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1807.rank ; whofe names are diftinly written it will require much time aid labour to in an old Hebrew charafter refembling \afcertain their contents. There is one the alphabet called thePalmyrene; and jmanufcript Written.in a character refemb-to each name . is . prefixed the title of r ling the Palmyrene Hebrew on the brafe 44 Magen,” that is, Chief. / \ plates. Bat it is in a decayed ftate, andIt may be , doubted, whether there the leaves adhere fo clofely to each other,exifts in the world another document of that it is doubtful whether it will beequal antiquity, which is* at the fame poffibie to unfold them and preferve thetime, of fo great length, and in fuch reading. /faiiltlefs prefervation, as the Chriftian It was fufficiently eftabliflied by thetablets in Malaysia. The Jews of Cochin concurring evidence of writtep record and indeed conteft the palm of antiquity and Jewifh tradition, that the black Jews hadof prefervation ; for they alfo produce colonized on the coafts of India, long be-tablets containing privileges granted at a fore the Chriftian sera. There was anofc*remote period. The Jewifh tablets are ther colony at Rajapoor in the Mahrattatwo in number. The Jews were long in territory, which is not yet extinct, andpoffeffion of a third plate, which nowap- there are at this time Jewifh foldiers amipears to be the property of the Chriftians. Jewifh native officers in the Britifb fervice.The Jews commonly (hew an antient He- That thefe are a remnant of the Jews ofbrew tranflatiohof their plates. Dr. Ley- the firft difperfion at the Babylonifh Cap-den made another tranflation, which dif- tivity, feems highly probable. There arefers from the Hebrew; and there has many other tribes fettled in Perfia, Arabia,lately been found among the old Dutch Northern India, Tartary, ahd^ China ;records at Cochin, a third tranflation, whofe refpeive places of refidence maywhich approaches nearer to Dr. Leyden’s be eafily difcovered. -The places which than to the Hebrew. In a Hebrew ma- have been already ascertained are 65 in nufcript, which will fhortly be publifhed, number. Thtfe tribes have in general it is recorded that a grant on hrafs tables (particularly thofe who have paired the was given to the Jews in A. D. 379. . Indus) atfimilated much to the cuftomsAs it is apprehended that there may be of the countries in which they live ; and fogne difficulty in obtaining an accurate may fometimes be feen by a traveller, tranflation of all thefe tablets, it is pro- without being recognized as Jews, The pofed to print a copper-plate fac-fimile of very imperfeft refemblance of their coun-the whole, and to tranfmit copies to the tenance to the Jews of Europe, indicates learned focieties in Hindoflan and in Eu- that they have been detached from the rope. For this purpole an engraver is parent flock in Judea many ages before now employed on the plates, at Cochin, the race of Jews in the Weft, A fa£i cor-The GhrifHaft and Jewifh plates together roborative of this is, that certain of thefe will make fourteen pages. A copy has tribes do not call themfelves Jews, but been fent, in the firft inftance, to the Bcni-Ifrael or Jfraetites. L,For the name Pundits of the Shanfcrits college at Tri- “ Jew” is derived from Judah ; whereas chiur, bydireionofthe Rajah of Cochin, the anceftors of thoi’e tribes were not fub-When the white Jews of Cochin were jtft to the kingof Judah, but to the kings queftlbhed refpefling the antient copies of of Ifrael. They have, in moll places, their Scriptures, they anfwered that it the book of the Law, the book of Job, and had been ufual to hury the old copy read the Pfalms ; but know little of the Proin the fytiagogue, when decayed by time phets. Some of*them have even loft the and ufc. This, however, does not appear book of the Law, and only know thatto have been the practice of the black they are Ifraeiites from tradition, andJews, who were the firft fettlers ; for in from their obfervance of peculiar rites,the record chefts of their fynagogues, old .A copy of the Scriptures belonging tocopies Of the law have been difcovered, Jews of.the Eatt, who might be fuppofed tofome of* which are complete, and for have no communication with Jews of thethe moft part. legible. Neither could Weft, has been long a dcfideratum with the Jews of Cochin produce any hiftorical the Hebrew fcholar. In the coffer of a rhanufcripts of conlVquence ; their yi'ci- fynagogue of the black Jews in the interior nity to the fea-coafl having expofed their of Malaysia, there has been found an old community to frequent revolution. But copy of the Law, written on a roll of Ica-many old writings have been found at the ikcr. The fkins are fcwed together, and.remote fvnagogues of their nntieht enemies the roll is about fifty feet, in length. It is the black Jews, fifuatcd at Tritoor, Pa- in. fome places worn out, and the holes roor, Chenotia, and Maleh ; the laft of have been patched with pieces of parch-wh?eh places is near the mountains, mcnt.—Some of the Jews fuppofe that Amongft thefe writings arc fome of great this roll came' originally from Senna in length in Rabbinical Hebrew, but in fo Arabia ; others have heard that «t was ftttient and uncommon a character, that brought ftcmCafhinir. . The Qabul Jew^Newly-difcoversd Chriftians in India. 1061
Newspaper Details
Gentlemans Magazine and Historical Chronicle
London, Middlesex, GB
Sun, Nov 01, 1807
Page 85
Full Page
Clipped by
Danica E.
JP 23 Feb 2022
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