Malaya’s Ceylonese Connection
6 min read
The relationship between Malaya and Ceylon was established long before East India Company days through trade in spices, tin, elephants and peacocks.When exact...
The Many Shades of Deepavali, the Festival of Lights
5 min read
NOT MANY OUTSIDE the ethnic group is aware of the heterogeneity of Indian communities in Penang. The truth is, the different Indian communities here weave a ric...
Indian Socio-cultural Influences in Penang: Both Rich and Prevalent
6 min read
Tea kadai at Little India back in the day.PENANG WAS A colonial port on the margins of the East India Company’s sphere of influence, and a magnet fo...
The Forgotten Travails of Indentured Indian Women in Malaya
5 min read
Women coolies drying rubber. Photo: Arabis.orgTHE MIGRATION OF indentured labourers from India to Malaya – via the kangani or independent hiring sys...
The Elaborate Meaning of the Indian Marriage Necklace
7 min read
JEWELLERY CAN mean many things, all the more so if placed in their traditional contexts.In the Indian tradition, the Rig Veda, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and...
The Deep Legacy of Indian Immigration to the Malay Peninsula
7 min read
The ties between India and Malaya go back millennia. Silappadikaram, 1 a second-century Tamil epic, highlighted that Tamil merchants were operating from a Mal...
The Many Names and Traditions of the Hindu New Year
5 min read
HINDUISM AS A religion is interwoven with the practice of Indian astrology and the use of the lunisolar calendar, for prayers, marriages and christenings to be...
The Sikhs and Their Fighting Spirit
5 min read
THE ARULMIGU SRI MAHAMARIAMMAN Temple, along Queen Street in George Town, apparently used to house two statues of Sikhs on their gopuram, the ornate entrance to...
Ramli Ibrahim: The Doyen of Odissi
7 min read
“DID YOU KNOW that Rukmini Devi would actually try to catch a glimpse of me cycling to Adyar K. Lakshman’s class from her car?” I was green with envy at the tho...