Jews of India

There have been three distinct Jewish groups in India. The first group to arrive in India were the Bene Israel who may have come to the Konkan coast as early as 722 BCE or as late as 175 BCE. Regardless, they were cut off from Israel for centuries. Having left before the Maccabean Revolt and the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE, they had no knowledge of Channukah or Tisha B'av (called Birdacha Roza in "The Jews of India").

In around 1700, a Jew from Cochin came up to the Bene Israel community still located near Bombay. He noticed that they kept several Jewish traditions. He asked them to make fish for dinner and realized that they kept kosher. That was the final straw and he screamed, "Aha! You're Jewish!" which garnered a different reaction than if Hitler had said the same thing. He taught them about Judaism (the Jew from Cochin, not Hitler) creating a religious revival among the Bene Israel.

The Cochini Jews may have migrated from Spain as early as 370 CE or as late as 1000 CE. They originally settled in Cranganore (north of Cochin). The sixteenth century brought tumult to the Jews. Muslim traders attacked them in 1524 followed by the Portuguese decimation of the Jewish community in Cranganore in 1565. The Dutch eventually took over from the Portuguese and the fortunes of the Jews, who had moved to Cochin, changed for the better. The Raja of Cochin was supportive of the Jews. He put his palace next to the major synagogue. Much like the Bene Israel community, the Cochini Jews adopted the customs of the local Indian population.
The Baghdadi Jews, who migrated from many different Arab countries (so don't be fooled), came to India in the late 18th century. They lived in the state of Maharashtra, mostly Bombay and Pune, and Calcutta. David Sassoon arrived in 1832 and gave the Baghdadi Jews a sense of community and built several synagogues. They tended not to incorporate local customs into their culture.
I think this line is from "The Jews of India" is funny: "Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it is customary to visit friends and family, and to exchange halwa and puris." I love the differences among Jews. I'm sure creplach and matzo ball soup is foreign to those Jews.

Estimates put the current Jewish population in India at around 5,000. There are about 55,000 ethnic Indian Jews in Israel.