page_title: Indian Maltese
section_title: Associations and cult
hierarchical_section_title: Indian Maltese / Associations and cult
caption_attribution_description: English: Cardinal Valerian Gracias from India visiting Malta, greeted by members of the Maltese Indian community (Fatechand Tarachand Nandwani) at the La Valette Band Club. Probably in 1958, on the margin of the conclave which elected John XXIII. Courtesy of Raj Vaswani, Gopaldas, Malta
context_page_description: The Indian community in Malta is composed in 2019 of around 3200 persons. They are Maltese citizens and some reside in Malta since British times, originally as small textile traders.
  Malta has a well-established small Sindhi trading community of about 45 families of shop-keepers from the town of Hyderabad, Sindh that traces its roots to migration starting around 1887 when Malta was under British colonial rule and much after the arrival of the first Maltese in India. While both countries were under British rule, Malta served as one of the trading roots for exporting silk. Indian-made hand loom clothes were sought after by Europe for many centuries. Following the partition of India, and due to immigration laws in Malta, no Indians visited Malta between 1952 and 1985.
  As of the 1990s, a new wave of immigration from India brought to Malta a bigger community from Kerala. There are currently about 3,000 Indians in Malta, working mainly in the health and hospitality sectors, almost half of whom stem from Kerala.
context_section_description: In 1955 the Sindhi traders in Malta gathered in the Indian Merchants' Association (Malta), as the links to Hyderabad had been severed with the Partition. The association was never particularly active, and in 1989 it was renamed the Maltese-Indian Community with following address: 1st floor, 'Sukh Sagar',  'The Maltese-Indian Community Centre', 25 Triq Bella Vista, San Gwann SGN 2690 , marking the shift towards the self-perception as a localised ethno-cultural group. The centre includes a mandir open each Sunday from 11 to 12 am.
  The small community continues to maintain Indian traditions in Malta, such as privately organising celebrations of Diwali, Holi Onam and other Hindu festivals. Hinduism and other religions of Indian origin (Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism) are not officially recognised and are described as cults in Malta.
caption: Cardinal Valerian Gracias from India greeted by members of the Maltese Indian community at the La Valette Band Club
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