It’s quite common in this globalized world for people to settle far away from their traditional homelands. Yet it’s difficult to think of a community who have migrated to more places than the Tamils. There are Tamils from Norway to New Zealand, Sunnyvale to Seychelles, Montreal to Mauritius. A wide cross-section of Tamils, right from doctors to fishermen, have made a living in faraway lands.
A few different waves of Tamils migrated all over the world, for different reasons. There were indentured labourers taken by the British and the French to Malaya, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji and even Guadeloupe and Trinidad. There were merchants who made a fortune in South East Asia and China. There were government servants who emigrated to different parts of the British empire.
What started off as a trickle turned into a wave in the second half of the 20th century. Tens of thousands of engineers and doctors started migrating to western countries, particularly the USA. The IT boom has hastened the emigration of Tamils, and they constitute one of the largest communities in the Silicon Valley today.
But an unexpected and painful development in the 1980s turned the Tamil emigration into an exodus of Biblical proportions. The marginalization and disenfranchisement of Tamils in Sri Lanka reached such an unbearable extent that full-scale war erupted in 1983. Claiming ethnic cleansing by “the racist Sinhala state”, the Tamils convinced several western countries to grant them asylum. Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Australia are some of the countries where the Tamils have rebuilt their lives, with varying degrees of success.
We could discuss the Tamil diaspora by taking a chronological approach, or an analysis in terms of their different reasons for migration. But here, let me take a country-by-country approach, systematically from North America through Europe, Africa and Asia to Australasia.
Canada is one of the major destinations for Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. Tamils are particularly concentrated in the city of Toronto, where they number 250,000. It is common to find Tamil establishments in Toronto, particularly in the locality of Scarborough. The Canadian Tamil community produces thousands of doctors and engineers, and there is even an association of Tamil doctors in the province of Ontario. Tamils who have become popular figures in the Canadian national culture include writer Shyam Selvadurai, tennis player Sonya Jayaseelan and cricketer Sanjayan Thuraisingam.
The USA has always been a phenomenal magnet for talented professionals from Tamil Nadu. It’s very common to find references of the America maapillai (son-in-law) in Tamil movies! The Bay Area is often called a modern India, and the Tamils are one of the two most widely-represented Indian communities there (the other being the Telugus). The Tamil and Telugu talent in Silicon Valley has elicited a comment from Bill Gates that South Indians and Chinese are the most intelligent people in the world. Fremont in the Bay Area and Edison in New Jersey have arguably the highest concentrations of Tamils in the USA. There are over fifty Tamil associations in the country, as can be seen here.
There is quite a laundry list of Tamil individuals who have made it big in the USA: Economist C K Prahalad, Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, director M Night Shyamalan (half-Tamil), neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran, Google stalwarts Bharat Krishna and Ram Shriram, CNN’s Aneesh Raman, actor Sendhil Ramamurthy, film producer Ashok Amritraj, sociologist Arjun Appadurai and stand-up comedian Aziz Ansari.
The Caribbean Islands have a microscopic minority of Tamils, the descendants of indentured labourers brought by the British and French. Pondicherry Tamils were brought to the French colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Tamils under British rule came to Trinidad and Tobago.
A trip across the Atlantic brings us to the UK, another of the countries with a Tamil population. This population is mostly Sri Lankan in origin, but additionally supports Tamils from India, Singapore and South Africa. East Ham, the Asian locality of London, has a sizeable Tamil population, complete with a Saravana Bhavan and a Murugan temple. Croydon, Tooting and Wembley are other localities with a concentration of Tamils.
East Ham Murugan temple
The annual Vinayakar Chathurthi procession is a major event for London Tamils. Pongal is also celebrated, and there are even street lights during the festival in the borough of Newham. There are several Tamil Hindu temples in the city, which are focal points not just for devotion but also for culture. For instance, the Tamil classical dance bharatanatyam is taught there. Everywhere else in the Tamil world, there are special centres for teaching the dance, but the Tamils of London have always done it in the temples. Ann David has written an informative article on the London Tamil community’s dance practices here.
Prominent Tamils of the UK include BBC newscasters George Alagiah, James Coomarasamy, Keshini Navaratnam and Dharshini David. Firebrand journalist Gurumoorthy made his name in the UK. Paul Sathianesan serves as borough councillor of Newham. Budding chess player Murugan Thiruchelvam has caught the eye of observers. Music artiste Maya Arulpragasam has attained cult figure status and has fans all over the world.
France has had a special connection with Tamils right from the days Pondicherry was a French colony. Migrants from Pondicherry settled in France decades ago. This Tamil population increased further with Sri Lankan Tamils, Mauritian Tamils and some Guadeloupe Tamils. La Chapelle is a locality with a large Tamil community, and you can see several Tamil establishments. Paris is another city where the Tamil community takes part in annual Vinayakar Chathurthi processions.
Vinayakar Chathurthi procession in Paris
German Tamils have settled in several cities and towns, from Berlin to Hanover to the Ruhr Valley. The little-known town of Hamm is home to Europe’s most famous Tamil Hindu temple, the Kamadchi Ampal temple. Swiss Tamils are concentrated in Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne, Basel and Berne. All the four Scandinavian countries have Tamils, the largest concentration being in Norway. Tamils have taken over the ailing fishing industry in northern Norway and revived it. An interesting video on it can be viewed here.
The Tamils of southern Africa have retained little knowledge of the Tamil language, but have preserved their Hindu religion. South Africa, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Reunion Island and even Botswana have Tamil populations. Murugan worship is prevalent among the Tamils in these countries. Thaipusam is a public holiday in Mauritius, and there are annual kavadi processions in Victoria, capital of Seychelles. Names like Govender, Pillai and Naidoo are common among South African Tamils. Two Tamils, Ariranga Pillai and Angidi Chettiar, were President of Mauritius in the 90s.
Tamil gathering in Durban, South Africa
The second half of the 20th century saw hundreds of thousands of Indians emigrate to the Middle East, and the Tamils were one of the main communities to do so. Tamils have settled in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. There are Tamil associations which preserve the Tamil language and culture. Tamil film artistes routinely conduct shows in these countries.
Malaysia is the country with the third largest Tamil population in the world, behind only India and Sri Lanka. There are 1.5 million Tamils here. Malaysia is one of four countries where Tamil is an official language. Batu Caves is a famous centre for Tamil Hinduism, and has the world’s tallest Murugan statue. The annual Thaipusam procession takes thousands of devotees there. Brickfields near Kuala Lumpur is a predominantly Tamil district. The Tamils of Malaysia are underpriveleged compared to Tamils in other countries. A notable exception is entrepreneur T Ananda Krishnan, the second richest man in Malaysia and 119th in the world. He also happens to be the world’s richest Tamil.
Murugan statue at Batu Caves
Singapore is another of the countries that first come to mind when we think of the Tamil diaspora. Tamil is one of the four official languages of the country. Tamils like S Rajaratnam, J Y Pillai and S Dhanabalan have contributed immensely to the success of Singapore. Singapore’s Changi Airport, the world’s best airport, was designed by A Vijayaratnam, who also designed the Singapore Port. Present-day Tamils of Singapore include President S R Nathan, Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, and ministers Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Balaji Sadasivam, Vivian Balakrishnan, S Iswaran and K Shanmugam. Olympic sprinter C Kunalan, writer Edwin Thumboo and lawyers Subhash Anandan and Philip Jayaratnam are a few more of the successful Tamils of Singapore.
Tamils have also settled in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok. Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia has a Tamil population. Tamil merchants have settled in some parts of China. Many Tamils went to Burma, but most have either returned or assimilated into the Burmese population. Some of the Tamils returning from Burma settled in the village of Moreh in the secluded northeastern Indian state of Manipur, and are still there!
Australia is another common destination for Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are the primary concentrations of Tamils here. New Zealand has a few thousand Tamils. Fiji has had a Tamil population for the past two centuries. Even New Caledonia and Tahiti, islands in the Pacific, have a microscopic minority of Tamils.
We also need to mention the Tamils who have migrated to other parts of the Indian subcontinent. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Colombo all have a Tamil community. Matunga in Mumbai is characterised by its Tamil temples, filter coffee and Tamil film posters. Wellawatte is the Tamil locality of Colombo, complete with the temples without which no Tamil locality would be complete. The list of Tamils who have succeeded in other parts of India include Shiv Nadar of HCL, S Ramadorai of TCS, B Muthuraman of Tata Steel and S Gopalakrishnan of Infosys.
Tamil temple in Matunga, Mumbai
A common feature of the Tamil diaspora all over the world is their spirituality. A Tamil restaurant owner in Singapore, a utility shopowner in Zurich or a student in New Jersey will always start his endeavour with a picture of his god, a pillaiyar suzhi or a sriramajayam. The Tamil temple with its distinctive dome is ubiquitous in every country Tamils have settled in. Tamils come together to show their devotion in Pittsburgh, Hamm, London, Paris, Durban, Victoria, Batu Caves, Fiji and many more places.
Language is the other pillar of culture in the Tamil diaspora. Tamil associations the world over take pride in teaching the language to the younger generation. Whether it’s in the USA, Europe or Middle East, the Tamil diaspora gives an opportunity to the younger generation to learn the language. There is anecdotal evidence indicating that the Tamil diaspora is much more likely to preserve its knowledge of its mother tongue than the other communities from the Indian subcontinent.
For a community with a distinct sense of origin, the Tamils are also surprisingly willing and able to integrate into their host cultures. Four Tamils rappers formed a band called Shine and woke up the slumbering Norwegian music scene. South African Tamil Xavier Naidoo has broken into the German mainstream pop scene and gained a following. Maya Arulpragasam is arguably the most successful Asian music artiste ever in the western world. Sendhil Ramamurthy was voted America’s 11th sexiest man. Film producers and directors like M Night Shyamalan, Rohan Fernando, Ashok Amritraj and Arun Vaidyanathan have broken into Hollywood with varying degrees of success.
The Tamils are from a territory not easily visible on the world map. Southeastern India and northern Sri Lanka constitute a bare fraction of Asia. Yet the Tamil diaspora has laid its roots far and wide. The next time you go to Fremont, Edison, Scarborough, East Ham, La Chapelle, Brickfields, Matunga or Wellawatte, you know which community you can find there.
A fitting finale to this discussion about the Tamil diaspora would be four lines from the Tamil lyricist Kannadasan:
கடல் கடந்தான் எங்கள் தமிழன் - அங்கும்
கற்பூர தீபம் கண்டான் இறைவன்
உடலுக்குப் பொருள் தேடி உள்ளத்தில் இறை நாடி
தமிழுக்கும் பணி செய்து தன்மானத்துடன் வாழ
The Tamilian crossed the seas,
Sought wealth for his worldly needs,
Sought God for his spiritual needs,
And also brought glory to Tamil
