Isaac Sardo Abendana ( – 10 May 1709) was a Dutch Jewish jeweller and diamond merchant of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Originally from

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

, Abendana moved to India in 1702. Due to his skill in the trade, Abendana was widely consulted, including by most Madras trading companies and by his close friend,

Thomas Pitt Thomas Pitt (5 July 1653 – 28 April 1726) of Blandford St Mary in Dorset, later of Stratford in Wiltshire and of Boconnoc in Cornwall, known during life commonly as ''Governor Pitt'', as ''Captain Pitt'', or posthumously, as ''"Diamond" ...

, the Governor of

Fort St. George Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...

Biography

Originally from

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Isaac Sardo Abendana was born and left for India around 1702. He settled in

Pulicat Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is a historic seashore town in Chennai Metropolitan Area at Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is about north of Chennai and from Elavur, on the southern periphery of the Pulicat Lake. Pulicat lake i ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, before moving to

with his family. He was part of a Jewish colony of merchants in Fort St. George, working in the trade of precious stones and coral, who were of the

Jewish diaspora The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of t ...

. He worked with English merchant Alvarez da Fonseca. Abendana knew

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Due to his skill in the cutting, polishing and appraisal of diamonds, Abendana was widely consulted and his advice was well-sought; he became a scientific advisor to most Madras trading companies. A personal friend of then-Governor

, who also consulted him, Abendana is believed to be responsible for his fortune and for acquiring the

Regent Diamond The Regent Diamond is a diamond owned by the French state and on display in the Louvre, worth £48,000,000. History Discovery According to legend, the diamond was discovered by an enslaved man in the Kollur Mine near the Krishna River a ...

Death, testament and widow

Abendana died on 10 May 1709, in Fort St. George, where he was buried. His was one of the few Jewish tombstones in the Fort to have been preserved. The tombstone was relocated to the Second Jewish Cemetery on Mint Street. Although he appointed Pitt the trustee of his estate in his testament, the governor declined as he was about to leave India. As Abendana's widow was

illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

, four people were nominated to go through his papers. The court records describe his testament as being written in "certain characters and other numerous abbreviations" unknown to them, probably Hebrew. According to Professor Walter Joseph Fischel, " e history of his widow ndher "case" is discussed very extensively in the ourtrecords." In a letter from then-Governor Edward Harrison and Council to the Court of Directors, dated September 16, 1713, Harrison mentioned that a "turbulent" Danish missionary had contrived the widow's "escape" from her creditors to the town of

Tranquebar Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...

. There, in 1712, she married a German Lutheran. Although Madras had no

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, Abendana's testament stipulates that if his wife were to remarry, it should be in a city with one. The litigation which ensured after the marriage was documented at the Madras Record Office; Fischel later said that this was a "very embarrassing scandal."

Biography

Death, testament and widow

References

Notes

Citations

Further reading