For 13th century CE copper plates issued by Viraraghava to Iravikorttan, see [[:Viraraghava copper plates]].
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 Kollam (Ayyan Adikal) to a Syrian Christian merchant magnate (Mar Sapir Iso) in Kerala.[1] The royal charter is engraved in old Malayalam in Vattezhuthu (with some Grantha characters) on six copper plates.[1] The document is the oldest Chera Perumal inscription from Kerala.[2]
The charter is dated to the 5th regnal year of the Chera Perumal ruler Sthanu Ravi Kulasekhara (849/50 AD).[3] 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).[4] Until recently (2013) it was believed that the six plates formed two separate grants (dated c. 849 and c. 883 AD) issued by Kerala rulers to the Syrian Christian merchants.[5]
A modern depiction of Mar Sabor and Mar Proth.Venad (Kollam) insignia from Syrian copper plates - plate 5
The grant is dated the 5th regnal year of king Sthanu Ravi, 849-50 AD (old Malayalam: Ko Tanu Ravi).[6][3] It was drafted in the presence of Chera Perumal prince Vijayaraga, Venad chieftain Ayyan Adikal Thiruvadikal, junior chieftain Rama Thiruvadikal, other important officers of the chiefdom (the adhikarar, the prakrithi, the punnathala padi, and the pulakkudi padi) and the representatives of merchant guilds anjuvannam and manigramam.[6][3]
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.[6][3]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 Nair 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), toddy tappers (the ezhavar) and salt-makers (the eruviyar). [3]
The charter granted Sapir Iso several titles, rights and aristocratic privileges.[3] All revenues from the donated land and its occupants were 'exempted' (which perhaps meant that these were to be made over to the church).[2][3]
Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 AD, plate 1)
Witnesses to grant
The vertical 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).[4]
^ abNarayanan, M. G. S., “Further Studies in the Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin.” Indian Historical Review, vol. 29, no. 1–2, Jan. 2002, pp. 66–76.
^ abDevadevan, Manu V. (2020). "Changes in Land Relations and the Changing Fortunes of the Cēra State". The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 126–27.
^ abcdefgNarayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 277, 278 and 295.
^ abC. G. Cereti, “The Pahlavi Signatures on the Quilon Copper Plates (Tabula Quilonensis)”, in W. Sundermann, A. Hintze, and F. de Blois (eds.), Exegisti Monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims- Williams (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 2009), 31– 50.
^Varier, Raghava M. R. and Kesavan Veluthat, 2013. Tarissāppaḷḷippaṭṭayam, Thiruvananthapuram: National Book Stall [Malayalam].
^ abcNarayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 435 and 37.
King, Daniel (2018). The Syriac World. Routledge Press. ISBN9781138899018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Kollaparambil, Jacob (2015). Sources of the Syro Malabar Law. Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India. ISBN9789382762287.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Vellian, Jacob (1986). Symposium on Knanites. Syrian Church Series. Vol. 12. Jyothi Book House.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
