Punjabi Sikhs’ presence in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands can be traced back to the nineteenth century. The number of Sikh units in the British-Indian army increased after the annexation of Punjab (1849); Sikh army and police were employed to operate the Andamans-based Kala Pani (Black Water) jail. The Police Gurdwara of Port Blair became a visual marker of Sikh presence in the archipelago. In 1937, the New Gurdwara was set up; it was later renamed Dr Diwan Singh Kalepani Gurdwara to commemorate Diwan Singh’s contribution to India’s national liberation movement and his humanitarian and educational work in the Andamans. In the late 1960s, the Indian government invited former servicemen, primarily Punjabi Sikhs, to settle in the Nicobar Islands to protect them from poaching and to show India’s presence in that part of the Bay of Bengal. A “Mini-Punjab” subsequently emerged on Great Nicobar in the 1970s. Throughout their history in the Andamans, Sikhs strove to reproduce their homeland in a faraway land. Unlike other Sikhs in Bengal, Assam and other regions far from Punjab, the Andaman-based followers of Guru Nanak did not have to continually assert their identity through negotiation with local social and cultural traditions.
