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South Asians in the Philippines
Total population
	38,000
Regions with significant populations
	Metro Manila, Taytay Cainta, Cebu City, Davao, Zamboanga City
Languages
	Tagalog, Cebuano (in Cebu and Davao), Indian languages, English
Religion
	Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Roman Catholicism

South Asians in the Philippines are Philippine citizens of South Asian descent and citizens of South Asian countries living in Philippines. The term Bumbay, loosely applied to all South Asians in the country (including those of Pakistani descent and Bangladeshi descent), regardless of ethnicity or religion, was a corruption of the name of Bombay city.

[edit] Language

They speak various Indian languages, most notably Punjabi, Sindhi, Hindi, and Tamil. They also speak Tagalog and Cebuano (the latter spoken in Cebu and Davao). As India is the largest English-speaking nation in the world, English is the lingua franca in Philippines, as Philippines is the third largest English-speaking country.

[edit] Religion

Main articles: Hinduism in the Philippines, Buddhism in the Philippines, and Islam in the Philippines

Most South Asians in the Philippines practice Hinduism and Sikhism, while some practice Islam. Some Sinhalese people also practice Theravadin Buddhism.

[edit] History

India had greatly influenced the many different cultures of the Philippines through the Indianized kingdom of the Hindu Majapahit, Khmer Empire and the Buddhist Srivijaya.^[3]

Indian presence in the Philippines has been ongoing since prehistoric times along with the Chinese and Japanese, predating even the coming of the Europeans by at least two centuries. Indians, together with the natives of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, traded with natives and introduced and passed Hinduism and Buddhism to the natives of the Philippines. Most of them stayed in the Philippines where they were slowly absorbed to native society. It was the Indians who brought stronger influence of Sunni Islam in the Philippine islands.

Sepoy troops from Chennai of Tamil Nadu, of India also arrived with the British expedition and occupation between 1762 and 1764 during the Seven Years' War. When the British withdrew, many of the Sepoys mutinied and refused to leave. Virtually all had taken Filipina brides (or soon did so). They settled in what is now Cainta, Rizal, just east of Metro Manila.^[4] As of 2006, between 70 and 75 percent of Indians in the Philippines lived in Metro Manila, with the largest community outside of Manila being in Isabela province.^[5] The region in and around Cainta still has many Sepoy descendants.

[edit] Notes

^ Mansigh 2000, p. 253 (see table 20.1)
^ Indian Diaspora in the Philippines Little India. Retrieved 9 July 2009
^ "Pre Colonial Period", An Online Guide to Philippine History, geocities.comCollegePark/Pool, http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Pool/1644/precolonial.html, retrieved 2008-05-17 ^{[unreliable source?]}
^ Rye 2006, p. 713
^ Rye 2006, pp. 720-721

[edit] References

Mansingh, Lalit (2000), "20. Southeast Asia", Report of the High Level Committee On Indian Diaspora, http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter20.pdf
Rye, Ajit Singh (2006), "The Indian Community in the Philippines", Indian Communities in Southeast Asia, Institute of SoutheastAsian Studies, pp. 707–773, ISBN 9812304185, http://books.google.com/books?id=TeExjdWUmJYC
Sharma, Jagdish Chandra (1997), Hindu Temples in Vietnam, The Offsetters, ISBN 8171230679, http://books.google.com/books?id=cmreAAAACAAJ, retrieved 2008-01-28

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[0] Mansigh 2000, p. 253 (see table 20.1)

[1] Indian Diaspora in the Philippines Little India. Retrieved 9 July 2009

[2] "Pre Colonial Period", An Online Guide to Philippine History, geocities.comCollegePark/Pool, http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Pool/1644/precolonial.html, retrieved 2008-05-17 ^{[unreliable source?]}

[3] Rye 2006, p. 713

[4] Rye 2006, pp. 720-721

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