Indian Community in Thailand – Historical Perspective

Ever since around 2500 years ago when Emperor Ashoka sent Bhikkhus to Suvarnabhumi, a large number of Indian priests, traders and common people have found welcome in Thailand through the ages. Brahmins are still to be found conducting religious practices.

Evidence of the presence of a sizable number of Indians during the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods has been described by a number of western travelers to the Thai courts. Most of the contemporary Indians came to Thailand after 1920, with certain groups tracing their arrival to the first half of the 19th century. The migration and settlement of Indians in Thailand varied according to the different linguistic groups within them. Punjabis, Sindhis, Parsees, Gujarati Sunnis, Dawoodi Bohras, Tamils, Pathans and Bengalis all have different migrational history. Most Indians came of their own free will and very few came to work in labour-intensive occupations. The great majority engaged in commerce.

The Pahurat district, a large fabric market, is Bangkok’s Little India (adjacent to Chinatown), a center of the Indian commercial community, mostly Sikh. The Dawoodi Bohra Muslims and Tamil Hindus are examples where inter-ethnic marriages among the early migrants have led to the indigenization of their institutions. Hindu-Thai-Sino syncretism of religion is highly visible in the daily administration of the Mariamman Temple.

The Indian community also played a significant role in the freedom struggle of India by setting up a unit of Netaji’s Indian National Army and contributing volunteers to it. The community also hosted Netaji himself for a short period in Thailand.

The Kanchanaburi Memorial at the War Cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records the names of 11 Indian soldiers who laboured in the construction of the railway and fell during the World War II. A large number of conscripted Indian labourers are also understood to have been made to work on the railway.