Thursday, July 06, 2017

Very old Jewish inscribed copper plates from India

NOT THE COPPER SCROLL, BUT STILL PRETTY INTERESTING: Modi's Gift to Netanyahu: Ancient Jewish Relics From Kerala.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gifted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu replicas of two sets of relics from Kerala, regarded as key artifacts of the long Jewish history in India.

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

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The plates are written in the ancient Tamil script, but one or two bear Hebrew writing (apparently Judeo-Persian) as well. The first pair contains a royal charter. The second pair concerns local trade and tax issues.

Some past PaleoJudaica posts on the history of Judaism in India are here, here, and here and links. And for past posts on Judeo-Persian, see here and links. Kerala also has a long history of Syriac-speaking Christianity, on which more here and links.

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