Komagata Maru sails from the Far East: cartography of the Sikh diaspora within the British Empire

ABSTRACT

The Komagata Maru episode has been cited by scholars of the Empire and post-colonialism as an apt case study in understanding multiculturalism, migration and race within the Empire. Canadian national history claims the Komagata Maru episode as part of their national historical myths in having learnt lessons never to be repeated and Hugh Johnston in his seminal work states that the disproportionately large numbers of South Asian migrants in Canada today is testimony that the attitudes prevalent in Canada during the time of the Komagata Maru no longer exist. Indian nationalist scholars quote the Komagata Maru episode as one of the numerous accounts of civil disobedience that occurred during the fight for Indian independence, hence the memorial that has been established in Calcutta and the excitement to commemorate the event in its centenary moment. However, a large part of the Komagata Maru story which remains unexplored occurred in the Far East; Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaya. The connections of the Sikh communities in the Far East with the Ghadr conspirators, the fact that Gurdit Singh Sarhali himself was a Sikh migrant to Malaya, that gurudwaras in Hong Kong and Malaya played an important role in congregation and community making are testimony that a certain sense of homogeneity of ideas, emotions, homeland and attitudes existed with the Sikh diaspora as it fanned out from the East to the West. This paper will aim to capture this unity of ideas and sentiments within the Sikh diaspora with the British Empire as exemplified by the early twentieth-century Komagata Maru episode.

KEYWORDS:

• British Empire
• Far East
• migration
• Sikh diaspora
• community making

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Arunajeet Kaur was recently graduated with a Ph.D. from the Australian National University, Australia. She works on diaspora and migration.

Notes

1. It was the Mutiny of the Fifth Native Light Infantry consisting of Muslims and Pathans who refused to see action in Turkey.