Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/541

Rh intermarriage with the Black Jews. It must be admitted that, in the earlier centuries, the original settlers purchased numerous slaves, who have since then followed the religion of their masters. It is recorded by Stavorinus * that "when these Jews purchase a slave, they immediately manumit him; they circumcise him and receive him as their fellow Israelite, and never treat him as a slave." It is noted by Canter Visscher † that "the Jews make no objection to selling their slaves who are not of their own religion to other nations, obliging them, however, when sold, to abandon the use of the Jewish cap, which they had before worn on their heads. But slaves, male or female, once fully admitted into their religion by the performance of the customary rites, can never be sold to a stranger." The Jews are said to have had former fugitive connections with the women of these converts, and brought into existence a mixed race of Dravidians and Semitics. It would be uncharitable to infer from this that all the Black Jews are the descendants of converted slaves or half-castes, as it would be unreasonable to suppose that all of them are the descendants of the original settlers. It is noted by Mr. Adler that "the Rev. J. H. Lord quotes an interesting pronouncement on the racial purity of the Black Jews of Malabar made by Haham Bashi of Jerusalem in 1892, The Rabbi is said to have referred to the Maharikash (R. Jacob Castro, of Alexandria), whose responsum in 1610 confirmed the ' Jichus' or the Mejuchasim and decided likewise. He is even said to have allowed one of his relatives to marry a Brown Jew! Nowadays, the White Jews hold aloof from the larger community, black or brown, and profess to be of another caste altogether. But one of the most intelligent of