On Origins, the Arts, and Transformed Identities: Foci of Research into the Bene Israel

Abstract

Research into Indian Jewry has developed along unexpected lines during the last decade. In addition to cultivating a deeper understanding of the major existing Indian Jewish communities—be they Bene Israel, Cochin Jews, or the Iraqi Jews known as “Baghdadis”—research has expanded to include “other” groups of Indian Jews. This sideways leap is fascinating because it casts “others” who are not members of the traditional Indian Jewish groups, as the more peripheral or exotic, and members of the three recognized Indian Jewish communities as the “mainstream” Indian Jews. The “others” fall into two different groups: on one side of the continuum, the Ashkenazi Jews who came to India’s hospitable shores before and during the Second World War;1 on the other side of the continuum, the Shinlung or “tribal” Jews from northeast India and Burma,2 as well as the so-called Telugu-speaking “Jews” in Andhra Pradesh, who were not part of India’s hierarchical caste system.3 KeywordsJewish CommunityHost SocietyReligious ObservanceIndian ImmigrantJewish OriginThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.