2 - The Chitty of Malacca: An Epitome of Cross–Cultural Influences

Summary

INTRODUCTION: KAMPUNG CHITTY, MALACCA

Ten minutes from historic Malacca's town centre is its best–kept cultural secret. It is Kampung Chitty, a quiet village of one hundred Malay–speaking Hindus, descendants of Malacca's fourteenth–century Tamil merchant community. Popularly known as “Chitty ” but also referred to as Peranakan Indians (see Appendix 2.1), they reside in a five–acre village off a main road in Gajah Berang. On my first visit one evening I notice an old woman in sarong kebaya standing on the village road, deep in prayer. Her palms are clasped on her forehead and are pointed toward an old (1887) Shiva Temple at the village entrance, from which emanates the sounds of bells and Hindu devotional songs. At the end of the village road is a larger and older (1822) Mariamman Temple with intricate, colourful statues and figurines. An old Chinese man casually walks in to pray.

The houses are a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian architectural styles. One small house built on stilts has a Sumatran Minangkabau–style roof, ornate concrete balustrades, and red lanterns in the veranda. Inside is an altar with photographs of Hindu deities. But there is also a table with very large black–and–white old photographs, similar to Taoist ancestor–worship altars. Some occupants of the house look “Indian”, others “Malay” or “Chinese”. The older women wear sarong kebaya, and everyone including the children speaks in Malay.

The Chitty are an epitome of the cross–cultural influences embraced by Malacca through six centuries. Through interaction, intermarriage and acculturation with ancient Malacca's cosmopolitan port population of Malays, Peranakan Chinese, Javanese and Bataks they have evolved a hybrid culture, with their language, cuisine, dress, dance and music incorporating diverse influences. Yet their identity has remained anchored in their deeply orthodox Saviate (Siva–worship) Hindu faith, their core residential space and Malay, their mother tongue (Dhoraisingam 2006, pp. xi–xii; Narayanasamy 2004, pp. 5–6).

This is the story of how a tiny hybrid community, a “little tradition”, has survived five “great traditions” (Redfield 1956), namely, a Malay Empire, Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rule, and a Malaydominated Malaysian post–colonial State. Despite colonial dislocation and dispersion, communal land ownership has saved their village.