People of Indian origin gathered at the Buddhist temple Vihara Loka Shanti at Jl. Karya Pembangunan No. 50 in Polonia, Medan, on Jan. 21. They weren’t there to conduct religious ceremonies but to form a foundation for Tamil Buddhists.

According to T. Ravi Kumar, a public figure of Indian descent present at this event, plans to create an association of Tamil Buddhists had been in the works for a long time. Up until now, however, nothing had come to fruition. This organization would mean a lot to these Tamil Buddhists, as they had never had a place to formally assemble prior to its existence.

“We wanted to establish this Tamil Buddhist Society so that we could have a bigger public presence, especially in the social realm,” Ravi told The Jakarta Post.

One of the programs the association is working on is finding a location where they can build a crematorium for deceased Indian Tamil Buddhists. One place they have been eyeing is in the Belawan area of Medan.

“We want to build a crematorium in Belawan,” Ravi said, adding that this would be the second such crematorium of its kind, the first being in Deli Tua in Deli Serdang regency.

Due to the large number of diverse Buddhists of Indian descent in Medan, it was felt that an additional crematorium was necessary. Ravi, however, did not have exact data on just how many such people there were in the area.

What is certain though is that there are a lot of people of Indian descent in Medan and that nearly all of them work in foreign companies, the police and the military. He added that relations between Indians in Medan were harmonious, as could be seen with the formation of soccer groups and other such social communities.

The relationship between Indians in Medan and those back home in India was just as friendly, according to Ravi.

“I last went to India in 2014. I would like to go back,” he said, noting that his wife’s family was still in India, while he himself had no family.

Naran Sami, an older member of the Indian community in Medan, estimated that there were around 35,000 residents of Indian Tamil descent in North Sumatra scattered in the cities of Medan and Binjai in Deli Serdang regency, as well as in Pematang Siantar and Tebing Tinggi.

A priest guides the ritual of Maha Puja Panguni Uthiram in which participants’ tongue and body are pierced with a long iron rod. The ritual was performed in Sei Semayang, Deli Serdang regecy, North Sumatra recently. Panguni Uthiram is commemorated to mark the glory of Lord Murugan.(JP/Apriadi Gunawan)

Naran said that Indians had first come to North Sumatra in the 17th century. At the time, the Dutch colonists were bringing in plantation laborers from India to Indonesia, especially to North Sumatra and Aceh, both of which were known as plantation areas.

Naran, who was born in 1951, said that the Indians brought by the Dutch to North Sumatra were placed in a number of locations in Medan city. With the passage of time, the Indians decided to gather in Petisah village, which is today known as Keling village.

The arrival of these people of Indian descent in Keling village transformed it to become more like India; many of the roads were named after cities in India, such as Kalkuta, Bombay, Nagapatnam, Ceylon and Madras. However, ever since Indonesia achieved independence in 1945, these road names had disappeared.

Originally, there were about 10,000 Indian Tamil descendents living in Keling village. Now, there are only about 4,000 as many of them have moved to the outskirts of Medan for economic reasons. Areas that used to be mostly filled with people of Indian descent are now filled with people of Chinese descent.

According to Naran, the village served as a magnet for people of Indian descent as it had its own Hindu temple, SHRI Mariamman, which was established in 1881 and built by a monk named Sri Maryaman.

The temple was still there, in good shape, on Jl. Zainul Arifin Medan. Hundreds of Hindus visited the temple every day to worship.

Nilekanden, a 23-year-old sanitation worker at the temple, said that the temple was open daily from 6 a.m. to noon. It reopened after a two-hour break at 2:15 p.m. and closed at 8 p.m.

“Every day there is always a full crowd of Hindus worshipping here. They don’t just come from Keling village but also from places like Binjai, Deli Serdang and Pematang Siantar,” Nilekanden said.

Aside from the temple, another symbol of the Indian presence in the area can be seen in a school named Khalsa, which is located right next to the temple and was built by Sikhs from North India before Indonesia became independent. The school is one of the few in Medan to use English as its primary language.

Naran Sami said that not all Indians who lived in Keling village were Hindus. There were also Muslims, Buddhists and Christians, all of whom lived together peacefully alongside the Chinese and Malay people there.

“The emotional bonds of the Tamil people are very strong, despite differences in religious faith. The harmony between the Indians and Chinese and Malay peoples in this village didn’t just occur out of thin air. It is the result of a long process of patience and tolerance that has been built over time between these different ethnic groups,” Naran said.