Malaysian Indian

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Indian Malaysian
Total population

c. 2,153,600 [citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia, Singapore
Languages
Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi, Malay
Religions
Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Indian Singaporean

The Indian Malaysians are a group of Malaysians largely descended from those who migrated from southern India during the British colonization of Malaya. Prior to British colonization, Tamils had been conspicuous in the archipelago much earlier, especially since the period of the powerful South India kingdom of the Cholas in the 11th century. By that time, Tamils were among the most important trading peoples of maritime Asia.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Chola territories during Rajendra Chola I, c. 1030
Chola territories during Rajendra Chola I, c. 1030

There is evidence of the existence of Indianized kingdoms such as Gangga Negara, Old Kedah, Srivijaya since approximately 1500 years ago. Early contact between the kingdoms of Tamilakkam and the Malay peninsula had been very close during the regimes of the Pallava Kings (from the 4th to the 9th Century C.E.) and Chola kings (from the 9th to the 13th Century C.E.). The trade relations the Tamil merchants had with the ports of Malaya led to the emergence of Indianized kingdoms like Kadaram (Old Kedah) and Langkasugam.[2] Furthermore, Chola king Rajendra Chola I sent an expedition to Kadaram (Sri Vijaya) during the 11th century conquering that country on behalf of one of its rulers who sought his protection and to have established him on the throne. The Cholas had a powerful merchant and naval fleet in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Three kinds of craft are distinguished by the author of the Periplus – light coasting boats for local traffic, larger vessels of a more complicated structure and greater carrying capacity, and lastly the big ocean-going vessels that made the voyages to Malaya, Sumatra, and the Ganges.[3]

[edit] Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions

Main article: Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions in Malaysia

A good number of Tamil inscriptions as well as Hindu and Buddhist icons emanating from South India have been found in Southeast Asia (and even in parts of south China). On the Malay Peninsula, inscriptions have been found at Takuapa, not far from the Vishnuite statues of Khao Phra Narai in Southern Thailand. It is a short inscription indicating that an artificial lake named Avani-naranam was dug by nangur-Udaiyan which is the name of an individual who possessed a military fief at Nangur, being famous for his abilities as a warrior, and that the lake was placed under the protection of the members of the Manikkiramam (which according to K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, was a merchant guild) living in the military camp.[4]

An inscription dated 779 A.D. has been found in Ligor, Malaya peninsula. This refers to the trade relationship between the Tamil country and Malaya.[5] In ancient Kedah there is an inscription found by Dr. Quaritch Wales. It is and inscribed stone bar, rectangular in shape, bears the ye-dharmma formula in South Indian characters of the fourth century A.D., thus proclaiming the Budhist character of the shrine near the find-spot (site I) of which only the basement survives. The inscriptions are on three faces in Pallava script, or Vatteluttu rounded writing of the sixth century A.D.[6] In another area in Kedah there was another inscription found in Sanskrit dated 1086 A.D. has been found. This was left by Kulothunka Chola I (of the Chola empire, Tamil country). This too shows the commercial contacts the Chola Empire had with Malaya.[5]

All these inscriptions, both Tamil and Sanskrit ones, relate to the activities of the people and rulers of the Tamil country of South India. The Tamil inscriptions are at least 4 centuries posterior to the Sanskrit inscriptions, from which the early Tamils themselves were patronizers of the Sanskrit language.[5]

[edit] Large scale Indian immigrants into Malaya

British acquisition of Penang, Melaka and Singapore - the Straits Settlements from 1786 to 1824 started a steady inflow of Indian labourers, traders, sepoys and convicts engaged in construction, commercial agriculture, defence and commerce. But large scale migration of Indians from the subcontinent to Malaysia followed the extension of British formal rule to the West coast Malay states from the 1870s onwards as British brought the Indians as workers to work in the rubber plantations. The Indian population in pre-independent Malaya and Singapore was predominantly adult males who were single with family back in India and Sri Lanka. Hence the population fluctuated frequently with the immigration and exodus of people. As early as 1901 the Indian population in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States was approximately 120,000. By 1931 there were 640,000 Indians in Malaya and Singapore and interestingly they even outnumbered the native Malays in the state of Selangor that year. The population was virtually stagnant until 1947 due to many leaving for Burma during the Japanese occupation as recruits for the Indian National Army and "Indentured Japanese labors" for the Death Railway.' At the time of Independence in 1957 it stood at a little over 820,000. In this last year Indians accounted for approximately 8 to 12 per cent of the total population of Malaysia (in the range 1.8 to 2.5 million) and 8 per cent in Singapore (250,000). There has also been a significant influx of Indian nationals into Singapore and Malaysia in recent years to work in construction, engineering, restaurants, IT and finance with many taking up permanent residence in Singapore where they account for nearly a quarter of the Indian population.

[edit] Tamil migration

The overwhelming majority of migrants from India were ethnic Tamil from Tamil Nadu state. In 1947 they represented approximately 77 per cent of the total Indian population in Malaya and Singapore. Other South Indians, mainly Malayalees and Telegus, formed a further 14 per cent in 1947, and the remainder of the Indian community was accounted for by North Indians, principally Punjabis, Bengalis, Gujaratis, and Sindhis.[7]

[edit] Occupational divisions

The British cleverly used the ethnic divisions to divide and rule the Indians. For example the Tamils were predominantly estate workers, the majority being employed on rubber estates, though a significant minority worked in Government public works departments. The Telegus were also mainly workers on the estates, whilst the Malayalee community was divided into those who occupied relatively more skilled laboring positions on the estates and those who were white collar workers or professionals. The North Indians, with the exception of the Sikhs, were mainly merchants and businessmen. For example, the Gujaratis and Sindhis owned some of the most important textile firms in Malaya and Singapore. The Sikhs were either in the police or employed as watchmen.

[edit] Other ethnic Tamil groups

There were, in addition, three further ethnic Tamil and religious groups whose political and economic importance in Malayasia far exceeded their numerical strength. Two were important business communities the Tamil Chettiars, a mercantile and money lending caste from Tamil Nadu, and the South Indian Muslims namely Moplahs from Kerala and Marakkayar from Tamil Nadu who were mainly wholesalers. The third group were the Sri Lankan Tamils also known locally as Ceylonese Tamils who were employed principally in the Civil Service and in the professions.

[edit] Geographic distribution

The close correspondence between the ethnic and occupational divisions of the South Asian community was inevitably reflected in the community's geographical distribution in Malaya. The South Indian Tamils were concentrated mainly in Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan, on the rubber estates and railways, though a significant proportion found employment on the docks in Penang and Singapore. The Telugus were mainly on the rubber estates of Lower Perak and parts of Selangor, while the Malayalees were located predominantly in Lower Perak, Kuala Lumpur, parts of Negri Sembilan, and Johore Bahru. The business communities, the Gujaratis, Sindhis, Chettiars, and Tamil Muslims, were concentrated in the urban areas, principally Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh, and Singapore. The Ceylon Tamils were also mainly an urban community, though some were found in rural areas working as staff on the estates.

[edit] Religions and Faiths

In Malaysia are a number of religions and faiths practiced by a majority of Malaysians such as Islam primarily amongst the Malays, Buddhism amongst the Chinese, Hinduism amongst the Indians, and Christianity amongst the Chinese and Indians. In the Indian communities which compose of Tamils, Malayalees, Punjabis, Gujuratis, and Sindhis reside a number of faiths.

From Chinese sources, both Hinduism and Buddhism has been in existence in the Malay Peninsula dating from the second century A.D. Indianized kingdoms such as Kadaram (Old Kedah), and Ilangosagam (Langkasuka) have practiced Hinduism and Buddhism during the rule of the Malay-Sri Vijaya and Tamil-Chola kingdoms.[8] Islam found its way to the Malayan Peninsula as well as the Archipelago of Indonesia not from Arabia, but from southern India, specifically, Tamil Country.[5] The early Tamils married into leading Indonesian families and brought Hindu ideas of kingship, just as more than a thousand years later the Muslim Tamils married into the families of the Sultans and Bendaharas of Malacca.

Trade contacts between the Tamils and Arabs & between the Tamils and East Indies antedate the Islamic period (circa 570-632 A.D.), or the birth of Islam. Indonesians and Malays came to know about Islam through the Muslim merchants of India and not through Arab missionaries. Furthermore Islam had reached South India, particularly Tamil country in the 8th century A.D., while the state of Gujurat received Islam during the early 14th century, as a result of the invasion of the Delhi sultanate. Muslim traders of the Coromandel Coast are said to have been even politically influential in historical Malaya.[5] In 1445 A.D. Tamil Muslim traders staged a coup at Malacca, installing a sultan of their choice.[9] During the coming of Islam to Malaysia was the early decline of Hinduism and Buddhism.

The practice of Hinduism began to rise during the second wave of people from the Indian subcontinent during British rule. Hinduism is the most practiced religion amongst the Tamils comprising of the both the major Hindu and Tamil pantheon of deities. Both Tamils of Indian and Sri Lankan backgrounds practice Hinduism. Amongst the North Indians are the Gujarati, Sindhi, Bengali, and Punjabi Hindus.

Christianity is prevalent amongst the Tamil people in many denominations. Christianity has been in Tamilakkam or the Tamil country since the times of St. Thomas, an apostle of Christ. After him, came the Portuguese who introduced Catholicism, then the British who introduced the Protestant denominations. In Malaysia, most of the Christians are Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Brethren, and Catholic. Amongst the Malayalee community Catholicism is strong.

Islam is practiced amongst some of the Tamil people and Gujarati while Sikhism is practiced amongst the Punjabi.

[edit] Festivals

One of the biggest South Indian festivals in Malaysia is Thaipusam. Thaipusam religious festival dedicated to the Tamil deity Murugan which occurs on the day in the Tamil month of Thai (January-February) when the asterism Poosam is on the ascendant. A popular festival in Tamil Nadu and Northeastern Sri Lanka, its celebration is recorded by immigrant laboreres from the earliest dates. It is now celebrated in grand style in the temples of Singapore, Penang, and Kuala Lumpur for three days.

In Kuala Lumpur, Thaipusam has become an almost national seat for Poosam celebrations. The venue of the Kuala Lumpur celebrations is a picturesque shrine right inside a cave that lies many feet above the ground, and can only be approached by a steep climb. This place, known as Batu Caves, is about eight miles from the city, and a chariot procession carrying the image of the deity to and form the place adds to the color and gaiety of the festival. Crowds from all over the country throng to the cave, including people of all classes and groups. It is above all a day of penance, on which all kinds of ows are fulfilled.

Thus one can see various forms of self-mortification that are common in Tamil Nadu and Northeastern Sri Lanka.[8]

One of the most significant rites performed is the carrying of the kavadi, a large wooden decorated arch, as an act of penance. When deities were taken on procession from one shrine to another, they would be followed b a number of these voluntary kavadi-bearers. In other towns and estates, kavadis would be taken fr other festivals like Chittirai Paruvam. As back in the Tamil country, some of the more rigid practitioners would bear spikes, spears, and hooks pierced into their bodies. The Chittirai Paruvam festival and festivals to the Tamil deity Mariamman are usually accompanied by a fire-walking ceremony.[8]

Deepavali is another very popular Indian festival of lights. It has the advantage of being an all-Indian festival, and hence truly national to Indians in Malaya. In keeping with this, both in Malaysia and Singapore this day has been a public holiday for a long time. Thai Pongal is a festival of the Tamils occurring on the first day of the month of Thai. In Tamil Nadu and Northeastern Sri Lanka it is celebrated as a harvest festival when the first grains are gathered and brought in for the ceremony.[8] Tamil New Year is also another festival which falls on April 13 and 14th.

Of the remaining 9% of the Indian population which comprise of Punjabis, Gujuratis, Bengalis and Sindhis, the festival of Vaisakhi is celebrated as the Sikh New Year in reverence of Guru Nanak and of Guru Gobind Singh. Festivals of the Christian faith practiced by the Indian communities are Easter, All Souls Day, and Christmas. In the Islamic faith, Ramadan is practiced by the Indian Muslims.

[edit] Tamil place names

Main article: Tamil Place Names in Malaysia

The very name Malaya is a comination of two Tamil words, Malay or Malai (hill) and ur (town) meaning hilltown” (Malaiyur). According to Dr. Thriunavukkarasu the word Malaysia means the Mountains of Asia. There is also another hill-town in Sumatra which had been given the same name Malai-Yur which later became Malayu. Till the time of I-Tsing (671 A.D.), this was known as Jambi.[5]

There are many places in Malaysia with Tamil names. In the northern part of Malaysia there is a place called Pattani which means a pea (pisum sativum) in [[Tamil language|Tamil}}.[5] Manigramam is another place in Malaysia which is also mentioned as a trading center in a Tamil inscription off the Malabar Coast of Southern India.[10] Another place in Malaysia is Tondi. In ancient Tamilakkam there are two places called Tondi, one in the Pandya country in Tamil Nadu and the other in Chera country of Kerala. This place is also mentioned in the ancient Tamil epic called Silappadikaram.[5]

The ancient cities of Kadaram (Old Kedah) and Takkolam (Takuapa) in northern Malaysia were once under Chola rule during the times of Rajendra Cholan I. of the early 11th century A.D. These two are also mentioned in the Chola inscriptions of Tanjore, Tamil Nadu.[5] Other areas in Malaysia with Tamil names are Mayirudinggam, Mappappalam, Mewilimbanggam, and Madamalingam which were under the rule of Sri Vijaya and the Cholas during different time periods.[5][11] The most recent town in Malaysia which bears resemblance to one of the Tamil kingdoms of ancient Tamilakkam is Cheras. Cheras is a suburb located in both Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

[edit] Tamil words in Malay

A very essential cultural element needed to carry out commercial transactions is a common language understood by all parties involved in early trade. Historians such as J.V. Sebastian, K.T. Thirunavukkarasu, and A.W. Hamilton record that Tamil was the common language of commerce in Malaysia and Indonesia during historical times.[5] The maritime Tamil significance in Sumatran and Malay Peninsula trading continued for centuries and borrowings into Malay from Tamil increased between the 15th and 19th centuries due to their commercial activities. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company was obliged to use Tamil as part of its correspondence. In Malacca and other seaports up to the 19th century, Malay terminology pertaining to book-keeping and accountancy was still largely Tamil.[1]

Borrowings from Tamil include such everyday words as:.[5]

Tamil Malay English
akka kakak elder sister
kadai kedai shop
kappal kapal ship
katikam ketika minute
muthu mutiara pearl
nagaram negara city
purva purba ancient
raja raja king
suniyam sunyi empty/silence
tali tali string
udayam udaya rise
vakai bagai kind

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Sneddon, James (2003). The Indonesian Language: Its history and role in modern society. Sydney: University of South Wales Press Ltd, p. 73. 
  2. ^ International Tamil Language Foundation (2000). The Handbook of Tamil Culture and Heritage. Chicago: International Tamil Language Foundation, p. 877. 
  3. ^ Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta [1935] (2000). Cholas, fifth printing, Chennai: University of Madras, pp. 86 & 318. 
  4. ^ Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta (1949). "Takuapa and its Tamil Inscription Part I.". Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 22. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Arokiaswamy, Celine W.M. (2000). Tamil Influences in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, pp. 37, 38, 41, 43, 45-49, 51-57. 
  6. ^ Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta (1949). South Indian Influences in the Far East. Bombay: Hind Kitabs Ltd., p. 82 & 84. 
  7. ^ Ampalavanar, Rajeswary (1981). Indian The Indian Minority & Political Change in Malaya 1945-1957. London: Oxford University Press. 
  8. ^ a b c d Arasaratnam, Sinnappah (1970). Indians in Malaysia and Singapore. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 4, 168, 169, 170, 171, & 175. 
  9. ^ Kulke, Hermann & Rothermund Dietmar (1986). A History of India. New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books. 
  10. ^ Hultzach, E. (1913). "Note on a Tamil Inscription in Siam". Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Journal Vols. 1 & 2. 
  11. ^ Coedes, Georges (1968). Indianized States of Southeast Asia. Honolulu: East-West Center. 

other Tamil words in malay

mugam=muka=face abayam=bahaya=danger dirgayusu=dirgahayu=long live kidangkam=gudang=big store rooms (near the prot) swami= suami

[edit] See also

[edit] External links and source

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