Essential History of Chitty Melaka Peranakan Indian

"Chitty is 3-in-1. Basically we are Indian, but we have embraced the Chinese, and the Malay culture. The multiracialism is in us."

Baba Ponnosamy Kalastree, President of the Peranakan Indian (Chitty Melaka) Association Singapore

Origins.

Indian traders have sailed from south India to the Malay archipelago from at least as far back as the first century AD. They influenced the set up of kingdoms with Indian characteristics in the Malay archipelago and also in mainland Southeast Asia. Since then, south Indian traders found trading opportunities in the Indianised kingdoms and empires of the Malay archipelago and Southeast Asia.

Fast forward over a thousand years to 1402. That year, king Parameswara from the trading kingdom of Singapura founded the kingdom of Malacca.

Parameswara and his followers had just escaped with their lives from the sacking of Singapura by the mighty Majapahit empire from Java (in today's Indonesia). Parameswara's new trading kingdom of Malacca quickly prospered. Traders from south India naturally gravitated to the opportunities Malacca provided.

But, those were the days of wind and sail. The treacherous journey from India to Malacca was dependent on the Monsoons. So, Indian traders making the round trip between India and Malacca had to wait around six months for the wind to change to take them home.

The Indian traders travelled without their women. The journey was dangerous and it was also not the custom. While in Malacca, mingling with locals, some Indian traders took on Malay wives.

Their offsprings are Peranakan Indians which means "local born" Indians. These are the ancestors of today's Peranakan Indian community mostly residing in Melaka and Singapore, with a sprinkling around the world.

Peranakan Indians are also called Chitty Melaka, Chitty meaning "trader".

Chitty Melaka came as Hindus and remained so to this day. They remained Hindu despite Parameswara (who was Hindu / Buddhist) converting to Islam during his reign (renaming himself Sultan Iskandar Shah) and also the succession of Portuguese, Dutch and British colonials through the centuries from 1511 to 1963.

Working as a trader, father was often away from home. Matters at the home front were left to mother. Hence, Malay became the mother tongue of the offsprings and consequently of the community. But, it is a Malay patois with many Tamil loan words. Peranakan Indians do not speak Tamil.

Chitty Melaka cuisine have a very strong Malay imprint partly because Malay cuisine itself has south Indian roots.

Chitty Melaka also married Chinese Peranakan hence there are Chinese elements in Chitty Melaka culture such as burial of the deceased and the annual "naik bukit" or grave sweeping (adopted from the Chinese custom of Ching Ming). Mingling and intermarriage with Chinese also added Chinese dialect words into the Chitty Melaka Malay patois.

For example, the Chitty Melaka calls grandfather "topeh" which combines the Malay "to" with the Chinese "peh" words for father.

By the 17th century (1642 to be exact), the homeland of Chitty Melaka in Tamil Nadu (south India) came under the Muslim Mughal empire. Muslim trading fleets and networks replaced ancient Hindu connections. Without their traditional trading network, the position of Chitty Melaka as traders between India and Malacca became untenable.

Chitty Melaka traders first re-skilled to become goldsmiths and craftsmen. When this did not work out, they moved out of Melaka city to the countryside in Gajah Berang, Bacang and Tranquerah, and became farmers.

To this day, many of the Chitty Melaka community of Melaka still live in Kampung Chetti village in Gajah Berang. However, the population is shrinking as the young go beyond the state of Melaka for opportunities in Kuala Lumpur and even abroad to Singapore and beyond. In 2018, there are only 20 - 30 Chitty Melaka families still in Gajah Berang.

Malacca together with Singapore, Penang and Lumut became part of the British Straits Settlements following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Many Chitty Melaka joined the British civil service, leaving Malacca for their postings in Singapore, Penang and Dindings (today's Manjung).

In Singapore, Chitty Melaka initially settled around Little India at Serangoon Road. The street known as Chitty Road, probably had a concentration of Chitty Melaka homes and businesses during its heyday.

Now, Chitty Road is just flanked by an abandoned building on one side and a carpark on the other.

Today, Singapore'e Peranakan Indian community is sprinkled across the island and their numbers steadily declining. Marrying into the larger Malay and Indian communities, while many may have Chitty Melaka roots, fewer and fewer identify themselves as Peranakan Indian.

In 2018, there were only about 200 registered Chitty Melaka Peranakan Indians in Singapore. Though the community is small, some are prominent members of Singapore. Our former president, S.R. Nathan was a Peranakan Indian.

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