The king’s word was good and the Jewish colony flourished, serving as a haven to Jews from the Middle East and, in later centuries, Europe. The Portuguese put an end to this state of affairs. When he discovered these Jews near Kochi, Albuquerque requested permission from his king to “exterminate them one by one” and destroyed their city at Cranganore. Muslim feelings flared up at this time, too, and it was only with the arrival of the Dutch that the Jews of Kochi were able to live without fear once more — as they always had in India.
Their synagogue in Mattancherry’s Jew Town was built in 1568 after their expulsion from Cranganore. It was considerably embellished in the mid-18th century by Ezekiel Rahabi who built a clock-tower and paved the floor of the synagogue with hand-painted tiles of willow pattern (every one of them different), brought all the way from Canton in China. These tiles and the copper plates can be seen at the synagogue.
But the congregation itself has almost vanished. There were only scores of the pale, blond and aristocratic-looking White Jews of Kochi left about half a century ago. Many of them emigrated to Holland (Netherland) and to England (United Kingdom) in the past two centuries, and only a few have gone to Israel recently (unlike the “Black Jews” from the mainland who are a mixture of Jewish and Hindu stock). Their race is dying out from inbreeding but they still huddle in one street, known as Jew Town, in Mattancherry, except for two or three rich families who have moved to the green suburbia of Fort Kochi.
Besides the synagogue, Mattancherry also offers one of Kochi’s most beautiful buildings, the “Dutch Palace”. But it doesn’t look very Dutch and it really isn’t. It was built by the Portuguese in the middle of the 16th century and then taken over by the Dutch who added some improvements before presenting it to the ‘rajas’ of Cochin who used it as a palace. They, in turn, made more improvements, notably some excellent mythological murals. In one room, you can see the entire story of the Ramayana on the walls. Both the synagogue and the Dutch Palace are within easy walking distance of the boat jetty at Mattancherry.