Jews and the cultural milieu of south western India: Situating Kanara in Indo-Jewish historiography

Abstract

This paper makes a specific attempt of locating Kanara in the Indo-Jewish historiography. It finds the need to distinguish between Kanara and Malabar as two distinct entities of south western India to achieve clarity while interpreting the nature of the cultural milieu, which the Jews encountered when they visited this multicultural complex in the twelfth-century. While accepting the role of Malabar in Jewish trade, this paper analyzes the role of Kanara in this enterprise. It will use the indigenous sources of Kanara apart from the Geniza records to prove this argument.