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The Chitty, also known as the Chetty or Chetti Melaka, are an ethnic group whose members are of primarily Tamils descent, found mainly and initially in Melaka, Malaysia, where they settled around the 16th century, and in Singapore where they migrated to in the 18th and 19th centuries from Melaka. Also known colloquially as "Indian Peranakans", the culture of the Chitty has drawn significant influence from the Nusantara region and to a small extent the Chinese, whilst also retaining their Hindu faith and heritage. In the 21st century, their population stands at 2,000. The Chitty/Chetti community are different from Chettiar, bankers brought from Tamil Nadu to British Malaya. They are practising Hindus.
Under the administration of the Portuguese, Dutch Malacca and British colonizers, the Chitty eventually began simplifying their culture and customs by adopting local customs. This can be evidenced in the architecture of the Sri Poyatha Moorthi Temple, which was built by Thaivanayagam Pillay, the leader of the Chitty people, in 1781 after the Dutch colonial government gave him a plot of land. At that period, a Chitty neighbourhood was probably set up around that temple, in the street known as Goldsmith Street.
During the Second World War, the threat of Japanese soldiers rape against Chitty girls led Chitty families to let Eurasians, Chinese and full blooded Indians to marry Chitty girls and stop practicing endogamy.
The traditional Chitty settlement is located at Kampung Tujuh along Jalan Gajah Berang, which is also inhabited by a small number of Chinese of Tamilian ancestry and Malays as well. Many of the Chitty have since found jobs in Singapore and other parts of Malaysia.
The ethnic identity of the Chitty is nearly lost. As many of them are assimilating into the mainstream Indian diaspora, Overseas Chinese and Malay ethnic communities culturally, this small but distinct group of people that has survived for centuries is now on the brink of extinction.
Exhibition of Peranakan Chitty history, antiques and culture can be seen at the Chitty Museum in Chitty Village, Melaka, Malaysia. Recently in 2013, there were controversies of development at the expense of demolishing part of Kampung Chitty, a historical and cultural village. A proposal to construct a condominium, a hotel and a road cutting through the village are seen as a threat affecting the residents and a temple built in 1827.
Chinese cultural influence on the Chetty is also evident, especially in the case of ancestral worship. Religious objects used for conducting rituals were also used by the Chinese. The Chitty are also influenced by the Chinese to some extent in their ceramics works of art.
Simplification of Tamil architecture among the Chitty is also present. Distinct from the modern Tamil Nadu, known for its complex Tamizh Temple Architecture in the early pandya, medieval chozha/ chera& late Nayaka dynasties/Vijayanagara], that displays beautifully carved out sculptures of the Hindu gods in many rows, the Chitty temple tend to only have one row of these, or a picture of one single god in each of the three rows, as evidenced in the Sri Poyatha Moorthi Temple, built by Thaivanayagam Chitty in 1781. The Chitty temples also demonstrate the adoption of some Dutch colonial architectural influences.
Alongside their Han Chinese of Tamilian ancestry and Malay neighbours, the Chitty live in kampung houses. Pictures of Hindu gods and can be seen just outside their houses, as their descendants tend to adopt Indian, rather than Malay surnames.
A typical Chitty home is distinctly marked by mango leaves arranged in a row, dangling from above the front door. Chitty temples are also adorned this way.
This is the old tradition still followed in Tamil Nadu from ancient period during functions.
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