SINGAPORE - Asked to think of a Tamil Singaporean pioneer, many would probably name businessman Naraina Pillai, who came to Singapore with Stamford Raffles in 1819.
But far less well-known are the names of other prominent Tamils, and the history of Tamils in the region that predates the colonials by over 600 years.
An exhibition launched by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat at the Indian Heritage Centre (IHC) on Friday evening (Nov 22) highlights the diverse and long history of Tamils in Singapore and the region.
Ms Nalina Gopal, the exhibition's curator, said that Tamils have had a "continuous, uninterrupted connection" here since the pre-modern era.
"We wanted to piece together a story that has been quite scattered, creating a long-term narrative that extends centuries back but also showcases the diverse roles that Tamils in Singapore played," she said.
It took over a year of negotiating loans of exhibits and donations for this exhibition. Titled From the Coromandel Coast to the Straits: Revisiting our Tamil Heritage, it features over 230 objects.
Among them is a magnificent 12th-century bronze statuette of Nataraja - the classic dancing form of the Hindu deity Siva.
It is on loan from India's National Museum in New Delhi and is one of several such artefacts borrowed from overseas institutions including those in Malaysia and Indonesia.
One of the more curious objects on show is a fragment of a ship's bell, made in Tamil Nadu and inscribed with Tamil, but found in New Zealand.
Missionary William Colenso had come across the country's native Maori people using the bell fragment as a cooking pot in 1841.
A highlight of the exhibit is a 3D holographic showcase of parts of the mysterious Singapore Stone, which dates as far back as the 11th century and was located at the mouth of the Singapore River before it was blown up by the British.
It was inscribed with what experts say is the Kawi script.
Visitors can virtually rotate the computer-simulated models of two of the stone's fragments by touch. The models were done in collaboration with a Singapore-based firm, based on rubbings of the two lost pieces from 1848.
Admission to the exhibition, which runs till June 30, is free for Singaporeans and permanent residents. Foreigners up to 59 years old pay $6, those 60 and above pay $4 while their children under six also have free admission.
