Jews in India: Bene Israel, Cochin, Baghdad Jews

The Jewish presence in India consists principally of three distinct communities, each with its own origins and traditions. The Bene Israel, long established in the region of Bombay and the Konkan, preserved certain Jewish practices while integrating into local society. The Jews of Cochin, in Kerala, formed an ancient community attested by privileges engraved on copper plates, organized around synagogues such as the Paradesi synagogue. The Baghdadis, merchants who came from Iraq and the Middle East in the nineteenth century, settled in major colonial cities such as Bombay and Calcutta, where families such as the Sassoons prospered. Each community developed an original liturgical, culinary, and cultural life, blending Jewish traditions with the Indian context, before emigration to Israel significantly reduced their numbers in the twentieth century.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan