Joseph Rabban

Joseph Rabban
Yusuf/Oueseph Rabban
Jewish copper plates of Cochin (c. 1000 AD)
Occupation	Indian Ocean Merchant (aristocrat after c. 1000 AD)
Years active	c. 1000 AD

Joseph Rabban (old Malayalam: ^[1] Issuppu Irappan, also Yusuf/Oueseph Rabban; fl. 1000 AD) was a prominent Jewish merchant and aristocrat in the entrepôt of Kodungallur (Muyirikode) on the Malabar Coast, India in early 11th century AD. ^[2]

Career

On the Malabar Coast

According to the Jewish copper plates of Cochin (c. 1000 AD), a charter issued by the Chera king in c. 1000 AD, Rabban was granted with several exclusive commercial rights and aristocratic privileges. ^[2]

He was notably invested with the rights of merchant guild anjuman/hanjamana. ^[2] Anjuman was a major merchant guild operating in south India at the time (organized by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim merchants from Middle Eastern countries). ^[3] He was also exempted from all payments made by other settlers in the city of Muyirikode (Kodungallur) to the Chera king (at the same time extending to him all the rights of the other settlers). ^[2] These rights and privileges were given in perpetuity to all his descendants. ^[2]

Commercial Rights

• Rights of the Anjuman Guild ^[2]
• The Anjuman Dues ^[2]
• Remission of Duty and Weighing Fee ^[2]
• Tolls by the Carts (by the boat and by other carts) ^[2]
• Exemption from payments made by other settlers in Muyirikode to the Chera. ^[2]
• All the rights of the other settlers in Muyirikode. ^[2]

Aristocratic Privileges (the Seventy Two Privileges)

• Rights to employ the day lamp, decorative cloth, palanquin, umbrella, kettledrum, and trumpet. ^[2]
• Rights to construct gateway, arch, and arched roof. ^[2]
• Right to employ weapons. ^[2]
• And the other Seventy Two Privileges. ^[2]

Legacy

Rabban's descendants continued to have prominence over other Jews of the Malabar coast for centuries. A conflict broke out between descendants, Joseph Azar, and his brother Aaron Azar, in the 1340s. ^{[4] [5]}

References

1. Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013) [1972]. Perumals of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks. pp. 451–52.
2. Narayanan, M. G. S. (1972). "The Jewish Copper Plates of Cochin". Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala. Trivandrum: Kerala Historical Society. pp. 79–82.
3. Karashima, Noburu (2014). A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 139 and 146-47.
4. Katz, Nathan (2000). Who Are the Jews of India?. University of California Press. p. 15. Joseph Azar was the last in the line of Joseph Rabban
5. Mendelssohn, Sidney (1920). The Jews of Asia: Especially in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. p. 109.

Sources

• Blady, Ken. Jewish Communities in Exotic Places. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000. pp. 115–130.