Historical PeriodEra
Varies by tradition
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Deities
Bene Israel of Mumbai
Bene Israel — the 2,000-year-old Jewish community of India
Bene Israel — the 2,000-year-old Jewish community of India
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Jewish / Bene Israel
The Bene Israel ("Sons of Israel") are the ancient Jewish community of Maharashtra's Konkan coast, tracing their origin to a shipwreck ca. 175 BCE (per tradition). For 1,800 years they were isolated from world Jewry; they retained Jewish traditions orally while adopting Marathi language and some Hindu customs. They were "rediscovered" by 18th-c. Cochin Jewish traders. Current population: ~5,000 in Mumbai (after mass aliyah to Israel 1950s–70s). Key synagogues: Magen David (Byculla, 1861), Knesset Eliyahoo (Colaba, 1884), Tiphereth Israel (Jacob Circle, 1886). The community is one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world.
India's sacred landscape embraces all faith-traditions — Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, Zoroastrian, tribal, regional-folk — each with its own cosmology. This entry honors Jewish on its own terms.
