Ask for the ‘Jew Street’ of Ernakulam and you will be mostly directed to Mattancherry, but if you insist on finding one in the Ernakulam city, it may be a bit tricky to locate. In fact, not many are aware of the two additional streets in Kerala known by the name ‘Jew Street’. There is one 'Jew Street' in Ernakulam city and another in Parur (Paravoor), 25 Km north of Ernakulam. The Jew Streets in Mala and Chendamangalam no longer retain their names, though in Chendamangalam you can find a plaque mentioning ‘Judakambolam’ (Jewish market in Malayalam). Today, the ‘Jew Street’ or the ‘Jews Street’ of Ernakulam runs through one of the busiest commercial centers of the city, but people fail to understand its Jewish significance. The ignorance cannot be blamed entirely on the public as there is nothing Jewish in the street, except for the abandoned building of Thekkumbagam Synagogue located at a remote corner beside an overcrowded market. Entrance to the other synagogue of Ernakulam city, the ‘Kadavumbagam’ is not in ‘Jew Street’, but behind a plant nursery and aquarium at the ‘Market Road’. Looking at the current situation of the ‘Jew Street’, the epicenter of ‘Malabari Jews’ of Ernakulam, it is hard to imagine that Jews lived there once. The street once filled with Jewish residences and shops are all gone into non-Jewish hands after their owners moved en masse to Israel.
Where is this relatively unexplored Jew Street of Ernakulam located? Contrary to expectation, the 'Jew Street' of Ernakulam lies in a prime location of the city. A narrow 800-meter stretch, the ‘Jews Street’ connects Ernakulam’s two most posh roads, the Mahathma Gandhi Road (‘MG’ Road) and the Shanmugham Road (see the red-dotted lines in the map below). The best way to identify the ‘Jews Street’ is to look for the two cinema theatres in the city, viz. ‘Padma’ and ‘Sridar’. The ‘Jew Street’ roughly stretches between these two movie halls intersected by three commercial streets, the ‘Broadway’, the ‘Market Road’ and the ‘TD Road’ from west to east (see map below). The heart of Jewish Ernakulam used to be the ‘Jews Street Junction’ (3) where the ‘Jews Street’ meets the ‘Market Road’. The junction connecting TD road and Jew Street is the locally popular ‘Flower Junction’. The entrance to Thekkumbagam Synagogue (1) is between ‘Jews Street Junction’ and the junction where Broadway intersects the ‘Jews Street’. The entrance to Kadavumbagam Synagogue (2) is located in the ‘Market Road’ roughly 50 meters south to the ‘Jews Street Junction’.
Jew Street of Ernakulam. Courtesy, Google Maps.
How and when did the ‘Jews Street’ of Ernakulam become Jewish after all? If the earliest date of establishment of the ‘Kadavumbagam Synagogue’ is taken into consideration, the ‘Jews Street’ of Ernakulam should have been in existence from the 13th century. The earliest documented evidence for the 'Ernakulam Jew Street' is perhaps the report of Moses de Paiva who visited the region in 1686. He made a boat trip to Ernakulam from Mattancherry, and reports receiving a warm welcome by the Malabri Jewish community (Black Jews), who took him from a boat jetty 'along a very long street' to their synagogues. The 'long street' here is most probably the 'Jew Street' of Ernakulam (Nostisias dos Judeos de Cochin, 1687). Another clue is from an interesting tale given by Ruby Daniel in her memoir, where she explains how the Jews of Ernakulam got the name “Mani Kallanmar’ or ‘Bell Thieves’. The story describes how Jews helped the local Rajah to take his revenge on the Dutch Governor, and in return received the ‘Jews Street’ of Ernakulam as a reward. If the historicity of this event is validated, we can assume that the ‘Jews Street’ of Ernakulam became a Jewish property during the Dutch Period of Cochin, somewhere in the late 17th or early 18th century.
Here is the whole story for those who are interested, taken from ‘Ruby of Cochin’ (2001) - by Ruby Daniel and Barbara C. Johnson (p. 136-137).
“The Ernakulam Jews, too, have their rights and property because of the Cochin Maharaja. Once it happened the Raja had a quarrel with a foreign governor. He lived three miles away from Cochin Jew Town in Fort Cochin. A territory which was under the direct jurisdiction of the foreign power (I am not sure whether it was the Portuguese, the Dutch or the British at that time). That territory is still called Fort Cochin, because it used to be surrounded by a fort. The gate of the fort was opened in the mornings and closed in the evenings. Those who entered the fort during the day had to leave before the gates were closed for the night. Some Ernakulam Jews had dealings with the governor’s house, as they were the suppliers of chicken and eggs for his household. They carried these things in big baskets on their heads.
It so happened once that the governor insulted the Raja, and the Raja, in his anger, swore that he would pull out the governor’s tongue for that. He did not realize at the time the seriousness of his outburst. But he had to keep his word. The governor would not put out his tongue to be pulled out. So the Raja decided to pull out the tongue of the great bell that was hung on a high pillar on the hilltop where the governor’s bungalow was. Underneath is the sea that was the only unguarded entry.
At that time, also, Jews came to the aid of the Raja, who requested them to help him keep his word. The Jews who brought chicken and eggs had admission to the governor’s mansion without being searched. One day they took a short boy in a basket, along with a thick and long rope and some cotton wool, and put some chickens on top to cover him. They went to the governor’s palace, gave them the merchandise, and returned in the evening, conveniently forgetting the basket with the boy inside and leaving it at the bottom o the pillar where the bell was. In the middle of the night, two of these Jews went in a small fishing boat by the sea and waited at the bottom of the hill.
As they waited, this boy climbed up on the pillar, covered the tongue of the bell with cotton wool, removed the entire bell, tied one end of the rope, and threw the other end into the sea. The boatmen caught the end of the rope, and the bell was slipped noiselessly to the boatmen’s hands. They took the rope and the ball and paddled away with all the speed. The boy climbed down and hid himself in the basket as before. Early next morning the Jews came in, took the basket with boy, and rushed away. By the time people realized that the bell did not ring, the adventure was completed and the bell rang in the Raja’s palace instead.
In gratitude for this, a whole street was given to that Jewish community as a freehold; that is the Jews Street in Ernakulam. The natives still call the Jews “bell thieves” (Manikallar)”.
There are multiple versions for this story and here is a nice blog entry discussing some of them. In some narratives, the story belongs to the Paradesi Jews and the street becomes the Jew Street of Mattancherry.
An interesting account on the early 20th century ‘Jew Street of Ernakulam’ and the commercial activities of the Jews residing in the street are given by the Anglican missionary Rev. James Henry Lord during his visit to the region. According to him, “The Jewish settlement (Ernakulam), again, as in Cochin, consists chiefly of one main street, running this time east and west, its western extremity running down to the edge of the back-water. Numerous Jewish shops are here in evidence all along the street. There are many dealers in poultry, and in fish and in rice, as well as in abundant commodities besides. The Jews are said to monopolize largely the trade in poultry” [The Jews in India and the Far East (1907), p.100].
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