Stranger on the Home Front: A Story of Indian Immigrants and World War I
I Am America STRANGER ON THE HOME FRONT A Story of Indian Immigrants and World War I By Maya Chhabra Illustrated by Eric Freeberg Consultant Rajan Gill Professor of History Yuba College JOLLY Fish PRESS Mendota Heights Minnesota
A Note on Vocabulary India at the time this story is set included modern-day India Pakistan and Bangladesh The entire area was ruled by the British Empire and sometimes referred to as Hindustan Punjab was a region within Hindustan now partly in India partly in Pakistan Most Indian immigrants to the United States at the turn of the century came from this region Punjabis could be of any religion with the three main religions of the region being Islam whose followers are called Muslims Sikhism and Hinduism Lahore in present day Pakistan is a major city in Punjab Sikhism is a religion that started in the 1400s in Punjab Most early Indian immigrants were Sikhs Many Sikhs use the last name Singh which means lion Many wear turbans to cover their long uncut hair The kirpan is a knife worn by many Sikhs as a symbol of their faith
A gurdwara is a Sikh house of worship The first gurdwara in the United States was in Stockton California Langar is the common meal prepared at the gurdwara for all worshippers and visitors Phulka is a flatbread com-mon in Indian food It is more often known as chapati The Golden Temple in the Punjabi city of Amritsar in modern-day India is the holiest site in Sikhism Guru Nanak Gurpurab is a Sikh holiday celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak who founded the religion The Guru Granth Sahib is the Sikh holy book Hindus are followers of the majority religion in India Though many early twentieth century immigrants to the United States were Sikhs or Muslims Americans called them all Hindus or East Indians to distinguish them from American Indians Native Americans The Ghadar Party was a revolutionary group founded by Indian immigrants Members planned to use violence to end British rule over India The word Ghadar means revolt or
