Mattancherry

It’s a popular belief that the town gets its name from ‘Maaddancherry’. Cherry means a township and maad means cow. The cow was a symbol used by the Cochin Rajas, and area was under their rule for a long time.

This teeming suburb of Ernakulam still preserves Cochin’s place on the spice map of the world. As you enter the town, especially the market, you will be surrounded with the smell of spices. The Spice Market here is filled with shops, carts and warehouses – all sorting and packing spices. Some are sold in retail while others are exported.

Pardesi Synagogue is the single building that attracts thousands of visitors to Mattancherry in a year. It was built in 1568 but destroyed by cannon fire in 1662 in a Portuguese raid. When the Dutch conquered Kochi, they rebuilt it after two years of the synagogue’s demolition in 1662. It is maintained by Jewish families that still live near it. The synagogue has a separate section for worship for women – it is reached via a flight of stairs within the building. The interiors are decorated with a 19th century Belgian chandelier and 18th century Chinese floor tiles. There’s a fourth century copper plate that is written in ‘kannadiyezhuthu’ script in Malayalam, i.e. it is readable only with the help of a mirror. It contains the Maharaja of Kochi’s
inscriptions.

The clock tower adjacent to the synagogue was built by a Jewish businessman Ezekiel Rahabi more than 200 years after the synagogue was constructed. The interesting thing is that it has four faces – the one facing the Maharaja’s palace is in Malayalam, another side in Roman numerals for the traders, one facing the synagogue itself was in Hebrew. The last one, however, was left blank!

The Thirumala Devaswom Temple here is sacred to the Konkani community, who came here as traders. It was built in the mid-16th century and has some instances of being rebuilt. Only Hindus are permitted entry here.

There are lots and lots of antique and curio shops in Jew Town in Mattancherry. You’ll be amazed at the kind of things that you can buy there – furniture, bells, clothes, woodwork, vessels and more. Women can feast on traditional jewellery and antique pieces.