A Jews Street in Calicut?

A view of the Jews Street with shops at the far end

It was young Thoufeek Zakriya, a history enthusiast, avid blogger (http://jewsofmalabar.blogspot.com/) and an accomplished calligrapher (http://thoufeekzak.blogspot.com) who alerted us on the possible existence of a Jews Street in Calicut. He got the lead from an advertisement of an electrical shop on the net. Phone calls to the listed number got the response that the number did not exist.

Our team led by Advocate Madhusoodan started looking for clues on the ground. Local historians did not know (or in one case belittled the importance of the finding, which made us more curious). 

At the end of the week, we got information that there does indeed exist a small locality called Jootha Bazar in the heart of legendary Thekkepuram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thekkepuram) between Kuttichira and Idiyangara. 

We know that of all the communities which had once strong presence in Calicut, there is no evidence of only two - Chinese and Jews. 


This is true of not only Calicut, but even of other centres of trade like Panthalayini-Kollam. It is only recently when the Geniza papers are being deciphered that we get to know that a Jewish trader, Abraham Yiju had once made purchase of spices from Panthalayini-Kollam (Fandaraina) around 1120 AD. He records in one of his letters (232 T-S 

A Jaaram (tomb) at the entrance to the street

20 quoted by Amitav Ghosh at page 227 of his The Imam and the Indian:

'...I bought for (al Basara?) from Fandaraina two bahars (of cardamom) as a substitute for 17 mithqals.' Please click here for details.


 Almost 200 years later, the Franciscan Friar, Odoric of Pordenone had visited Panthalayini and had this to say about the Jews there and their conflict with the Christians :In Flandrina both Iewes and Christians doe inhabite, betweene whom there is often contention and warre: howbeit the Christians ouercome the Iewes at all times. 

As Prof. A. Sreedhara Menon observes, 'There are no traces of Jewish colonies in these places except that there is a 'Jew's Hill' at Chowghat and a 'Jew's Tank' at Madayi'. (A Survey of Kerala History, p.95) Could this Jews Street in Calicut be a remnant of a forgotten past ? We decided to verify.

As we walked down from the Miskal Mosque heading south, one road leads east and turns south again towards Idiyangara. There are a few shops on this street and this place is now called Jootha Bazar or Jews Street. Local people had different explanations for the origin of the name. An elderly person said that perhaps the origin could be traced to mothers calling their naughty offsprings children of Jews as a curse. But, why should the name called stick to a place, unless only children of that locality were mischievous. Another ingenious explanation given was that naughty young people of that locality would gather in the Jootha Bazar and gamble and, therefore, the name stuck. 

A third person, who appeared to be more knowledgeable about the history and culture of the place explained that it was just possible that the location of the present Jews Street was once a flourishing market run by the Jews, like the Silk Street, Gujarati Street etc.

We do not yet know whether the Jews Street has any historical significance. But, considering the irrefutable evidence of both Jews and the Chinese having once been a strong presence in Calicut and are now obliterated without any trace, we wonder whether there was some similarity in the sudden disappearance of the two communities.

Zheng He, the Chinese Admiral made his last voyage to Calicut in 1433 and died during this voyage. The date is significant from the point of view of direction of Calicut's trade. For, Abdul Razzak who visited Calicut just 9 years after the death of Zheng He noted that the trade had already shifted from the east to west. Recent research has revealed that Emperor Yong-le who had deputed Zheng He had already decided to shift his trade relations from Calicut to the newly emerging Cochin, prompted perhaps by the pressure on Chinese traders from the Arab trading monopoly. The Chinese Emperor's overtures to Cochin in the form of a poetic epistle (click here)dated 28th December 1416 was carried by Zheng He. (The Chinese had unwittingly shown the Portuguese how to pit Calicut against Cochin!)

The massacre of the Chinese which took place soon after the last voyage of Zheng He could have encompassed all foreign traders, including the Jews. For, there is not much record of the Jewish presence in Calicut after the 15th Century.

Pereira de Paiva, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin who visited Cochin in 1686 on behalf of the Amsterdam Jewry reported that there were only 465 Malabar Jewish families, all in and around Cochin. It is likely that along with the Chinese traders, the Jewish traders of Calicut also migrated to Cochin. 

It is most likely that the Jewish traders in Calicut belonged to the Black Jews (the original tribes who had been trading from the days of Solomon). The White Jews , descendants of Spanish, Portuguese and Iraqi arrived on the Malabar coast much later in the 16th Century.