Indian influence in Southeast Asia dates back to classical antiquity, with ancient and continual trade relations existing between the various kingdoms of India and the polities of Southeast Asia. As early as the 2nd and 3rd century AD, Tamil epics and Buddhist works already referred to Indian traders travelling to Suvarnabhumi, or the Land of Gold, which, like Ptolemy's Chersonesus Aurea ("the Golden Chersonese") — coined, incidentally, in the same era — referred to the Malay Peninsula and its legendary riches.
As a result of trade, the kingdoms and empires of both continental and maritime Southeast Asia were Hindu-Buddhist in nature from as early as 200 BC to 1500 AD, with much of continental Southeast Asia today — Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia — continuing to be Hindu-Buddhist states of an Indian variety (as opposed to Sinified Vietnam).
In fact, up until post World War Il, the entire Southeast Asian region was referred to as either Further or Greater India, or the East Indies. The great Hindu epic, the Ramayana, is still venerated and performed today across continental Southeast Asia and in Java and Bali under the guise of various names such as the Ramakien or the Yama Zatdaw.
Very little specific archaeological and documentary evidence exists of early trade and exchange between India and Southeast Asia, though certainly by the 15th century, the port city of Malacca counted amongst its many traders and merchants, those from Gujarat, the Coromandel and Malabar Coasts and Bengal. In fact, it is believed that Gujarati merchants, who were Sufi Muslim, had been partly responsible for bringing Islam to Malacca and the Malay Archipelago. Around the same time, early communities of Tamil traders began settling in Malacca, intermarrying with local Malays and Chinese, thereby evolving a hybrid Chitty Melaka identity — the Indian equivalent of the Baba-Nyonya.
Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon Road built in 1855
The Indian communities in Singapore arrived in a wave of migrations from the early 1800s, in particular because both India and Malaya (including Singapore) were under British colonial rule. Many Indians came initially as civil servants, as lascars and sepoys stationed in the Peninsula, or as convicts serving out their time. A proportion of Indians arriving in these shores were merchants, traders and moneylenders.
Like the Malay and Chinese communities, the Indian community was ethnically diverse. Most of the Indians who emigrated to Singapore were from the South and Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). The largest proportion was of Tamil descent. Even then, this sub-community was split into Tamil Hindus from Madras (Chennai), Pondicherry (Puducherry) and the Coromandel Coast (today's Tamil Nadu), whom the British administrators called klings; Tamil Muslims from the same region, whom the British called chulias; and Ceylonese or Jaffna Tamils from today's Sri Lanka.
The second largest community were the Malayalees from Kerala, who arrived by way of historic port cities such as Cochin (Kochi) and Calicut, which had been Portuguese, and then Dutch up until the British took over in 1795. The Punjabis, towering, statuesque people from the region of Punjab in the Northwest were another significant community. Many of them were Sikh, the men typically bearded, tall and strong, and sporting distinctive turbans.
The rest of the Indian community comprised a melting pot of ethnicities from central and north India, including Gujaratis, Sindhis, Sinhalese from Ceylon, Bengalis, Goans, Parsis, Telanganis, and Hindustanis from the North. All in all, the Singaporean Indian community spoke some dozen different languages, and also practised a range of different religions from Hinduism to Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism.
Ethnicity also had something to do with employment in the Indian community. Ceylonese Tamils and Malayalees tended to be highly literate and English-educated, and thus came to take on jobs as civil servants and writers. Gujaratis, Sindhis, Parsis and Tamil Muslims, with their long heritage of trade and historic trading networks, tended to be merchants. Sikhs were employed as policemen and doormen (the doorman of Raffles Hotel being an iconic example). Chettiars — Tamil Hindus from the Chettinaad area of the Coromandel Coast — came to be moneylenders.
The Indian community was originally settled to the north of South Bridge Road, at "Kampong Chulia", designated as such in Raffles' Town Plan. Two of the Indian community's most important places of worship continue to sit here along South Bridge Road.
Race course off Race Course Road in 1900. In 1933 the race course was relocated to Bukit Timah Road.
The first is Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, founded in 1823 , and built in 1843 by skilled craftsmen from India and China. It is dedicated to the worship of Sri Mariamman, a Hindu rain goddess unique to the Tamils and regarded as the goddess of the harvest, of fertility and of medicine. The temple is built in the traditional Dravidian style of Tamil Nadu, with its imposing gopuram or entrance tower depicting Hindu deities and beasts. The same basic form can be found in Hindu temples in the city of Chennai today; and temples such as this may be found in other port cities in Southeast Asia where the Tamils settled, including Penang, Yangon, Bangkok and Saigon.
Sri Mariamman Temple (left) on South Bridge Road late 1800s.
Just down the street from Sri Mariamman Temple sits the Jamae Chulia Mosque, which catered to the religious needs of Tamil Muslims from the Coromandel Coast. Built in 1835, the mosque is an early example of the Eclectic style, with a primarily Indo-Saracenic form combining elements of Neoclassicism as well as adaptation for the tropical climate. Like Sri Mariamman Temple, the mosque's most imposing feature is its entrance, featuring a pair of seven-tiered octagonal minarets capped with onion-shaped domes. Above the doorway is a miniature Mughal Palace complete with doors and windows. Inside the mosque compound, one finds Tuscan columns and pilasters, alongside Chinese green-glazed tiles, all of which is set within a configuration of large verandas and windows that are architectural adaptations suited to the tropical weather.
Both temple and mosque were gazetted as National Monuments in 1973 and 1974 respectively, and continue to be lively, living places of worship for the local Indian community. A general visit on weekends and during the festival season finds them bustling with devotees and pilgrims.
From the mid 1800s, as the Kampong Chulia area quickly became overcrowded, later Indian immigrants began moving eastwards into the Serangoon area, what would later be known as "Little India".
From a semi-rural accumulation of dairy and cattle farms, Little India evolved to become the cultural and commercial heart of the local Indian community by the late 1800s, playing host to temples, bazaars and major Hindu festivals. It continues to play this role today, with the largest concentration of Indian businesses in Singapore — and throngs of Indian residents and visitors alike — concentrated inside a roughly rectangular area bounded by Race Course Road, Bukit Timah and Sungei Roads, Jalan Besar and Lavender Street.
The heart of Little India is Serangoon Road itself, which takes one all the way from the historic shophouse district around Campbell Street and Dunlop Street to the 24-hour hyper-supermarket that is Mustafa's — a national institution in its own right. The Indian Heritage Centre, located at the junction of Campbell Street and Clive Street presents a comprehensive history of the community, and the richness of its cultural heritage.
Text source: Singapore 1819: A living legacy by Kennie Ting
Serangoon Road
Serangoon was known by many names in the past. It was shown as Rangung or Rangon in early maps. It was changed to Rangong in 1830, Sarangon in 1843, Sirangoon in 1844 and Sirangoon in 1845. In a press report in 1848, Sirangoon was the name of the river. From the Malay language perspective, ranggong is heron. Sarangong (or serangoon) means a heron. Other explanations for this road name are firstly, from the Malay phrase of Serang degan gung meaning beating the drum to scare (animals). Secondly, it was derived from Sri-Rengam, a place in India.
Serangoon Road started as a bridle path in 1821 and was a new road in 1839. It was one of the first country roads and was said to be named after the creek and district of Rangung, now known as Serangoon. In any case, Upper Serangoon Road still runs along Sungei Serangoon.
Source: What's in the Name? by Yew Peng Ng, pg. 386
March 2021
March 2021
March 2021
March 2021 Junction Serangoon Road and Kerbau Road
July 2016 Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple
February 2020 Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple
November 2016 Serangoon Road
March 2021 Jalan Besar
I am documenting Little India based on the Parliament electoral division of 1972:
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