Ahmedabad: It is believed that the earliest Gujarati-speaking persons who set foot in today’s Singapore were the traders who accompanied Stamford Raffles, the British official who captured Singapore from the local rulers and laid the foundation of the city-state in 1819. Parul Trivedi-Shah, in her recently published book, “A Legacy in the Lion City: History of the Gujarati Community in Singapore”, notes that these traders were the Parsi employees of Jumsetjee Jijibhoy & Company that had ships sailing on the Maritime Silk Route.As the book, supported by the National Heritage Board of Singapore, meticulously chronicles the 200-plus years of the community’s footprints on the city-state, what strikes is the perseverance of the early settlers who built businesses, faced Japanese invasion on the island, and yet maintained their presence not only in business — their primary forte — but also in art and literature, politics and public life, and education and philanthropy, intertwined closely with Singapore’s history.“I met the elderly community members, got hold of historic records, correspondences and old documents to piece together the experiences of the earliest settlers — for example, Nagardas Purshottamdas is believed to be the first known Gujarati Hindu to migrate to Singapore in the mid-1880s. His brothers Vadilal and Ojamshee also joined him in 1894,” says Trivedi-Shah.
200 years of Gujarati legacy in Singapore
The handwritten notes of Harakhchand Shah from 1894 describe the steamer’s course from the east coast of India to Penang in Malaysia and eventually Singapore, strategically located on the strait connecting the ‘spice islands’ to the international maritime trade.The history is also that of the enterprise sans boundaries of religion or caste: from Gujarati Sunni Muslims arriving in Singapore in 1837 to Dawoodi Bohras in 1860 to Banias in the 1880s, every community had a role to play. Parsis, Muslims, Hindus and Jains who made the island their hub, and today the Gujarati community of 4,000-5,000 members is a testament to the vibrancy of culture, celebrating Diwali and Navratri and actively participating in the social and political affairs of Singapore.
200 years of Gujarati legacy in Singapore
“Singapore has seen businessman Neil Parekh and academician Prof Kalyani Mehta nominated to Parliament, in addition to several prominent doctors, businessmen, artists and professionals gaining prominence in Singaporean society. The Singapore Gujarati Samaj works as a fulcrum of activities, including organising community and social activities, while the Singapore Gujarati School teaches Gujarati language to children,” says Trivedi-Shah. “Gujarat is land of lions, and Singapore is known as the Lion City. Thus, it is a unique amalgamation of beliefs and identities.”
200 years of Gujarati legacy in Singapore
