Jewish cemetery, Chennai

13.0467369°N 80.2742703°E / 13.0467369; 80.2742703

Jewish Cemetery Chennai Front View
Jewish cemetery chennai
Plan of Fort St George and the city of Madras in 1726,Shows b.Jews Burying Place Jewish Cemetery Chennai, Four Brothers Garden and Bartolomeo Rodrigues Tomb
Holocaust Memorial of Isaac & Rosa Henriques Decastro, erected by C. N. Annadurai Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

The Jewish Cemetery is a cemetery for the Paradesi Jews of Chennai, India. It is located off Lloyd's Road. The cemetery remains the only memoir of the once significant Jewish population of Chennai, which has now almost become extinct.[1] Burials include the tombstones of 18th-century Jewish diamond merchants.[2] The cemetery houses fewer than 30 graves, of which a handful are almost 300 years old.[3]

The cemetery is located on a poor market area of the road west of the Marina Fish Market and is adjacent to Baháʼí Faith and Chinese cemeteries.[4] Among the graves is that of Victoria 'Toyah' Sofaer, from an elite Baghdadi family, who died in what was then Madras in 1943 - the story of her life and tragically young death was investigated by the BBC.[5]

The cemetery formerly used to have an iron gate on which a plaque was attached on which a Star of David and the words "Jewish Cemetery" were inscribed. After the renovation around 2016, these doors were replaced with sturdier ones. Before the renovation, the cemetery had been reported to be in a state of severe disrepair – with rusted iron gates, partially grown shrubs ,and cracked walls. People in the surrounding area were oblivious to the existence and historical importance of the cemetery. As of 2016, it had few visitors.[6]

History

1500 The first Jewish Cemetery was built by Amsterdam Sephardic community in Coral Merchant Street, George Town, Madras, which had a large presence of Portuguese Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Neither the synagogue nor the Jewish population remains today.[7]

1644 The Second Jewish Cemetery was built by Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia) also from Amsterdam Sephardic community, in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the South end of Mint Street,[8]

1687 Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia) was buried in the cemetery upon his death in 1687.[9][10]

1934 The Second Jewish Cemetery was partly demolished by the local government and the tombstones were moved to the Central Park of Madras along with the gate of the cemetery on which Beit ha-Haim (the usual designation for a Jewish cemetery, literally "House of Life") were written in Hebrew.[11]

5 June 1968 Local government fully demolished The Second Jewish Cemetery and took over the land for building a government school, hence Rabbi Levi Salomon (the last rabbi of Madras synagogue) died of a heart attack.[12][13] The remaining tombstones were moved opposite to Kasimedu cemetery.

29 December 1983 The tombstones from Central Park of Madras and opposite to Kasimedu cemetery were moved to Lloyds Road, when the Chennai Harbour expansion project was approved.[14] In this whole process 17 tombstones went missing, including that of Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia).[15]

The cemetery is under the care of the Isaac and Rosa Charitable Trust, Henriques De Castro family.

2012 Two walls of the cemetery came down during the Cyclone Nilam. The cost for repair was projected to be $2070.[16]

2016 The cemetery had been renovated by Isaac and Rosa Charitable Trust, Henriques De Castro family, and the walls were re-erected. The walls were painted blue and raised to avoid trespassers and dog menace.[6]


  • Burial Record of Yitzhak Levi
    Burial Record of Yitzhak Levi
  • Jewish Cemetery shifting in Chennai 1983
    Jewish Cemetery shifting in Chennai 1983
  • The gravestone of Abraham Salomons, 1745
    The gravestone of Abraham Salomons, 1745
  • The gravestone of Victoria 'Toyah' Sofaer, 1943
    The gravestone of Victoria 'Toyah' Sofaer, 1943

References
  1. "The city's fading link to its Jewish past – DTNext.in".
  2. Association of British Scholars (India), Chennai Chapter (2008). Muthiah, S. (ed.). Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India, Volume 1. Palaniappa Brothers. p. 183. ISBN 9788183794688.
  3. "Chennai's link to its Jewish past, cemetery in Mylapore fading into oblivion – DTNext.in". Archived from the original on 10 June 2016.
  4. "Kerala Jewish Sites". ISJM Jewish Heritage Report Volume II, numbers 3–4. International Survey of Jewish Monuments. December 1998. Archived from the original on 15 May 2001. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  5. "Uncovering a story of ill-fated romance and tragic death". BBC. June 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  6. Roshne B (14 November 2016). "A cemetery buried in history". The New Indian Express.
  7. Muthiah, S. (2004). Lakshmi, C. S. (ed.). The Unhurried City: Writings on Chennai. Penguin Books India. p. 30. ISBN 9780143030263. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  8. "The last family of Pardesi Jews in Madras « Madras Musings | We Care for Madras that is Chennai". 9 February 2018.
  9. Muthiah S. (3 September 2007). "The Portuguese Jews of Madras". The Hindu.
  10. "The Portuguese Jewish Community Of Madras, India, In The Seventeenth Century". Sefarad.org. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  11. Arbell, Mordechai. "The Portuguese Jewish Community Of Madras, India, In The Seventeenth Century". Sefarad.org. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  12. "18th century Jewish cemetery lies in shambles, craves for attention – The New Indian Express".
  13. "The Hindu : Will Chennai's Jews be there?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 March 2003.
  14. "18th century Jewish cemetery lies in shambles, craves for attention". The New Indian Express.
  15. Sampath, Janani (10 May 2016). "Chennai's link to its Jewish past, cemetery in Mylapore fading into oblivion". DT Next. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  16. "Chennai". International Jewish Cemetery Project. International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
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