Quilon Syrian copper plates: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|9th century royal grant issued to a Syrian Christian merchant in Kerala, India}}

{{for|13th century CE copper plates issued by Viraraghava to Iravikorttan|Viraraghava copper plates}}

[[File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD) (six plates)]]

'''Kollam/Quilon Syrian copper plates''', also known as '''Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates''', or '''Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi''', or '''Tabula Quilonensis''' record a royal grant issued by the chieftain of [[Venad|Kollam]] (Ayyan Adikal) to a [[Syriac_Christianity|Syrian Christian]] merchant magnate ([[Mar Sapir Iso]]) in [[Kerala]].{{sfn|Narayanan|2002|pp=66–76}} The royal charter is engraved in [[Old Malayalam]] or [[Middle Tamil|early Middle Tamil]] in Vattezhuthu (with some Grantha characters) on six copper plates.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27192872 | jstor=27192872 | title=The Syrian Christian Copper Plate of Tarisāppaḷḷy, and the Jewish and Muslim Merchants of Early Malabar | last1=Tintu | first1=K. J. | journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress | date=16 April 2024 | volume=80 | pages=184–191 }}</ref>{{sfn|Narayanan|2002|pp=66–76}} The document is the oldest available [[Chera/Perumals of Makotai|Chera Perumal]] inscription.{{sfn|Devadevan|2020|pp= 126–27}}

The charter is dated to the 5th regnal year of the Chera Perumal ruler [[Sthanu Ravi Varma|Sthanu Ravi Kulasekhara]] (849/50 AD).{{sfn|Narayanan|2013|pp=277, 278 and 295}} The sixth plate contains a number of signatures of the witnesses to the grant in [[Arabic]] (Kufic script), [[Middle Persian]] (cursive Pahlavi script) and [[Judeo-Persian]] (standard square Hebrew script).{{sfn|Cereti|2009|pp=31– 50}} Until 2013 it was believed that the six plates formed two separate grants (dated separately) issued by Kerala rulers to the [[Syriac_Christianity|Syrian Christian]] merchants.{{sfnp|Varier|Veluthat|2013|p={{pn|date=June 2021}}}}

One part (four plates) of the copper plates is kept at the Devalokam Aramana of the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] while the other (two small plates) is at Poolatheen Aramana (Thiruvalla) of [[Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church]]. The copper plate also mentions about the [[Jew]]s and [[Muslim]]s of Kerala in the [[Arabic]] (Kufic script), [[Middle Persian]] (cursive Pahlavi script) and [[Judeo-Persian]] (standard square Hebrew script) parts.{{sfn|Cereti|2009|pp=31– 50}}

[[File:Quilon (Venatu) insignia from Syrian copper plates - Plate 5 (c. 883 CE).jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|Insignia from Quilon Syrian copper plates (plate 5)]]

The charter grants land to [[Mar Sapir Iso]], the founder the Kollam trading city (the nagara), to build the Church of Tarisa at [[Kollam]]. The land, evidently a large settlement with its occupants, is donated as an "attipperu" by Ayyan Adikal.{{sfn|Narayanan|2013|pp=435-37}}{{sfn|Narayanan|2013|pp=277, 278 and 295}} [[Mar Sapir Iso|Sapir Iso]] also recruited two merchant guilds (the [[anjuvannam]] and the [[manigramam]]) as the tenants of the nagara (the karanmai). The Six Hundred of [[Venad]], the militia of the chiefdom, was entrusted with the protection of the nagara and the church. The charter also granted serfs to the nagara and the church. This included personnel like agricultural laborers (the vellalars), carpenters (the thachar), traders (the ezhavar) and salt-makers (the eruviyar).{{sfn|Narayanan|2013|pp=277, 278 and 295}}

[[File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 CE) plates1 and 4.jpg|thumb|upright=2.5|center|Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD, plates 1 and 4)]]

[[File:Quilon Syrian copper plates - plate 6 (9th century AD)..jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Quilon Syrian copper plates (plate 6)]]

* Yōhanan, son of Mašya, son of Wehzād

* Šāhdōst, son of Mardweh, son of Farroxīg

* Sēnmihr, son of Bayweh

* Sīnā, son of Yākub

* [...], son of Mardweh

* Marōē, son of Yōhanan

* Farrbay, son of Windād-Ohrmazd

* Mard-Farrox, son of Bōyšād

* Āzādmard, son of Ahlā

Thomas of Cana copper plates dated between the mid 4th and early 9th century are a lost set of [[Copper-plate grant|copper-plate grants]] issued by an unidentified [[Chera/Perumals of Makotai|Chera Perumal]] king to the Christian merchants in the city of "Makotayar Pattinam" (present day [[Kodungallur]]).{{sfn|Narayanan|2013|pp=302-303}} Translations of the Quilon plates made by the Syrian Christian priest Ittimani in 1601 as well as the French scholar [[Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron|A. H. Anquetil-Duperron]] in 1758 both note that the 4th Quilon plate mentioned a brief of the arrival of [[Thomas of Cana]] (Knai Thoma).{{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}}{{sfn|Vellian|1986|pp=54–55}} However, the presently available Quilon plates do not mention this episode (the second half of the 4th Quilon plate is missing today).{{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}} It is generally assumed that this was a notation of the previous rights bestowed upon the Christians by the Chera king (and the abovesaid plate was missing).{{sfn|Vellian|1986|pp=54–55}}

<blockquote>“The history of the founding of the town of Cranganore when Pattanam was the City, (he) visited, revered and requested the Emperor and the Minister at Kolla Kodungalloor for a marsh where thickets grow. Measured by Anakol (elephant kol) 4,444 kols of land was granted in the year of the Jupiter in Kubham, on the 29th of Makaram, 31 the Saturday, Rohini and Saptami (7th day of the moon),' the palace, great temple and school at Irinjalakuda also were founded. The same day that place was called Makothevar pattanam (the town of the Great God), and it was made the city (capital). From there privileges such as drawbridge at gates, ornamented arches, mounted horse with two drums, cheers, conch blowing, salutes were granted in writing to the Christian foreigner called Knaye Thoma with sacred threat and libation of water and flower. The sun and the moon are witnesses to this. Written to the kings of all times.” </blockquote>

Some recent studies suggest that the original text of the Thomas of Cana plates and the Quilon plates were re-engraved together as a unified grant giving witness to the historic rights of the Christians. {{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}} Scholar [[István Perczel]] theorizes that at one time the Quilon plates and the Thomas of Cana plates, or parts of them, were re-engraved together (and thus the text of both grants were present on a single set of plates).{{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}} Perczel notes the possibility that the Christians of Knai Thoma kept their part of the unified grant at Kodungallur, while the Christians of Marwan Sapir Iso kept theirs at Kollam. {{sfn|King|2018|pp=663-679}}

{{Portal|India}}

* [[Thomas of Cana copper plates]]

{{reflist|20em}}

* {{Cite book|last=Cereti|first=C. G.|title=Exegisti Monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams |publisher=Harrassowitz|year=2009|isbn=9783447059374|location=Wiesbaden|pages=|chapter=The Pahlavi Signatures on the Quilon Copper Plates|editor-last=Sundermann|editor-first=W.|editor-last2=Hintze|editor-first2=A.|editor-last3=de Blois|editor-first3=F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3gOdaiXNKkC&q=Exegisti+Monumenta:+Festschrift+in+Honour+of+Nicholas+Sims-+Williams}}

*{{Cite book|last=Devadevan|first=Manu V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exzhDwAAQBAJ&q=The+%E2%80%98Early+Medieval%27+Origins+of+India|title=The 'Early Medieval' Origins of India|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2020|isbn=9781108494571|location=|pages=|chapter=Changes in Land Relations and the Changing Fortunes of the Cera State}}

*{{Cite journal|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|date=2002|title=Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/037698360202900204|journal=Indian Historical Review |volume=29 |issue=1–2|pages=66–76|doi=10.1177/037698360202900204|s2cid=142756653|via=}}

*{{cite book|last=Narayanan|first=M. G. S.|year=2013|title=Perumals of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy |publisher=CosmoBooks |isbn=9788188765072 |location=Thrissur (Kerala)|orig-year=1972 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YDCngEACAAJ&q=Perumals+of+Kerala}}

*{{cite book|editor-last=King|editor-first=Daniel|year=2018|title=The Syriac World|publisher=Routledge Press |isbn=9781138899018|location=}}

* {{cite book |last=Kollaparambil |first=Jacob|year=2015|title=Sources of the Syro Malabar Law|publisher= Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India|isbn= 9789382762287}}

* {{Cite book|last1=Varier|first1=M. R. Raghava|last2=Veluthat|first2=Kesavan|title=Tharissappally Pattayam |publisher=National Book Stall|year=2013|isbn=|location=Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)|pages=}}

*{{cite book |last=Vellian |first=Jacob|year=1986|title=Symposium on Knanites|series= Syrian Church Series |volume=12|publisher=Jyothi Book House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3PIMGwAACAAJ}}

== External links ==

{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-Quilon Syrian copper plates.ogg|date=11 August 2023}}

[[Category:9th-century inscriptions]]

[[Category:History of Kollam|Tharisapalli Plates]]

[[Category:Malayalam inscriptions|Tharisapalli Plates]]

[[Category:Kodungallur Chera kingdom]]