Manuscript – Three Compositions, on Holy Names and More – Kabbalistic Diagrams – Cochin (India), 1871

Manuscript – Three Compositions, on Holy Names and More – Kabbalistic Diagrams – Cochin (India), 1871
Manuscript, three compositions by R. Levi son of Shem Tov Hallegua. [Cochin, India, 1871].
Oriental script (unusual writing).
Three compositions, apparently esoteric works, not adequately defined. The first composition contains grouped lists of words; the second consists of Kabbalistic diagrams, with combinations of Holy Names and verses; and the third is comprised of Holy Names derived from the initial and final letter of words, from passages of the Bible, arranged in the order of the books Yehoshua-Melachim.
The writer, R. "Levi son of Shem Tov Hallegua", signed his name three times in this manuscript, at the start of the first and third composition, and in the colophon of the third composition. In all three instances, he writes in a mysterious and cryptic way, and mentions the year 1871.
The second composition consists of diagrams with combinations of Holy Names. The diagrams occupy the center of each page, with lists and combinationsof various verses on both sides.
The third composition is followed by a page with two sections pertaining to enlarged and minimized letters in the Bible. The end of the manuscript is lacking.
The writer, R. Levi son of Shem Tov Hallegua, from the Hallegua family, a prominent family of the Paradesi community (the White Jews – descendants of immigrants to India) in Cochin. Two manuscripts are known to have been copied by him in Cochin, one of them in 1876 (see: Sassoon, Ohel David, pp. 260-261).
[41] leaves. 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Stains. [1] leaf from the middle composition and [3] last leaves detached, with tears affecting text. Some leaves partially detached. Ink-smudges to some leaves. Without binding.