Tour

BRIEF HISTORY

India Street derives its name from the fact that it has always been a street occupied by Indian shops. It was first call 'Kling' street. 'Kling' is a Hakka term for Indian and it's not liked by the Muslims on the Street. After discussing with non-muslims on the street, they decided to change the name to Chulan street from the Indian empire of Chulan. But the white Rajah Brooke rejected the suggestion, until a medical specialist Dr. Krishna proposed the name 'India Street' in 1928.

In 1992, India Street was converted into a Pedestrian Mall. Today, the India Street Pedestrian Mall has become one of the premier shopping Mall in Sarawak. Local and foreign tourists come to the Mall to buy anything from jewellery to textiles and to have a 'teh-tarik' and yum puff in an India-Chinese coffee shop next to the Indian Mosque. The mosque is well hidden away between India Street and Gambier streets, but it can be reached by going down the small passageway between number 37 and 39 India Street. Mrs McDougall (wife of the governor, then) mentioned an Indian mosque in a letter in the 1850s, but this earlier building had had only fragile kajang walls and a roof made of ataps. In 1876, new timber walls were erected, and a new roof was made from belian shingles. The concrete floor was added at a later date. In design, it differs from the usual Malay Mosque in that the formation for ablution is away from the main entrance. The mosque was built by Southern Indian Muslim for their own use, and at first other Indians were not allowed to pray here, but later this rule was relaxed. The Board of Trustees for this mosque is the only body in Sarawak to hold religions in Arabic.