlinking laths – a form unique to Kerala architecture. This space, above the breezeway on the ground floor, provided a way into the synagogue for the women via a connecting stair at the opposite end and also linked to the classrooms within the gatehouse’s upper floor level.

CURRENT STATUS

The keys to the former Mala Synagogue are in possession of the panchayat, or municipality, and all visitors must stop at its building on the edge of town to arrange access. The office staff is normally helpful in approving the visit and locating the keys, and in most cases someone accompanies guests to the synagogue.  In recent years, the Mala Synagogue building has been marginally at best maintained and rarely used.

Since ownership of Mala’s synagogue passed to the municipality officially in 1955, the building and its grounds have been altered and, in part, extensively and even irrevocably compromised. While the sanctuary building has remained under the control of the panchayat and never sold or rented, the former synagogue gatehouse and its connecting two story breezeway were parceled off for income and converted to commercial functions. Rent from these shops was intended to go to the maintenance of the former synagogue sanctuary building and the nearby Jewish cemetery, yet this has not always been the case.  As a result of this arrangement, the original gatehouse entry to the synagogue complex was literally cut off from the sanctuary, forever destroying the intended spatial and experiential arrangement.   Some of the gatehouse’s original interior woodwork can still be seen today.  In the mid-1950s, a shallow addition was built onto the front façade of the synagogue gatehouse, and a second building abutting the rear and near the end of the breezeway was completed.

To visit the interior of the former synagogue today, one needs to pass by adjacent newer structures facing CMS Road (the side street) to the south (some post-1955 buildings blocking the ex-synagogue altogether were removed in 2008), walk around the west (short end) side of the synagogue before coming upon the overgrown remaining walled courtyard to the north side that has for years been used for drying black pepper, and ascend tacked-on exterior steps to unceremoniously enter the building through the sanctuary (rather than through the azara, the intended arrival point) via a make-shift entrance. The synagogue’s tebah, heckal, and all furnishings and fittings were removed years ago and are now lost, although the balcony with its second tebah remains. The platform seen near where the heckal was located is a post-1955 addition.

In response to the growing interest among the public in Kerala’s Jewish history and its still functioning and former synagogues, modest renovation and repair work on the exterior of the synagogue has been scheduled to be carried out in late 2010 by the municipality, and the area along the long elevation of the building facing the street side is to be covered with pavers to improve site conditions.