The Kollam/Quilon Syrian copper plates, also known as the Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates, the Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, or Tabula Quilonensis record a royal grant issued by the chieftain of Kollam (Ayyan Adikal) to a Syrian Christian merchant magnate (Mar Sapir Iso) in Kerala.[1] The royal charter is engraved in Old Malayalam or early Middle Tamil in Vattezhuthu (with some Grantha characters) on six copper plates.[2][1] The document is the oldest available Chera Perumal inscription.[3]
The charter is dated to the 5th regnal year of the Chera Perumal ruler Sthanu Ravi Kulasekhara (849/50 AD).[4] The sixth plate contains a number of signatures of the witnesses to the grant in Arabic (Kufic script), Middle Persian (cursive Pahlavi script) and Judeo-Persian (standard square Hebrew script).[5] Until 2013 it was believed that the six plates formed two separate grants (dated separately) issued by Kerala rulers to the Syrian Christian merchants.[6]
One part (four plates) of the copper plates is kept at the Devalokam Aramana of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church while the other (two small plates) is at Poolatheen Aramana (Thiruvalla) of Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. The copper plate also mentions about the Jews and Muslims of Kerala in the Arabic (Kufic script), Middle Persian (cursive Pahlavi script) and Judeo-Persian (standard square Hebrew script) parts.[5]
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