The singing Jewish women of Kerala

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the much-underplayed Jewish presence in Kerala for 2000 years and the songs of Jewish women, which preserved the community memories and the narratives of diaspora life. They also contain the emotional and intellectual diversity of hope and exile. Jewish Women’s songs kept alive the stories of the race and the customs handed down from generation to generation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Jussay, “The Origins of The Kerala Jews, 66–74. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44148189. Accessed 25 Dec. 2020.

2 Asian Jewish Life - A Journal of Spirit, Society and Culture - Feature: In an Ancient Land

3 Ibid. p. 2

4 Kollaparambil, “The Babylonian Origin”; later quoted in Pillai, “The Kerala of the Past and Present”.

5 Totalling 72, including the princely right to ride on an elephant's back, to be carried on a litter, to use the royal umbrella, to be preceded by drums and trumpets, to have the lower castes move away so as not to be polluted by their sight or touch, to hunt deer, exemption from paying taxes and the granting of all the privileges of the royal administration, and so on.

6 Jussay, PM. The Jews of Kerala. 20.

7 Sternbach, L, 10-28.

8 Birnbaum: “David Reubeni's Indian Origin.” 3–30.

9 Slapak, ed., The Jews of India. With Shalom Sabar, “The Illuminated Ketubbah,” in Slapak, The Jews of India, 167–202.

10 Katz, Nathan, and Ellen S. Goldberg. “The Sephardi Diaspora In Cochin, India.”

11 Votebank politics is the divisive policy that creates and maintains vote banks on the basis of caste, religion, race, etc,. It encourages voting on the basis of self-interest of these groups.

12 Daniel and Johnson, Ruby of Cochin, 174.

13 Zacharia, S., & Gamliel, O. (Eds.). Karulali- Yefefiah- Gorgeous.

14 Daniel, Ruby and Barbara Johnson. Ruby of Cochin.

15 Chemama, Martin. “Women Sing, Men Listen,” 14-15.

16 Ong, Walter. Orality and Literacy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Babitha Justin

Babitha Marina Justin is an academic, a poet and an artist. Her poems and short stories have appeared in Eclectica, Esthetic Apostle, Jaggery, Fulcrum, The Scriblerus, Trampset, Constellations, Indian Literature, Singing in the Dark (Penguin), etc. Her books are Of Fireflies, Guns and the Hills (Poetry, 2015), I Cook My Own Feast (Poetry, 2019), Salt, Pepper and Silverlinings: Celebrating our Grandmothers (an anthology on grandmothers, 2019), From Canons to Trauma (Essays, 2017) and Humour: Texts and Contexts (ed. Essays, 2017).