Week 36 - Chennamangalam ചേന്ദമംഗലം

Chennamangalam - A model of religious co-existance.

ചേന്ദമംഗലം - മതസൌഹാര്‍ദ്ദത്തിനൊരു മാതൃക.

Chennamangalam (also Chendamangalam), a town around 42 from Ernakulam, is one of the best examples of religious co-existance. This town was planned by one of the achans of Paliyam who wished to have all four major religious faiths equally represented in town. The Paliath Achans were hereditary prime ministers to the Rajah of Kochi.

The paliyathachan designated a site on each of the cardinal points to build a Jewish Synagogue, a christian church, a hindu temple and a muslim mosque. At the crossing of the axis was his Paliyam palace atop a hill.

The four religious places are within a distance of 50-200 meters of each other. See google map below.

Jews in Chennamangalam:
The Jews have lived in Kerala, some say, from the time of King Solomon (~1000 BC). Others believe Jews came to Kerala after Romans destroyed the second temple in Jerusalem (in the year 70 AD). When St. Thomas came to kerala, Jews were already present in Kerala. St. Thomas is believed to have arrived in Kerala on 52 AD. So if St. Thomas' arrival year is correct, then Jews were present in Kerala even before the destruction of their temple.

Interior view of the Synagogue

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One of the Jewish tombstones of a lady discovered at Chennamangalam has the year 1269 inscribed in it.

It is believed that Jews moved to Chennamangalam after the great flood of 1341 destroyed the Kodungalloor harbour.

After Israel got Independence from British in 1948, the Jews in Kerala started migrating back to Israel. An emissary from Israel came to Kerala in 1950, met the Jews in Kerala and offered them the opportunity to help realize their dreams back in their homeland. Now there are no Jews in Chennamangalam. The curator at the Synagogue told me that the last Jewish family migrated to Israel in 1971. There are just 10 Jews in 2 families in Kochi now.

The Christian Church
The Church in Chennamangalam was built in 1573, along with a seminary (Vaipikotta seminary) for teaching Syriac. The first printing press in Kerala was started here. The seminary was destroyed by Tipu Sultan in 1790 on his way to capture Travancore. The remains of the Seminary can still be seen.

The remains of the seminary

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The church has a couple of interesting artefacts - holy relics of the Jesus's 12 disciples and a relic of the holy cross. (A portion of the bone of all apostoles and a portion of the cross in which Jesus died). I found that hard to believe and could not find any references in google about the relics of all apostles together. I forgot to ask how the church got the relics, but I think the Portugese missionaries might have brought it.

Holy Relic of Apostles (Closely look at the center to see the bones)

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The church also has some tombstones which has inscriptions in Vattezhuthu.

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Other places to see:
1) Jewish tombs
There are 3 Jewish tombs with inscriptions in Hebrew. The tombs are hard to find by yourself. We came to know about the tombs through some kids who became our guide when we went to the church. (When the kids asked me if they can be my guide, I said yes, thinking that i might have to give them some money. But they found happiness in calling themselves "guide" and were not at all interested in the money part). The route which we took to reach the tombs is marked in red in the map, but there is another easier way.


Click to see in larger size.


2) Kottayil Kovilakam remains
This place is marked in the map below. I do not know the historical significance of this place. There is a tourism department's board which explains something about it and another board which marks the Kottayil Kovilakam's remains. However, I could not go near those boards because of the dense vegetation which had grown around it.

3) The Pond
The pond is marked in the map below. The kid guides told me some importance about the the pond which is in the heart shape, but I can't recollect it. We searched for the pond around the tombs, but could not find it. Later google maps told me that we were very close to finding it.

4) Paliyam Palace
This is the palace of Paliyathachans. The film Nandanam was shot there. The palace has some historically important things. I could not visit the palace that day because a film's shooting was going on there and entry was restricted.

Map showing the important places

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On my next visit to Chennamangalam, I plan to visit the palace and locate the pond.


How to reach Chennamangalam?
Chennamangalam is close to North Paravur (Parur), Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. From Ernakulam, you can go via Edapally > Varapuzha > North Parur. From Thrissur side, take the Athani-Paravur road near Airport to reach North Parur. If going in bus, from Parur, take the bus to Kottayil Kovilakam.



In case you don't know how foreigners came to Kerala centuries ago?
During south-west monsoon (April to October), the monsoon wind blows such that a ship kept in the wind's direction in Egypt would be taken to the Kerala coast (Kodungalloor) in around 30-40 days. This wind reverses its direction during the north-east monsoon, making it easier to travel back from Kerala to Egypt. This knowledge about the wind remained as a secret to the Arabs for a long time until it was discovered by an Egyptian sailor called Hippalus. This knowledge about the direction of the monsoon winds greatly facilitated the foreign traders and sailors from Egypt, Syria, Greece, Rome and Arabia to reach the western coast of Kerala for trade.