Thai Indians
Indian diaspora dressed in sari dancing at Dipavali Bangkok 2022
Total population
Indian nationals
65,000
People of Indian descent
465,000
Regions with significant populations
Bangkok · Pattaya · Chiang Mai · Phuket
Languages
Thai · Tamil · Malayalam • English · Gujarati · Urdu · Punjabi
Religion
Hinduism · Christianity · Buddhism · Sikhism · Islam
Related ethnic groups
People of Indian Origin

Thai Indians are Thai people with full or partial Indian ancestry. [1] But these ancestral ties are usually left out of statistics. About 65,000 Indian Thais have full Thai citizenship, but around 400,000 persons of Indian origin settled in Thailand mainly in the urban cities.

History

Since ancient time, there have been various exchanges between the India and Thailand. India was known as Jambudvipa and South East Asia was known as Suwannabhumi.[2]

Indo Thai trade relations go back to 500 BCE at least where evidence indicates presence of trade relations with north India (Etched carnelian beads) and south India (Indo -Pacific beads).[3][4]

Buddhism and Hinduism originally arrived in Thailand from India and spread over the centuries. King Asoka sent monks from India to countries overseas to sperad Buddhism, and the first major site was established at the city of Pataliputra in 218 BE. It was also heavily influenced by Theravada Buddhism by contact with Sri Lanka.[5]

During the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods, evidence of the presence of sizable number of Indians in the Thai court is described by a number of western travelers. However most of the contemporary Indians came to Thailand after 1920, and during the first half of the 19th century.[6]

The Mariamman Temple, Bangkok is the first modern temple built in the South Indian architectural style. It was built in 1879 by Vaithi Padayatchi, a Tamil Hindu immigrant.[7][8][9]

British East India Company

Modern Indian communities have been around since the 1860s of the British Raj era. Most of the Indians arrived in the last century, notably from Tamil Nadu and other areas of Southern India. Some others came from Northern India such as Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and some from Gujarat.

Some Thai Muslims, especially in the Southern part of Thailand, have Indian ancestry.

The historical number of the Indian population in Thailand can be seen in British consular statistics; however, these figures often lumped Indians together with Sinhalese and Malays. According to 1912 statistics, there were 30 Indians registered in the Chiengmai (Chiang Mai) consular district, 41 Indians and Malays in the Puket (Phuket) consular district, 40 Indians and Malays in the Senggora (Songkhla) consular district, and 423 Indians, Sinhalese, and Malays in the Bangkok consular district. These figures were also believed to be a gross undercount of the true population; for example, the Bangkok consular district had registered only 517 British subjects, but other estimates claimed the number was 20 times higher.[10]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kutanan, Wibhu; Kampuansai, Jatupol; Brunelli, Andrea; Ghirotto, Silvia; Pittayaporn, Pittayawat; Ruangchai, Sukhum; Schröder, Roland; Macholdt, Enrico; Srikummool, Metawee; Kangwanpong, Daoroong; Hübner, Alexander (June 2018). "New insights from Thailand into the maternal genetic history of Mainland Southeast Asia". European Journal of Human Genetics. 26 (6): 898–911. doi:10.1038/s41431-018-0113-7. ISSN 1476-5438. PMC 5974021. PMID 29483671.
  2. ↑ Srichampa, Sophana (2015). "Indians in Thailand: Dynamics of Moving Thai Society to ASEAN Community and Asia" (PDF). Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts. Centre for Bharat Studies, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. 15 (3): 121–150 – via Thai Science.
  3. ↑ Solheim, Wilhelm G.; FRANCIS, PETER (2003). "Review of ASIA'S MARITIME BEAD TRADE, 300 B.C. TO THE PRESENT, PETER FRANCIS, JR". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 76 (2 (285)): 129–132. ISSN 0126-7353. JSTOR 41493507.
  4. ↑ Bellina, Bérénice (Jan 2001). "Alkaline Etched Beads East of India in the Late Prehistoric and early historic periods". Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. 88: 191–205. doi:10.3406/befeo.2001.3513.
  5. ↑ "The Buddhist Society". www.thebuddhistsociety.org. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
  6. ↑ "INDIAN COMMUNITY IN THAILAND". Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  7. ↑ Sandhu & Mani 2006, p. 978.
  8. ↑ Kesavapany, Mani & Ramasamy 2008, p. 673.
  9. ↑ Manguin, Mani & Wade 2011, p. 475.
  10. ↑ Bangkok and Siam, directory, Straits Settlements and Siam: Bangkok Times Press, 1914, p. 199

Sources


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