A Magnificent and Unique Illustrated Esther Scroll from India, 19th century

Manuscript on parchment (5 7/8 x 192 in.; 147 x 4880 mm). 31 columns of 11 lines, written in square Hebrew script, plus an initial full column miniature bordered with two Devanagari inscriptions in the Gujarati and Marathi languages of western India; on seven membranes; on a painted wooden roller; sumptuously illustrated with eighteen miniatures and two dozen elongated stylized illustrations of court musicians as well as forty-three panels with floral and faunal motifs.

Joan G Roland, Jewish Communities of India: Identity in a Colonial Era.  New Brunswick: 1998.

An extremely rare example of an illustrated Scroll of Esther from India

When this remarkable scroll is opened to reveal its opulent artistic program, the vividly colored figures emerge from between the expertly penned columns of text and the charming vignettes and illustrations provide a delight for the eyes. The complete absence of any other illustrated Esther scrolls from India in this style or even from the same period puts this truly unique megillah into a class by itself.

List of illustrations:

1. Queen Esther approaches the enthroned King Ahasuerus, who holds his golden scepter (ch. 5:1-2).
2. Hadassah (Esther) under the watchful eye of Mordechai who gazes from a window (ch. 2:7).
3. Queen Vashti lays in bed and ignores the summons of Ahasuerus (ch. 1:12).
4. Mordechai refuses to bow to Haman (ch. 3:2).
5. Ahasuerus (in his cups) takes advice from Memuchan( ch.1:16).
6. Mordechai sits at the King's gate (ch. 2:19).
7. Unable to sleep, King Ahasuerus has the Book of Records read to him (ch. 6:1). Many illustrated Esther scrolls portray this scene but this highly unusual illustration depicts not only King Ahasuerus in his bed but also a sleeping Queen Esther at his side!
8.  An illustration of the plotting of Bigthan and Teresh against the King is overheard by Queen Esther (ch 2:21-2).  This illustration takes liberties with the textual account that have Mordechai overhearing the plot. It is included here as the events are referred to once again in the text(ch. 6:2).
9. Haman in bed receives the King's command to attend Queen Esther's banquet.(ch. 5:5).
10. Haman complains to his wife and friends about Mordechai's insolence (ch.5:10-14).
11. Haman leads Mordechai who rides the King's horse and is attired in the King's raiment (6:11-12). Upon approaching his own home, Haman's wife, mistaking him for his enemy Mordechai, empties the contents of a chamber pot on him. This last element is not a part of the biblical text but is found in the Midrash and indicates the artist's literacy with Jewish sources.
12. Esther and Mordechai write letters to the Jews in all of the King's domains (ch. 9:29).
13 The King's decree that the Jews may defend themselves is proclaimed (ch 8: 13-14).
14. The Jews confront their enemies (ch. 9:1).
15. A Jew smites an opponent (ch. 9:2).
16. The hanging of Haman's ten sons on a tree fifty cubits high. (ch. 9:6-10, 14). This illustration along the full height of the column divides the text with a striking realization of this familiar theme.
17. The custom of exchanging mishloah manot, gifts of food (ch. 9:19, 22).
18 The remembrance of the events is commemorated in each generation (ch. 9:28).

The Jews of India

The Jews of India, one of the lesser-known and perhaps most interesting groups in the Jewish Diaspora, comprise three geographically, linguistically and ethnographically distinct communities. The Bene Israel, the largest group, inhabited the Maharashtra State on India's western coast; though the Bene-Israel had always observed many elements of Judaism in their daily lives, their ties with mainstream Judaism were only reestablished in the nineteenth century. The smallest and oldest of the Indian Jewish communities, the Jews of Cochin, have been a presence on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India for at least a thousand years.  The Baghdadi Jews migrated from Iraq and Syria to large commercial cities in western and eastern India in the late eighteenth century.

Naturally, the various Indian Jewish communities share the use of Hebrew for liturgical purposes but their linguistic paths diverge in the case of the vernaculars used by each.  The Cochin Jews speak Judeo-Malayalam, Malayalam being the predominant language of Kerala, where Cochin is located.  The Bene-Israel, further north on the western coast of the subcontinent, utilize Marathi and Gujarati, the native languages of Maharashtra and Gujarat, while the Baghdadi Jews retained the use of Arabic and, at the end of the nineteenth century, English.

Mumbai (formerly Bombay), emerged as the largest Jewish community in India in the second half of the 18th century  Some of the Bene Israel Jews moved from their outlying villages into Bombay where they built the first synagogue in 1796. At the same time, Bombay also absorbed a large wave of Jewish immigrants from Baghdad, Basra, and Aleppo. Under the leadership of Solomon Jacob and later David S. Sassoon, the Baghdadi Jews became the most prominent element in the Jewish population of Bombay. Despite their physical proximity however, a wide chasm divided the two communities, with the Bene Israel at a significant disadvantage both economically and socially.

The lavish decorations in the tradition of Indian miniature painting would have placed the cost to produce this scroll beyond the economic means of any but the most affluent members of the community. In light of the opening inscriptions in Marathi and Gujarati, it seems likely that the present scroll originates in the Maharashtran capital of Mumbai. It may be possible that the artist of this scroll was a member of the Bene-Israel who was executing a commission for a wealthy Baghdadi coreligionist.