Religious and cultural transmission and maintenance of the Indian Diaspora in Thailand

Abstract

© 2016 Organisation for Diaspora Initiatives, New Delhi. The Indian diaspora in Thailand consists of various groups who have been settled in Thailand for more than a hundred years. However, religion – Hinduism and Sikhism – is one of the key identities that centralize and unite the faiths and followers together. Their religious teachings are taught and transmitted through the family, mainly by the grandparents and parents, the mother in particular. The processes of transmission also involve religious institutions such as temples and gurdwaras, which act as spiritual centres. The structure of the temples teaches the different generations to work and learn from each other for sustainable continuity of their groups. Moreover, the contents of transmission are not only religious concepts, but include their languages, ways of life including how to interact with others. Structuralism and other related concepts are applied in this article. As the young generation of the Indian diaspora is also Thai, globalization influences their perspective and way of life; therefore, it is challenging for the Indian diaspora to groom their children in the proper ways to limit conflict among generations and to maintain their identity.