This edited volume containing thirty-five chapters focuses on three main contemporary issues: the phenomenon of "new Indians" in the past five decades, the impact of rising India on settled Indian communities, and the recent migrants. By examining these interrelated aspects, this study seeks to address questions like: what does "Rising India" mean to Indian communities in East Asia? How are members of Indian communities responding to India's rise? Will India pay greater attention to people of ...

In Indian Communities in Southeast Asia thirty-one scholars provide an analytical commentary on the contemporary position of ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia. The book is the outcome of a ten-year project undertaken by the editors at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. It is multi-disciplinary in focus and multi-faceted in approach, providing a comprehensive account of the way people originating from the Indian subcontinent have integrated themselves in the various Southeast Asian countires. The study provides insights into understanding how Indians, an intra-ethnically diverse immigrant group, have intermingled in Southeast Asia, a region that itself is ethnically diverse.

This book is a macro-study of Indian business communities in Singapore through different phases of their growth since colonial times. It goes beyond the conventional labour-history approach to study Indian immigrants to Southeast Asia, both in terms of themselves and their connections with the peoples' movements. It looks at how Indian business communities negotiated with others in the environments in which they found themselves and adapted to them in novel ways. It especially brings into focus the patterns and integration of the Indian networks in the large-scale transnational flows of capital, one of the least-studied aspects of the diaspora history in this part of the world.

In 1938, noting that the bulk of the Indian population formed a "e;landless proletariat"e; and despairing of the ability of the factionalized Indian community to unite in pursuit of common objectives, activist K.A. Neelakanda Ayer forecast that the fate of Indians in Malaya would be to become "e;Tragic orphans"e; of whom India has forgotten and Malaya looks down upon with contempt"e;. Ayer's words continue to resonate; as a minority group in a nation dominated politically by colonially derived narratives of "e;race"e; and ethnicity and riven by the imperatives of religion, the general trajectory of the economically and politically impotent Indian community has been one of increasing irrelevance. This book explores the history of the modern Indian presence in Malaysia, and traces the vital role played by the Indian community in the construction of contemporary Malaysia. In this comprehensive new study, Carl Vadivella Belle offers fresh insights on the Indian experience spanning the period from the colonial recruitment of Indian labour to the post-Merdeka political, economic and social marginalization of Indians. While recent Indian challenges to the political status quo - a regime described as that of "e;benign neglect"e; - promoted Indian hopes of reform, change and uplift, the author concludes that the dictates of political discourse permeated by the ideologies of communalism offer limited prospects for meaningful change.

This book provides valuable insight on the history of India from ancient times to 1600 CE for Indians and non-Indians, and for the Indian Diaspora, which is estimated to be over 25 million, spreading across no less than 110 countries. The chapters cover many important aspects of history, from the ancient urban culture of the Indus Valley Civilization; Vedic Age's lasting legacy, Hinduism associated with the two great epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata; and the founding of Buddhism and Jainism; to the Muslim conquests and the resultant Indo-Islamic and Mughal heritage. Indian influence travelled beyond its shores to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. The Angkor Wat, Borobudur and Prambanan temples reflect the cultural impact of the early Indian Diaspora. The famous Chinese monk Xuanzang who journeyed to Nalanda to study at that great University wrote extensively about India. This book will kindle interest in research on tracing the origins of the Indian Diaspora and the ancient ties that linked India to the rest of the world.

Traces the story of India's expansion that is woven into the culture of Southeast Asia.

Contributed articles on the Indic influence on the culture of Southeast Asia.