FUNERARY MONUMENTS IN THE COURTYARD & INSIDE THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF HOPE, VYPIN

   

Photograph: January, 2023

 

This church is situated in Vypin Island directly opposite to Fort Cochin. Tradition has it that the first church of Vypin was built in 1503 by the Franciscan Friars; the second in 1596, which was located in the south-east corner of the present cemetery; and the current sanctuary was consecrated in 1605 as a Parish Church under the title 'Nossa Senhora de Esperanca' (Our Lady of Hope) by Dom Andrea de Santa Maria (1588-1610), the Bishop of Cochin Diocese. Perhaps the earliest reference to a church in Vypin is from a letter written by the Jesuit priest, Fr. Gaspar Soeiro from Cochin on September, 1560, where he mentions of a church in an Island called Vaipim (Vypin) or Ilha Santa (Holy Island) belonging to the Franciscan Friars. This would indicate that the first Church in Vypin was built before 1560. The Portuguese also had a fortified residence of the bishop indicated as 'Caza do Bispo' in Vypin. At the time of the siege of Cochin (1662-63), the Bishop House was demolished and the Dutch built 'New Orange Fort' nearby, but the church was left unharmed. The long-standing tradition is that, to this Catholic church, the Dutch allowed the transfer of the holy relics and altar of the Portuguese St Francis church, after the latter was converted to a Protestant church. It is said that the Dutch permitted three altars together with their adjoining screens of St Francis Church to be removed to the Church of Our Lady of Hope in Vypin. The sacred items remained in Vypin church until they were shifted to the Indo-Portuguese Museum in 2000. 

 

The 16th century altar piece of the former Portuguese St Francis church displayed in the Indo-Portuguese Museum of Fort Kochi

The Portuguese altar piece from the 16th Century is carved in teak wood (?), painted in green marbling with vestiges of gold, and has a size of 334 x 300 x 156 cm (Pinto, Mendes M. H. et. al., Indo-Portuguese Museum, Bishop's House, Cochin. published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 2011). Photograph: January, 2023
 

TOMBS IN THE SO-CALLED MESHUCHRARIM SECTION OF THE PARADESI JEWISH CEMETERY-VIEWS FROM THE SOUTH AND THE WEST

For my earlier posts on the grave monuments of this once so-called subordinate Paradesi group, see here, here and here.

 VIEWS FROM THE SOUTH

THE PARADESI JEWISH CEMETERY-VIEWS FROM THE WEST

THE PARADESI JEWISH CEMETERY-VIEWS FROM THE SOUTH

VIEWS OF THE PARADESI JEWISH CEMETERY OF MATTANCHERRY FROM THE SOUTH & WEST DIRECTIONS

In the next few posts, I will upload photographs of the Paradesi Jewish Cemetery taken from the southern and the western boundaries, which I have not done yet. All the photographs from the southern side were taken on 2019 and the western boundary on 2023. Remember, the entrance to the cemetery is on the northern side and due to the tall boundary walls, it is difficult to obtain photographs of the graves, and you certainly need an elevated platform for the purpose. All the tombstones face the eastern direction, so when you are reading the inscriptions, you are actually facing the west, the direction towards Jerusalem. I have earlier uploaded photographs from the eastern side of the cemetery, from where the inscriptions are easily visible (see here). See also the links for more photographs under 'Mattancherry Paradesi Jewish Cemetery'.

A LONE GRAVE MONUMENT IN THE COURTYARD OF THE PARADESI SYNAGOGUE OF MATTANCHERRY

The white arrow marks the position of the grave marker in the courtyard. Photograph: January, 2023

 

Earlier, I wrote about the tombstones in the courtyard of Paradesi synagogue, and if you have noticed, they are all currently preserved in the Paradesi Jewish Cemetery mounted against its northern wall. Therefore, during my recent visit to the synagogue, I was quite surprised to find a Hebrew inscription in the courtyard. The stone slab is placed near the north-west corner of the compound wall behind the synagogue. As walking through the courtyard is restricted, you can only observe the stone from the other end. Nevertheless, with a zoom lens, I managed to get some fine close-up shots of the inscription. To my surprise, it turned out to be a gravestone! Now, why was this particular funerary monument left at the synagogue compound while the remaining all were transferred to the cemetery? More importantly, who is this tombstone attributed to?

 

Luckily, the inscription is fairly legible and well preserved. The Zalman Shazar Centre has an inventory of 46 tombstones from the Paradesi courtyard, and accordingly, this particular gravestone belongs to Rabbi Haim Chalil, Son of Rabbi Shem Tov. The date of death is given as 15 Tammuz, 5450 (corresponds to 22 June, 1690), which by the way is the oldest in the lot. However, if you observe the inscription carefully, the second name is Belili (בלילי) and not Chalil (כליל), and also there is a letter missing after the ‘nun’ in the year הת"נ (5000+400+50), so the year of his death should be somewhere in the late 17th or early 18th century.

Was there a Haim Belili from the Paradesi community in the late 17th century? The answer is yes and there were at least two of them! The names appear in ‘Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim’ [News of the Jews of Cochin], the famous report of Mosseh Pereyra de Paiva, a Sephardic Jew from Amsterdam, who visited Cochin in November, 1686. In the list of the 23 heads of Paradesi families reported by de Paiva, we find -

1) B. Hacham (Rabbi) Haim Belilia-his great grandfather from Saffet (Safed, Israel)
2) B. Haim Belilia, Hazan (Minister) and skilled scribe-his great grandfather from Alepo (Aleppo, Syria)

(De Paiva, 1687; Koder, 1968; Schorsch, 2000)

AN EURASIAN FUNERARY MONUMENT IN THE COURTYARD OF THE 'CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF LIFE', MATTANCHERRY

 

The yellow arrowhead marks the position of the funerary monument.

This is another church of Portuguese origin in Cochin area where a British (or Anglo-Indian?) funerary monument is still preserved. The church located in Mattancherry near the 'Jew Town' is called the Church of Our Lady of Life [Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Vida (Portuguese) or 'Jeevamatha Palli'  (Malayalam)]. Its fame is also associated with the 'Coonan Cross Oath' or the 'Oath of Bent Cross' taken on 3 January 1653 in Mattancherry by the St Thomas Christians, a pledge that they will no longer obey the Latin Archbishop or any other Jesuits, nor accept the Portuguese dominance. 

A brief history of the 'Church of Our Lady of Life', Mattancherry-the official version:
i) The first church in Mattancherry was established c. 800 AD in the name of Virgin Mary, but was also known as Thoma Palli (St Thomas Church) or Irumesa Palli (Twin Altar Church)

ii) The 'Chapel of Holy Cross' (the modern Coonan Cross Catholic Church) was established by the Portuguese in 1550

iii) The Portuguese built a new church (2nd) replacing the St Thomas church and dedicated it to 'Our Lady of Life' (Nossa Senhora da Vida) in 1557

iv) After the Dutch destroyed the church in 1663, a 3rd was built on the same site and was blessed on 10 August, 1769 by the Bishop of Cochin, Clemente José Colaço Leitão 

v) When the 3rd church was burnt down by the Travancore insurgents (during Vettikola Pada) in December 1808, a 4th one was built and consecrated in the current location on 22 June, 1911 by the Bishop of Cochin José Bento Martins Ribeiro, and a cemetery was established at the old site 

vi) The 4th church was renovated and consecrated on 30 November, 2017 by the Bishop of Cochin Joseph Kariyil, which is the present-day worshiping place known as Jeevamatha Palli (Church of Our Lady of Life).

EUROPEAN FUNERARY MONUMENTS IN THE ST. FRANCIS CSI CEMETERY, VELI, FORT KOCHI.

 

This is the current functional cemetery of St Francis CSI church in Fort Kochi. Remember, the same church maintains the Dutch Cemetery of Fort Kochi. This cemetery is located at a place called Veli, 2 km south of Fort Kochi. Like the Dutch Cemetery, this graveyard is also not open to visitors, and I understand it is only accessible during the funeral services. However, unlike the Dutch Cemetery, its boundary walls are shorter in height and the graves can be easily viewed from outside. You can still trace a few old tombs amidst several modern graves in the cemetery. The old tombs resemble the British monuments in the Dutch cemetery. According to the inventory given in Roberts and Chekkutty (Malabar II-Christian Monuments, 2017, pp. 136-145,), this is the 'old Protestant Cemetery'  which began in 1790, and it was called the "New Church Burial Ground" after 1855. The inventory has 103 graves, both Dutch and English, but the majority are from the British period. Out of the 103 graves listed, the oldest are for Jacob Wendelen Van der Sloot (d. 1739, age 60) and David Scale (d. 1788, age 68); 96 of them are dated from the 19th century; 4 from the early 20th century and one undated. The youngest grave monument is for Joseph Ethelbert Winckler (d, 15 September, 1913), the Port Officer who erected a memorial for the 'Great Fire of Cochin' (see my earlier post on the 'Pillars of the old Santa Cruz Cathedral'). 

However, some things do not add up in the inventory. For example, the first documented burial in the cemetery is reported to 1790, yet the inventory has burials dated from 1739 and 1788. The graveyard is called the 'Old Protestant Cemetery' without a location given, whereas the 'Old Dutch Cemetery' is wrongly placed in Veli (instead of Fort Kochi, see Roberts and Chekkutty, 2017, p. 145). In addition, the authors claim that the old protestant cemetery was restored through the Royal Dutch Embassy and the Archaeological Survey of India in 2012. Nonetheless, it is the 'Dutch Cemetery', where the Embassy carried out the restoration works, and the ASI is not involved in the protection of Veli cemetery. Also, there is some overlap between the names. For instance, in the inventory, the last burial of the cemetery is of Joseph Ethelbert Winckler (d. 1913), but this grave is in the Dutch Cemetery according to others (eg. T. W. Venn, 1947). Similarly, the list has the grave of Pieter Winckler (d. 1841), the grandfather of J. E. Winkler in Veli Cemetery, but his tomb is actually in the Dutch Cemetery (see my previous post).

FUNERARY MONUMENTS OF THE DUTCH CEMETERY IN FORT KOCHI

Photograph-October, 2022

In the previous series of posts, I wrote about the Portuguese funerary monuments in Cochin. We also saw Dutch and English funerary markers in St Francis church, but it is not the only site in Cochin where you find them. In the upcoming posts, I will briefly go through a few other places in Cochin area where the Dutch and the British graves are still preserved.

1) Dutch Cemetery of Fort Cochin
Like St Francis church, the Dutch Cemetery of Fort Cochin is a well known tourist spot. The 18th-century cemetery is only a walk-able distance (c. 300 m) from the St Francis church and has both Dutch and English graves. The tombs have no cross symbols, which is a rare phenomenon even in the protestant cemeteries of Kerala today. The graveyard is not open to the public, but the tombs are visible from the main entrance and the western boundary near the beach side. However, if you want to access the graves and properly  explore the epitaphs, you must enter the compound, and for that you need permission of the C.S.I. church authorities who manage the site now. The cemetery was established in 1724, but the oldest surviving tomb is dated from 1784 only. The site originally was the location of an orphanage and in old Dutch maps, the street was called Weeshuijsstraat (Orphanage Street). 

A few interesting facts about the Dutch Cemetery of Cochin:
The date of establishment-1724
The area of the cemetery-1500 sq.m (c. 37 cents)
The total number of existing funerary monuments-104
The number of funerary monuments with a visible Dutch script-13
The oldest surviving Dutch tomb-Johan Daimichen (d. 30 August, 1784)
The youngest Dutch tomb-Catharina Sara Smit (d. 15 November, 1820)
The largest Dutch tomb-Aletta Augustina Thiel (d. 20 November, 1784)
The best preserved Dutch epitaph-Johannes van Blankenberg (d. 2 April, 1794)
The oldest surviving English tomb-Charles Rolland (d. 1807)
The youngest English tomb-Joseph Ethelbert Winckler (d. 15 September, 1913)
The tallest funerary monument-English (unknown identity)
(Courtesy for the burial dates: sharedcemeteries.net and Roberts & Chekkutty, 2017).

There is a popular misconception that the Dutch Cemetery of Cochin is the oldest European cemetery in India (see here, here and here). Ironically, there are several cemeteries in India established by the Dutch in the 17th century (eg. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc), so the 18th-century Dutch Cemetery of Cochin  is actually one of the youngest! Sir Charles Allen Lawson in 1861 (British and Native Cochin, p.26) writes: "Near to the Church (St Francis) is the old Dutch Cemetery, a small, square plot enclosed with high walls. The tombs flat,dome and pyramid shaped are occasionally diversified by broken pillars, urns and sarcophagi, all more of less blackened by exposure; the grass rank and wild here and there lost sight of among bushes of a beautiful orange-flowered weed that infests this part of India". Nothing much has changed in the cemetery even after several decades, but the paved path is a recent addition.

REVISITING THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN ANGLES OF SAUDI -SOUTH OF FORT KOCHI

Freemason Hall of Cochin or Lodge Cochin

I get queries often regarding the lost Jewish settlements of Kerala. Saudi in Cochin is one of the most frequently asked sites, after I wrote a few years ago about the 'Lost Synagogue of Saude or Saudi (1514-1556)' . Most requests are about the name of the place, such as if it can be linked to Saudi Arabia. However, many would be surprised to learn that the name “Saudi” used here has in all probability a Portuguese Christian than an Arab Muslim connection. Saudi is derived from the Portuguese word, "Saúde" which means health. The Portuguese had a 16th century church named "Nossa Senhora de Saude" (Our Lady of Health) here and hence the name of the region. The modern Roman Catholic church in Saudi is also named after "Our Lady of Health". The original Portuguese church does not exist and it is believed to be destroyed by the sea. As per traditional accounts, the Portuguese church was located around 3.5 miles west of the present-day church. The first church in the current location was established in 1804 only. According to certain local traditions, the St Thomas Christians had a 9th-century church in Saudi before the Portuguese arrived, the humble structure made of wood and stone was also carried away by the sea, and if so, the one founded in 1804 was the third church. This church underwent several renovations over the course of time, such as in 1966, side wings were added to the sanctuary and the main altar was refurbished. The current modern church in Saudi is consecrated in December, 2006. 

Early Records on Saudi

Are there any historical records for the existence of a church or place called Saudi in Cochin during the Portuguese or the Dutch periods? One of the earliest references I have come across is from the accounts of Urbain Souchu de Rennefort, an agent of French East India Company, in his “Histoires des Indes Orientales”, published in 1688, the site appears as “Nostra Seignora de la Sauda”, a mazure (hovel?) near the sea coast. In the Memoir of Governor Adriaan Moens written in the year 1781 (“The Dutch in Malabar”), he lists 20 Latin churches and chapels subjected to the VOC (the Dutch East India Company), the church of “Senhora de Saude” and its chapel was one among them. Francis Day (1863) reproduces Moens' list in "The Land of the Permauls", but he quotes the church as “Senhora de Sande”. In 1781, when Moens handed over charge to his successor Van Angelbeck, he enumerated 69 gardens and pieces of land as the property of the Dutch, one among them was at Senhora de Saude, containing 1,222 fruit-bearing coconut and other trees, 29 Parras of cultivated land (c. 7 acres).

Another resource to look for is the old maps of Cochin, especially from the 17th and 18th centuries. In these maps, we find churches marked in the south coastal belt of Fort Cochin. The following is the region of Cochin I extracted from a large Map of Malabar extending from Cranganore (Kodungallur) to Coylang (Kollam). The Dutch Map (NL-HaNA_4.VEL_229) dated 1687 is facsimiled in Grand Atlas of the East India Company volume I pp.  31 and 126-128.  Here you can see four churches arranged in the following order from North to South: 1-St Joan (St John), 2-Nossa Senhora da Saude (Our Lady of Health), 3-St Louis and 4-St Iago (St James). The map is therefore a strong evidence for the existence of the Portuguese Saudi church in the 17th century. In some other maps, fewer churches (2-3) are depicted (NL-HaNA_4.VEL_882.2; NL-HaNA_4.VEL_884), or the 4th church is dedicated to St George instead of St James (NL-HaNA_4.VEL_883), but in all of them the church of Saude appears.

A Map of Cochin in 1687. Extracted from the Dutch Map, NL-HaNA_4.VEL_229

Antiquities of Saudi Church

Today, none of these early Portuguese churches exist, the structures built in present locations are of relatively recent origin. We know for certain that a church existed in Saudi at least in the 17th century, but there is little left in the modern Saudi church from the Portuguese era. In the previous post, we saw two tombstones in Portuguese script, but they are from the early 19th century. The Silver Jubilee Souvenir of Alleppey Diocese (1977) mentions of a Portuguese inscription in front of the altar, but no such tablet exists today. The beautiful 6 ft tall statue of the Virgin holding Infant Jesus is perhaps the only relic from the Portuguese era preserved in the church, however, according to Bernard (History of Fort Cochin, 1995) it was discovered accidentally from the Santa Cruz Maidan (Playground) in Fort Kochi by the British in 1901.