Copper-plate charters mentioned in Syrian Christian histories

There are five Copper-plate charters mentioned in the Syrian Christian histories, given to different communities by the rulers in the kingdoms of Malabar in Ancient and Medieval times. 

1. Table showing the four extant Copper-plate charters mentioned in Syrian Christian Church histories.

Based on T.K. Joseph (1929:) The Malabar Christian Copper Plates, in Kerala Society Papers, Series 4, pp.201-204.

Name of charter, and date	Granted by	Recipient	Current location of originals
Jewish copper plate. Date: 2nd century	unknown	Joseph Ramban	unknown
Knai Thoma plates Date: 345 AD	‘Bhaskara Iravi Varmer (Varma), King of the Chera Dynasty’	‘Issoopoo Irabban’, /Joseph Ramban	Unknown, presumed lost c.1544, or taken to Portugal by the Franciscans
Kollam Plates, Set I. Date: Around 880AD (earlier than Kollam Plates Set II)	Ayyan, king of Venad	Three groups of donees: (a)Kollam Tarissa (Syrian Orthodox) Church; (b)Leaders of the Kollam Jews; (c) Authorised Chief of the Manigramam, (a community of Kollam Christians from before Sapor Isho arrived and re-founded the city in 825AD).	Unknown
Kollam Plates, Set II. Date: “The fifth year of Sthanu Ravi” / Around 880 AD	Ayyan, king of Venad, (the southern portion of modern Travancore).	The Tarissa Church   (=the Syrian Orthodox Church) built at Kollam in Travancore by Sabrisho (Sapor Isho), who refounded the city of Quilon in 825 AD.	Partly in the HQ of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Tiruvalla, Kerala, and the HQ of the Malankara Indian Orthodox Church (also known as the Orthodox Syrian Church), Kottayam.

2. Knai Thoma plates

2.1. Image of a copy of the Knai Thoma plates of 345AD.

Figure 1. Knai Thoma Plates – obverse and reverse of plate 1 (of 2), either copied letter-by-letter by Duperron in 1758, or copied by the estampage-method when the plates came into the hands of the British official, Colonel Macaulay in c.1806.

• Material qualities of both the Jewish and Knai Thoma plates

The ‘Knai Thoma Charter’ constituted two rectangular pieces of beaten copper, each ‘1 ½ palms long and 4 fingers wide’. ^[1]  They are: ‘written in ancient Tamul, and engraved on two plates of copper, in good preservation. The first plate is engraved on both sides; the second on one side only, occupying three-fourths of it. These two plates, covered with a third, on which nothing is engraven, are made up like a case, and secured with two copper clasps.’

• Purport of Knai Thoma / Jewish Plates:

(a)  C.M. Whish’s translation of Knai Thoma Copper-plates, full text. (From Duperron’s hand-inscribed copy.)

(C. M. Whish, in Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register 1831 Vol 6. pp.12-13. Here p.10.)

‘Swasti Sri! The king of kings hath ordained it! When Raja Sri Bhaskarah Iravah Varma was wielding the sceptre of royalty in an hundred thousand places, in the thirty-sixth year above the second cycle, he vouchsafed, during the time that he sojourned in Muyil Kottah, to perform a deed, the subject of which is as follows: — From Yussoof Rabba and his people, in five degrees of persons, we exact the tribute of due awe and deference to our high dignity, and of the usual presents to our royal person; to these we allow the privilege of bearing five kinds of names, of using day-lamps, of wearing long apparel; of using palanquins and umbrellas, copper vessels, trumpets, and drums, of garlands for the person, and garlands to be suspended over their roads; and we have given in full seventy-and-two separate houses ; and we have relinquished all taxes and rates for these; and also for all other houses and churches in other cities; and independent of this bond to him, we have made and given a copper instrument for these latter, separate and distinct. These are to be enjoyed after these, five modes of descent, viz. by Yussoof Rabba himself and his heirs in succession — thus, his male children, and his female children, his nephews, and the nephews of his daughters, in natural succession: an hereditary right to be enjoyed as long as the earth and the moon remain. Sri! I, Govarddhana Martandan, of Venadu, witness this deed; I, Kotai Giri Kandun, of Venadavalinada, witness this deed; J, Manavepala Manuviyan, of Eralanada, witness this deed; I, Irayan Chattan, of Valluvanada, witness this deed; I, Kotai Iravi, of Nedumbutaiyur nada, witness this deed; I, Murkan Chattan, inhabitant of Kelpadui nayakam, witness this deed. This is the handwriting of Poranaya Koyraya Kellapan, engraved by Vandra Sherry Kandapan.’

(b) F.W. Ellis’ translation of the Knai Thoma plates, full text: from Duperron’s hand-inscribed copy

(F.W. Ellis:  Analysis of the Copper Grant in possession of the Jews of Cochin. In, the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, No.31, December 1844:1-10.)

‘Such (as given above) is a distinct analysis of the Jew’s Grant of Cochin, letter for letter, word for word, sentence for sentence. It may, therefore, be translated freely, thus:

“Swasti Sri! A Royal Edict. The Act of Privilege vouchsafed by Sri Bhaskara Iravi Varma, when he tarried at Muyiri-Kottah, in the 36th year of the 3^rd Cycle, when ruling the land, dispensing justice far and wide throughout his dominions. We have permitted Joseph Rabban, an indisputed line of descent in five degrees of persons; to receive from those subject to his authority, tribute with awe and submission. We allow the exercise and profits of all the crafts; he may use burning lights by day; long raiment, palanquins, umbrellas, drums, trumpets, tambourins, and garlands for the person, and for the roads; and we permit the free property of seventy-two houses. And we relinquish all rates and customs. Moreover, other and whatever taxes paid by the houses in the city to the Royal Exchequer he is exempted from; and in order to guarantee to him this exemption, and all the privileges, we have executed this deed on copper- leaves: To Joseph Rabban himself, his male children, his female children, his nephews, and those (the descendants) of his daughters; in natural succession, so long as the earth and the moon remain. Sri!

I witness this deed, &c. &c &c.”

(c) Translation of inscription on stone in the Tirvannur Temple

(C. M. Whish, in Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register 1831 Vol 6. p.9.)

(Compare with the so-called ‘Jewish plates’ translations above, by C.M. Whish and F. W. Ellis given above.)

Swasti Sri! The king of kings hath ordained it! In the thirty-sixth year above the second cycle* when Bhaskarah Iravah Varma wielded the scepter of royalty in a hundred thousand places; in that year, the following deed was ordered and vouchsafed, during that prince’s sojourn in the royal palace of Muyil Kottah. We have given to Yussoof Rabba” (written in Tamul Issooppoo Irabban, the double s being of the Grantham alphabet). Then follows an account of the privileges, &c. granted, which, while they shew the simplicity of the age in which they were indulged, also argue the high estimation in which the colony was held, as a peaceable and respectable society. There are mentioned, among some others, the privileges of using palanquins and umbrellas, and adorning their roads with garlands (torana) and the use of certain sacrificial vessels, a certain dress of distinction, and, amongst the more solid part of the indulgence, “we have given seventy and two separate houses, and we relinquish all taxes and rates, for these, as also for all houses and churches in other cities; and, independent of this bond to him, we have made and given a copper instrument for these latter, separate and distinct. These are to be enjoyed after these five modes of descent, viz. by Yussoof Rabba himself, and his heirs in succession; thus his male children and his female children, his nephews, and the nephews of his daughters, in natural succession: an hereditary right to be enjoyed, as long as the earth and the moon remain. Sri! I, Govarddhana Martandan, of Venadu, witness this deed; I, Kotai Giri Kandun, of Venadavalinada, witness this deed; I, &c.” Then follow the names of four more witnesses, and then — “This is the hand-writing of Poyanaya Koyraya” (signature).

(d) Whish’s comments on Knai Thoma / Jewish Plates

Whish says: “The letters of the metal plate are precisely those on the stones in the Tiruvunnur Kshetram (=temple), which I formerly deciphered…”. ^[2]  This was the stone inscription which the SC had consistently claimed would attest their claims regarding the Copper-plates, and which the prescient Cheraman Perumal had taken the precaution to be made, with which to protect the SC if the plates were lost. 

Whish also says:  “I am sorry to say that it is, word for word (the errors of the copyists only, probably, cause the slight differences that appear) the same with that of the Jews. I say sorry for one, or both, is spurious.  I really could not have entertained an idea that so erroneous a transcript and translate could have existed……. It is really a pity that such important errors should not be corrected before they are generally published.” ^[3]

Historians of the Jews of Kochi themselves appear to be uncertain about the provenance of the ‘Jewish Copper plates’. As noted in their Encyclopaedia: ‘The date of this charter as well as other details and the exact rule of the Malabar Rajah, King Bhaskara Ravi Varma, remain controversial and have not yet been definitely fixed until today.’ ^[4]

3. Purport of Kollam Plates, Set I:

(a) Grants to the Tarissa Church:

1. One family of carpenters, four of Vellalas (= the agricultural caste of Malabar), and two of another caste. (The plate is damaged at this place)-
2. Extensive lands within specified boundaries.
3. The right of trying the cases of the people living in the above area.
4. Protection of the Church and lands by the Venad militia called the Six-Hundred, and the Jewish and the Manigramam leaders.
5. Fee for weighing with the steelyard and weights of Kollam Plates Set 1.

(b) Remuneration to the Jewish leaders:

1. Remission of certain dues, as well as collection of certain others (specified).
2. The privilege of assessing customs duty on dutiable goods.
3. The right of co-operating with Government officials in fixing the prices of goods and in all other businesses of the king (presumably commercial).
4. Seventy-two other privileges (mostly social). Only the privilege of bringing, on an elephant, water for ceremonial purification is specified. The rest are indicated by an ‘et cetera’. All the seventy-two must have been already enumerated in a previous document, and therefore well-known at that time.
5. The privilege of keeping in custody the daily collection of customs duty.
6. The right of withholding the above money and the weighing fee already referred to (in 1 &5) until wrongs done to them are redressed.
7. The right of trying their own cases.
8. The privilege of occupying the town of Kollam as tenants.

(c) Remuneration to the Manigramam leaders.

1. The same as that to the Jewish leaders (b:1-8)
2. Place: Kollam, as in the case of Kollam Plates Set II below.

(d) Signatures on Kollam Plates Set II

These plates end with the signatures of 24 named witnesses, inscribed in Kufic, Pahlavi and Hebrew. (For an interpretation of these signatures, see C.P.T. Winckworth, in: Notes on the Pahlavi Signatures on the Quilon Copper Plates. Kerala Society Papers 1930 Series 5. pp.320-322; & F.C. Burkitt Arabic (Kufic) Signatures on the Copper-Plate. Kerala Society Papers 1930 Series 5. P.323).

Although these scholars concede that their   findings are inconclusive, they point out that the first signatory’s name also appears on the Pahlavi-inscription on the Persian Crosses of Mylapore and Kottayam, and further, that three of the signatories are linked to the Kollam Migration of 825AD, suggesting they are probably Mar Sabor and Mar Aphroth.  Winckworth says: ‘It is of extreme importance to decipher the names of these two (other) individuals, the second and fifth witnesses. For they and Afras (the first witness) constitute a triad that one cannot but associate with the three Nestorian Persians (or Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Christians as I have shown elsewhere) who came to Malabar in 823, especially if Afras is to be identified with that one of them who is known to tradition as ‘Prot’. Mr. T.K. Joseph’s belief that “the names of Sabor, Aphrot and Maruvan Sab Isho will very likely be in the Pahlavi portion of the copper-plates” may yet be justified.’

4. Purport of Kollam Plates, Set II:

Four women of the Ilava caste together with their eight children, and one family of the washerman caste are given to the church for their services.

These people of the depressed classes are exempted from paying certain specified rates and taxes.

The church is made the custodian of the steel-yard and weights and the kappan (stamp), all of which previously belonged to the king of Venad.

They are allowed to go into the Kollam city fort and the Christian streets regardless of caste-restrictions.

The right of trying the cases of these people is reserved for the Tarissa Church.

Place: Kollam in Travancore.

5. Purport of Iravi Kortten Plates

1. Iravi Kortten is given the office of Manigrammam (very probably the headship of the Kodungalloor merchants).
2. Several social privileges also are allowed. (See the privileges mentioned in the previous sets of plates.)
3. He is given the monopoly of the overland and sea-borne trade.
4. All the merchants and the five Artisan Classes (carpenter, blacksmith, bronze-smith, goldsmith, and stonemason) are made subservient to him.
5. He is allowed brokerage on all sorts of goods and also customs duty or toli.
6. His children and grandchildren and their descendants can enjoy these as a hereditary possession.
7. Place – Kodungalloor.

6. Tevalakkara Plates (now presumed lost)

(T.K. Joseph, in Kerala Society Papers Series 4, pp.194, 200.)

T.K. Joseph mentions a fifth set of copper plates, which are now presumed lost.

These are the Tevalakkara Plates, which included three leaves, bound together on a ring.  They are distinct from the other two Kollam Plates mentioned above, and were in the possession of the SC of Kollam Tarissa Church in 1599 as witnessed and recorded by Anton Gouvea.  

Joseph says: ‘They were at Tevalakkara in 1599, in which year they were shown to Archbishop Menezes……The extant Quilon plates are much smaller than the above plates. That is why I suppose that the Tevalakkara plates are different from any plates now extant. The Dutch Governor Adriaan Moens, Anquetil Du Perron (1758), and the illustrious King Martanda Varma of Travancore (after 1753) searched in vain for these plates at Tevalakkara. I too have been searching for them in vain for the last eight years (since 1921).’

(a) Gouvea on the Tevalakkara Plates:

(Anton Gouvea, in Jornada, Fol.97 r-v)

“But the Archbishop set out for Gundara (=Kundara, near Quilon). And before he went away, the Christians (of Tevalakkara) brought and showed him three large copper ollas (=plates), written in different characters, which contained many privileges and revenues which the King who founded Conlao (= Quilon) gave to the Church built there by the two who came from Babylon, Marxarao (=Mar Sabor) and Marprohd (=Mar Prodh), as we said above. Which ollas the Christians of this Church keep as an inestimable Treasure; and so, before they showed them to the Archbishop, they asked him to swear never to take them from that Church, and he did so: for they feared he might take them to Angamalle (= Ankamali), it being the head of the Bishopric, and where is its Archive; and of other ollas like these, granted to the Church of Cranganor (=Kodungalloor) (Fol. 97 v, col 1).  The Christians complained that they (= the Thomas Cana plates) were lost in the factory of Cochim (Kochi), where the Archbishop of the Serra (= Malabar), Mar Jacob, deposited them on a certain occasion; and they esteem so much these ollas, because in them are contained their privileges and honours, in which they want the Malavar Kings to maintain them always; and each olla was two palms long, and four fingers broad, and it was inscribed on both sides and all three hung from an iron ring.”  

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[1] Joseph, collating all the available evidence from the earliest Portuguese witnesses, incl Gouvea 1606, in 1930:200. Aguiar’s metric dimensions (1930:169-170) of 30cms x 8cms roughly correspond to this.

[2] C. M. Whish 1831:9.

[3] C.M. Whish, in a letter to Mr. Baber, who had supplied him with facsimiles of the Jewish copper-plates.  Cited in the Editorial The Jews of Malabar, in, the Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register (1831) Vol. 6:14.

[4] See P. 58 of:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/ProcAmAcadJRes/30/Cochin_in_Jewish_History*.html

See also: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8104-india