Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/518

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JEW
464

We have given to Isuppu Irabbân *[1] Ansuvannam (as a principality), and seventy-two proprietary rights (appertaining to the dignity of a feudal lord) also tribute by reverence (?) and offerings, and the profits of Ansuvannam, and day-lamps, and broad garments (as opposed to the custom of Malabar) and palankins, and umbrellas, and large drums, and trumpets, and small drums and garlands, and garlands across streets, etc., and the like, and seventy-two free houses. Moreover, we have granted by this document on copper that he shall not pay the taxes paid by the houses of the city into the royal treasury, and the(above-said) privileges to hold(them). To Isuppu Irabbân, prince of Ansuvannam, and to his descendants, his sons and daughters, and to his nephews, and to (the nephews) of his daughters in natural succession, Ansuvannam (is) an hereditary estate, as long as the world and moon exist. Sri. The charter is witnessed by various local chiefs.

A somewhat different reading is given by Dr. G.Oppert †[2] who renders the translation as follows: —

" Hail and happiness! The King of Kings, His Holiness Sri Bhaskara Ravi Varma, who wields the sceptre in many hundred thousand places, has made this decree on the day that he was pleased to dwell in Muyirikodu in the thirty-sixth year of his reign.We have granted unto Joseph Rabban Anjavannan the [dignity of] Prince, with all the seventy-two rights of ownership. He shall [enjoy] the revenues from female elephants and riding animals, and the income of Anjavannan. He is entitled to be honoured by lamps by day, and to use broad-cloth and sedan chairs,

  1. * I.e., Yusuf Rabbân,
  2. † Ueber die Jūdischen Colonien in Indien. Kohut Memorial Volume, Semitic Studies, Berlin, 1897.