 First edition | |
| Author | Esther David |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Genre | fiction |
| Published | 2007 |
| Publisher | Penguin India |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 280 |
| ISBN | 978-0143444534 |
Book of Rachel is a work of fiction authored by Esther David. The book won India's Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 2010. [1]
The main protagonist of the book is an old Jewish widow named Rachel from Bene Israel community who tries to preserve Jewish culinary art [2] and simultaneously tries to protect a local synagogue from local land mafia.
In her review, Geeta Doctor wrote for India Today "To most people it would consist one portion of R. K. Narayan [and] a dash of sentimentality from Tagore's Kabuliwallah." [3]
Deeptha Achar, Professor at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda wrote "...the book is more ambitious. It not only portrays the community [Bene Israel] from within but also examines the pushes and pulls, economic, cultural, which impinge upon it." [4]
The Bene Israel, also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" or "Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. In the 19th century, after they were taught about normative Judaism, they migrated from villages in the Konkan region to nearby cities throughout British India—primarily to Mumbai, but also to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Karachi, where they gained prominent positions within the British colonial government and the Indian Army.
Cochin Jews are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the state of Kerala. As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Jews in southern India by Benjamin of Tudela. They are known to have developed Judeo-Malayalam, a dialect of Malayalam language.
Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian Poetry in English.
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. Indian Jews are a small religious minority who have lived in India since ancient times. They have experienced very sparse instances of anti-Semitism from the local non-Jewish majority.
The Bnei Menashe is a community of people from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, with some of them having adopted Judaism. The community has around 10,000 members.
The Bene EphraimBnei Ephraim, also called Telugu Jews because they speak Telugu, are a small community living primarily in Kotha Reddy Palem, a village outside Chebrolu, Guntur District, and in Machilipatnam, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India, near the delta of the River Krishna. They claim to be descendants of the Tribe of Ephraim, of the Ten Lost Tribes, and since the 1980s have learned to practice modern Judaism.
Shelomo Dov Goitein was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza.
Ganesh N. Devy is an Indian literary critic and former professor. He is known for the People's Linguistic Survey of India and the Adivasi Academy created by him. He is credited to start the Bhaashaa research and Publication Centre. He writes in three languages—Marathi, Gujarati and English. His first full length book in English After Amnesia (1992). He has written and edited close to ninety books in areas including Literary Criticism, Anthropology, Education, Linguistics and Philosophy.
The history of the Jews in Pakistan dates at least as far back as 1839, when Pakistan was a part of British India. Various estimates suggest that there were about 1,000 to 2,500 Jews living in Karachi at the beginning of the 20th century, mostly comprising Iranian Jews and Bene Israel ; a substantial Jewish community lived in Rawalpindi, and a smaller community also lived in Peshawar.
Esther David is an Indian Jewish author, an artist and a sculptor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Indian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Indian Jewish communities, who now reside within the State of Israel. Indian Jews who live in Israel include thousands of Cochin Jews and Paradesi Jews of Kerala; tens of thousands from the Bene Israel of Maharashtra and other parts of British India and the Bene Menashe of Manipur and Mizoram.
The history of the Jews in Mumbai, India, began when Jews started settling in Bombay during the first century, due to its economic opportunities. The Jewish community of Bombay consisted of the remnants of three distinct communities: the Bene Israeli Jews of Konkan, the Baghdadi Jews of Iraq, and the Cochin Jews of Malabar.
Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906–1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar, was an Indian Marathi-language writer and film director.
Jeet Thayil is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is the author of several poetry collections, including These Errors Are Correct (2008), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. His first novel, Narcopolis, (2012), won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize and The Hindu Literary Prize.
Nilmani Phookan is an Indian poet in Assamese language and an academic. His work, replete with symbolism, is inspired by French symbolism and is representative of the genre in Assamese poetry. His notable works include Surya Henu Nami Ahe Ei Nodiyedi, Gulapi Jamur Lagna, and Kobita.
Mayadhar Mansingh was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Odia. He received the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, in 1967.
S. Hareesh is an Indian writer, translator and screenwriter of Malayalam literature and cinema. He is best known for his short stories and his acclaimed but controversial debut novel, Meesha, which explores caste in Kerala in the mid-20th century. The novel, initially serialized in the Mathrubhumi weekly, was withdrawn after protests by right-wing Hindutva groups and caste-community organizations for “maligning Hindu women and temple priests.”. It was later published as a full novel by DC Books. Hareesh is the recipient of several honours including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel and the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. In November 2020, the English translation of Meesha, titled Moustache, was selected for the JCB Prize for Literature, the Indian literary award with the highest prize money.
Annie Thayyil, was an Indian novelist, journalist, translator and biographer of Malayalam language and a member of the Cochin Legislative Council between 1945 and 1948. Her oeuvre comprises 78 books covering the genres of novel, biography, politics, travelogue and biblical literature. She was the secretary of the Sahitya Parishad and a member of the executive council of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.
Parasmani Pradhan was an Indian Nepali-language writer, poet, translator, grammarian, educator and publisher. He published multiple Nepali language textbooks and played an important role in shaping the modern Nepali grammar. He was one of the key figures who contributed in establishing Nepali as one of the official language of India.
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