The earliest known occurrence of the word
Keling appears in the
Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals). The legend mentions Raja Shulan as the king of Keling who sets out to conquer China with his descendant Raja Chulan. Scholars identify Raja Chulan with the
Chola king of southern India, from whom the term
Chulia derives, as in Penang's Chulia Street. Later parts of the Sejarah Melayu mention the voyages of
Hang Nadim and
Hang Tuah to
Benua Keling (India). However Keling must not be misunderstood as a specific territory, rather it refers to people of Indian origin and not only the inhabitants of
Kalinga. After the introduction of Islam, Keling sometimes referred specifically to
Malayalee or
Telugu people while
Gujaratis and
Indo-Aryan peoples from Pakistan were often confused with
Parsi or Persians. The Dutch used the words "Clings" and "Klingers" to refer to the Indian inhabitants of Malacca. The British colonial writings also use the word "Kling" to describe the immigrants from Gujarat Presidency and
Coromandel coast. The 16th-century Portuguese traveller Castanheda wrote of the Keling community in Melaka in the period between 1528 and 1538: In the northern part [of the city of Malacca] live merchants known as Quelins [Klings — a name applied to South Indians]; in this part the town is much larger than at any other. There are at Malacca, many foreign merchants ... In its early usage Keling was a neutral term for people of Indian Muslim origin, but was perceived negatively beginning in the 20th century due to various socio-political factors. From the mid-1900s, words denoting ethnic origin were used derogatively in Malay to imply immigrant status. Consequently, more neutral language was adopted. This can be observed in the book
Cherita Jenaka, where the term
orang Keling (Keling people) in the 1960 edition was changed to
orang India Muslim (Indian Muslim people) in the 1963 edition. The phrases
Keling-a (
Hokkien; 吉寧仔;
POJ:
Ki-lêng-á),
Keling-yan (
Cantonese; 吉寧人;
Yale:
gat-lìhng-yan),(
Hakka; 吉靈仔
git-lin-zai); and
Keling-kia (
Teochew) are frequently used within the Chinese community in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. The Hokkien and Teochew suffixes
-a and
-kia are diminutives, oftentimes used to refer to children, while the Cantonese "-yan" means "people".
Cambodia In Cambodia, the slang term for Indian people is
Kleng (ក្លិង្គ), also derived from the kingdom of Kalinga and cognate with the Malay Keling or Kling. It may also be used as a nickname for people who have stereotypically Indian features such as big eyes and dark skin.
Indonesia Traditionally in
Indonesia, Keling is linked with India while Kalingga refers to the 6th century
Kalingga Kingdom, which ultimately derived from the Indian
Kalinga kingdom. In modern
colloquial Indonesian, it is sometimes used to refer to any dark-skinned person of Indian descent, stereotypically associated with South Indians; this usage is considered offensive.
Malaysia The word
Keling has been used variously within the Malay community to mean an Indian Muslim, but now it is used more to refer to any Indian. The title "
Kapitan Keling" was used for a representative of an Indian community, similar to the "
Kapitan Cina" of a Chinese community. In early
Penang of the 1790s the
Kapitan Keling was
Cauder Mohideen who, together with the Kapitan Cina
Koh Lay Huan and other prominent members of the community, formed the first Committee of Assessors to decide the rates and collection of taxes. This usage is preserved is the name of the
Kapitan Keling Mosque, a prominent Penang landmark. In some modern cases
Keling is used as a derogatory term. Recently, social media slang had given rise to a more subtle word for this slur, "Type K", in which the K stands for the K-word slur like in "Type M" and "Type C". The definition of the word may vary from one Malaysian state to another. In
Kedah, for example, the term is mainly used to refer to Muslims of Indian descent (In
Selangor, the word
Mamak is used to refer to an Indian Muslim).
Philippines For the southern Philippines, it has been suggested that the sobriquet "Kiling", which referred to the name of a local Rajah (
Rajah Kiling of Butuan), is not Visayan in origin but rather, Indian, because Kiling refers to the people of India among the Mindanaoans.
Singapore In Singapore, Chulia Street was formerly known as Kling Street. Its original name is due to the large numbers of Indians from southern India known as ‘men from Kalinga’, or ‘orang kling’ in Malay who had congregated in the area. After Indian convicts were transported to Singapore, the term ‘kling’ was considered a derogatory association with Indians and the street was renamed to Chulia Street, with Chulia being the north Indian term for the Kalinga kingdom. During the
2025 Singaporean general election,
Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate Gigene Wong called her fellow SDP candidate Ariffin Sha a "keling kia", believing it to be a "neutral term that Hokkien speakers use to refer to Indians", during a campaign rally. The public took offence to the derogatory term and Wong acknowledged and apologised for her use of the term with the SDP issuing a public apology at the end of a campaign rally.
Thailand The equivalent of Keling in the
Thai language is
Khaek (แขก). It is a generic term referring to anyone from South Asia. The term generally has no negative connotation and is used even in polite or formal communication. However, outside influence and confusion with Mughals and Indian Muslims has broadened the meaning in modern times to include certain predominantly Muslims communities, particularly Persians and Arabs. This extended meaning is considered inaccurate and at times rejected as derogatory, especially by Thai Muslims, but has become increasingly widespread. ==Names of places==