The Jewish people have had a long relationship with India. Trade, vocabulary borrowings from Indian languages in Biblical Hebrew, explorers’ travelogues, and oral traditions of local populations all point to very early relationships. The emergence and expansion of religions like Judaism in India, as well as their coexistence with a variety of other religions, demonstrate that human communities may be flexible and adaptable to other cultures and times. The earlier populations of Maharashtra’s Bene Israel Jews and Kerala’s Cochin Jews, as well as the more recent Baghdadi Jews of Mumbai and Kolkata, have left indelible marks on India’s cultural landscape.
Though the Jewish population in India has always been modest, their presence has been notable for the religious freedom they have had and the various customs they have built over the years, giving significant diversity to world Jewry. Today, the two meanings of the Hebrew word Hodu, one for “India” and the other for “Praise God,” are frequently evoked combined to memorialize one of history’s most benign Jewish diasporas.
