116 Ancient documents engraved on copper in possession [No. 30. 



, I. A long and broad copper instrument written on both 

 sides with old Tamil letters mixed with a good deal of Gran- 

 tham or modern Malayalam letters. This being by far the 

 easiest I shall copy and explain in the first place. It is a 

 grant of the Perumal Vlra Raghava to Iravi Corttan of Co- 

 dungalur, making over to him the little principality, Mani- 

 gramam and elevating him to the position of sovereign mer- 

 chant of Kerala. 



II. The other Syrian document consists of five copper-sheets,, 

 of much smaller size with seven pages Tamil- Malayalam, appar- 

 ently written by different hands, the letters less distinct and in 

 some places injured by the breaking of the plates and corrosion, 

 and two pages, written in two unknown languages (Kufic) with 

 four Hebrew signatures. It is an act by which one Maruwan 

 Sapir Iso (the Shapur or Xabro of the Syrians 1) transfers a 

 piece of ground near the sea shore, with several families of 

 different Heathen casts to a community and church, Tarisapal- 

 li, built by one Iso data virai, the grant being made with the 

 Palace Major's sanction (probably the Commissioner of Peru- 

 mal Sthanu Ravi Gupta) and with the concurrence of the 

 Venadu (Travancore) king, Anjuwannam and Manigramam 

 that is the Jewish and Christian dynasties, being appointed 

 joint protectors of the land and the Church endowed. No 

 princes are mentioned as witnesses, except the heir of the Tra- 

 vancore and the neighbouring Lords. In consequence I suppose 

 this tenure inferior to the first and third, — Manigramam and 

 Anjuwannum were held directly under the Perumal* this 

 church-land under the provincial authorities. 



III. The Jewish tables, two with three pages in Malayalam- 

 Tamil are preserved in Cochin at present by a Rabbi Samuel 

 who also shows the old Hebrew translation and permitted me 

 to copy it. It is the best preserved, tho' cert ainly oldest of the 

 three documents, the languag e with the exception of one word 



