English: * Royal charter (plate I, side I) issued by the Chera/Perumal king of Kerala, south India to Joseph Rabban, a Jewish merchant magnate of Kodungallur.

• The charter shows the status and importance of the Jewish colony in Kodungallur (Cranganore) near Cochin.

• 28 lines on three sides of two copper plates
• Date: Early 11th century AD (see dispute and alternate dates below)
• Script: Vatteluttu (with Grantha/Southern Pallava Grantha script)
• Language: early form of Malayalam

This is one of three copper plate faces with an inscription in Vatteluttu script. It grants land to settle and trade to Israelites, and was awarded by a Hindu dynasty Chera ruler Sthanu Ravi Varma. The grant mentions the Jewish merchant Issuppu Irappan (Joseph Rabban). Its dates have been in dispute, with estimates varying between 849 CE and 1000 CE. The descendants of these Jewish settlers came to be known as the Cochin Jews. See: (1993) The last Jews of Cochin: Jewish identity in Hindu India, University of South Carolina Press, pp. 41–45 ISBN: 978-0-87249-847-1.

This is a photo of a 2-D artwork created before the 11th-century CE. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to Wikimedia Commons under CC 4.0 license.