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Girmitiyas: The Origins
of the Fiji Indians
excerpts from the new book by Dr. Brij Lal,
Professor of History at the Australian National University
Introduction
IN 1979 THE FIJI INDIANS celebrated the hundredth
anniversary of their arrival in the islands. Through public
displays, speeches, parades and publications, the contribution of
the girmitiyas - indentured labourers who came under an agreement or
girmit in abbreviated and popular parlance - was discussed and
appreciated by the people of Fiji. The surviving girmitiyas, now in
the last stage of their journey through life, were sought out from
all parts of the country and publicly decorated for their
contribution to the development of a modern Fiji. It was the first
time in their 100 years of existence in the islands that such an
honour had been bestowed upon them. Now, a major Girmit Centre for
Multicultural Studies is being established in Lautoka, on the
western side of Vitilevu, in memory of the struggles and sacrifices
of the girmitiyas, among whom my own grandfather was one. He had
left India as a young man in search of wealth and glory, neither of
which he achieved in his lifetime. He died in 1962.
The celebrations raised consciousness amongst the
descendants of the girmitiyas of the difficult circumstances of
their ancestors: the long journey across the seas, the clockwork
pace of plantation work under harsh discipline, the enormous
difficulties of starting life afresh in the post-girmit period. But
little was said (and is known) about the origins and backgrounds of
the girmitiyas. This is a lacuna which one also finds in much of the
published literature on the indenture system, in which there is much
emphasis on the lives of the labourers after they had left their
homeland. This study does not look at the lives of the girmitiyas
once they had reached Fiji; instead it examines the circumstances
which led to their departure from India. Various questions are
discussed: the reasons for introducing indentured labourers into
Fiji, the structure and operation of the recruitment system in
India, the regional origins of the migrants, their social and
economic background in India, and the migration of women and
families.
The picture which emerges goes against the grain
of conventional wisdom about the girmitiyas. Contrary to the
prevailing opinion, it shows that they were not invariably of low
social origins but represented a fair cross-section of rural Indian
population. It is suggested that the strata from which most of them
originated were increasingly being subjected to unprecedented
changes brought about by British penetration of Indian agrarian
society. Migration offered one way of coping with these changes, the
extent of which was reflected in the fact that a very large
proportion of the girmitiyas had already left their homes before
they were recruited for Fiji. Not only men but women, children and
families also came and they, too, were a part of the uprooted mass.
The important role that recruiters played cannot be denied, but it
must be assessed in the context of the 'push' factors at work in
Indian society. In short, this study attempts to demonstrate that
Indian indentured migration was a more complex process than has
sometimes been realized. Some 60,965 indentured labourers came to
Fiji between 1879 when migration commenced and 1916 when it was
finally stopped. Of these, 45,439 were from northern India,
embarking at Calcutta. They form the subject of this study. The rest
came from southern India after 1903 when recruitment was begun
there. But it should be noted that much of the discussion on the
north Indians applies in equal measure to those from the south,
because the pattern of recruitment and the basic motivations for
migrating were similar. It may be noted, too, that our discussion
has relevance for many other Indian labour importing colonies,
particularly the West Indies, which drew their supplies from the
north.
This study is based chiefly on a quantitative
analysis of all 45,439 Emigration Passes of the Calcutta embarked
migrants. The Pass is the only document that contains comprehensive
data on the demographic character of the indentured labourers. The
Pass contains the migrant's depot number, sex, name, caste, father's
name, age, district of origin and registration, besides the
certification of the authorities in India about mental and physical
fitness for manual labour in Fiji, and 'willingness to proceed to
work for hire'. The Passes were sent to Fiji in the custody of the
Surgeon Superintendent of the ship. After inspection and copying of
important data about the migrants onto other relevant documents, the
Passes were collated alphabetically by ship and deposited with the
Department of Labour. Subsequently they were transferred to the
National Archives of Fiji where a full set of 60,965 of the
originals is available in some 240 large folios. The National
Library of Australia has a copy of all the Passes on microfilm and
these were used in my research.
A sample of such a pass
The reader may wonder why it was necessary to keep
such detailed information on the girmitiyas, contemptuously referred
to by contemporary officials and observers alike as 'harlots of
empire', 'flotsam of humanity' or 'floating caravan of barbarian
tourists'. The reason is that the girmitiyas were subjects of India,
migrating under contract to another part of the British Empire, and
it was therefore necessary to keep accurate information on their
identity. Moreover, they did not leave their homeland with the view
to completely severing their links with it. On the contrary, many of
them probably hoped to go back after acquiring wealth in the
colonies. To this end it was important for both the Indian and the
colonial governments to facilitate communication between the
indentured labourers in the colonies and their kin in India, whether
through exchange of letters or for transfer of money. It is
possible, as I found out myself, to use the data in the Emigration
Pass to search out one's ancestral village and kin in India. That
probably is the ultimate proof of its authenticity………
Ports of Embarkation of Indian Indentured
Emigrants
Years |
Calcutta
|
Madras
|
Bombay/Karachi
|
French Ports |
1856-61 |
14,533 |
66.50% |
6,479 |
29.60% |
860
|
66.50% |
- |
- |
1861-70 |
122,241 |
67.50% |
56,356 |
31.10% |
2,479 |
66.50% |
- |
- |
1870-79 |
142,793 |
78.40% |
19,104 |
10.50% |
- |
- |
20,269 |
11.10% |
1880/1-89 |
97,975 |
76.00% |
21,653 |
16.80% |
- |
- |
9,351 |
7.20% |
1891/2-1900/1 |
106,700 |
63.30% |
28,550 |
16.90% |
33,343 |
19.80% |
- |
- |
1907/8-1916/17 |
66,839 |
62.30% |
32,369 |
30.20% |
8,016 |
7.50% |
- |
- |
Social and Economic Origins
'I HAVE BEEN assured by every native from whom I
have enquired, and by most Europeans, that only the lowest castes
emigrate, and that nothing will ever induce men of higher class of
life to leave India.'1 So G.A. Grierson was told in 1882, during the
course of an enquiry into indentured emigration. The situation is
very much the same today as it was a hundred years ago. Writing in
the 1970s, historian K.L. Gillion observed: 'It was, and indeed
still is widely believed that those who came to Fiji were of the
lowest castes, used to poverty and ill-treatment, and that they
arrived in a diseased and emaciated condition'.2 The social
derogation implied in this attitude was kept alive in Fiji, Gillion
noted, as 'part of the ideological underpinning of European
dominance'.
In this chapter, the social and economic origins
of Fiji's north Indian
indentured migrants are probed. The data on their social/caste
background
are derived from an analysis of the Emigration Passes, and clearly
show
that those who came to Fiji formed a fair cross section of rural
Indian
population. The reasons for the migrants leaving their homes are
more
complicated. There is a body of opinion which places a great deal of
the
responsibility for this on the shoulders of the recruiters. Here,
the changes
which were taking place in rural Indian society in the late 19th and
early
20th centuries are discussed, and the role of these in inducing
migration
suggested.
Altogether, during 37 years of indentured
emigration, over 260 social
groups - comprising Hindu castes/sub-castes, Muslims and tribal
groups - came to Fiji. They are organized below in simplified
categories to enable a clearer understanding of their position. No
single method of classification can be followed, as a look at the
Indian anthropological literature on caste would tell us, so we have
employed broad principles of hierarchy, status, occupation and
religion.
Others, employing different principles of
categorization, may come up with a different conclusion, though the
broad picture presented here is likely to remain. It is obvious that
the evidence calls in question assertions about the predominantly
low caste origins of the indentured migrants. Low castes, of course,
contributed a large percentage of the total numbers migrating, but
the proportion of high and middling castes is noteworthy. It could
also be noted that caste, as a principle of social organization and
as a determinant of position in society, has lost its relevance in
Fiji, and in most overseas Indian communities. The process by which
this has happened, involving over 200 castes, would be a fascinating
subject for anthropological study.
Almost all the castes and sub-castes found in the
United Provinces were represented in the indentured population
migrating to Fiji, but those which furnished the largest number of
indentured migrants were well represented in the UP in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries as Table 1 shows. It is clear that for most
castes, with the exception of Brahmans, there is a broad correlation
between their numerical strength in the United Provinces and their
contribution to the emigrating indentured population. Thus, for
example, Muslims and Chamars, who constituted the largest component
of UP Society, also furnished the largest number of migrants.
Kshattriyas and Ahirs, too, feature prominently. A district by
district analysis confirms this picture, and generally shows a
greater willingness to migrate among the lower and middling castes
than among higher castes, particularly Brahmans.
Selected Castes and Their Numerical Strength in UP,
1891-1911
Name |
Contribution
to Inden. Emigrants to Fiji
|
Numerical
Strength in UP Society in
|
1891 |
1901 |
1911 |
|
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
Ahir |
4,197 |
9.2 |
3,918,846 |
8.4 |
3,823,668 |
8 |
6,407,000 |
8.2 |
Brahman |
1,686 |
3.7 |
4,719,882 |
10.1 |
4,706,332 |
9.9 |
4,659,738 |
9.9 |
Chamar |
6,087 |
13.4 |
5,816,053 |
12.4 |
5,890,639 |
12.4 |
5,305,833 |
11.2 |
Kori |
1,942 |
4.3 |
919,649 |
2 |
990,027 |
2.1 |
859,582 |
1.8 |
Kurmi |
2,307 |
5.1 |
2,005,657 |
4.3 |
1,963,575 |
4.1 |
1,887,564 |
4 |
Pasi |
999 |
2.2 |
1,219,311 |
2.6 |
1,239,282 |
2.6 |
1,311,220 |
2.8 |
Kshattriya |
4,565 |
10 |
3,632,241 |
7.8 |
3,354,058 |
7 |
3,428,831 |
7.3 |
Khatri |
1,182 |
2.6 |
45,099 |
0.1 |
49,518 |
0.1 |
41,764 |
0.1 |
Muslims |
6,878 |
15.1 |
5,179,000 |
13 |
6,532,000 |
13.5 |
6,407,000 |
13.3 |
Women
INDENTURED women, especially those in Fiji,
unwittingly played a very large part in the movement to abolish the
indenture system. The Indian public had for a long time been aware
of the sorry plight of the Indian labourers overseas, but it was the
news of the molestation and abuse of Indian women on the plantations
that outraged them most. The campaigns in India to stop the
degradation of Indian women in the colonies 'received wider public
support than any other movement in Indian history, more even than
the movement for independence'.1 The Government of India, which had
been under pressure for some time from Indian nationalists to end
the system, finally moved and waiving away protests from the
colonial planters abolished the indenture system in 1916.
The stories of the treatment of two Fiji Indian
women, Kunti and Naraini, attracted special attention, and their
names are remembered in Fiji even today. Kunti, a 20 year old woman
from Lakhuapur village in Gorakhpur, had emigrated to Fiji with her
husband in 1908. Her first four years on the plantation were
unexceptional until 10 April 1912, when the overseer allocated Kunti
an isolated patch in a banana field, away from all the other
workers, apparently with the intention of molesting her sexually.
Kunti resisted his demands until, nearly
overtaken, she jumped into the river in desperation. She was,
however, rescued by a boy, Jaidev.2 Kunti's story was published in
the Bharat Mitra and became widely known, which prompted the
Government of India to ask the Government of Fiji to institute an
enquiry into the treatment of indentured Indian women.
Naraini's plight was equally sorry, if less
sensational. The overseer of an estate in Nadi asked Naraini to
present herself at work three or four days after giving birth to a
(dead) child. Naraini refused, arguing correctly that it was the
recognized practice for women to absent themselves from hard labour
for up to three months after giving birth. The overseer, taking
umbrage at Naraini's refusal, then beat her severely; barely able to
walk, Naraini was carried to hospital on a stringed bed. The
overseer was arrested, and the case came before the Supreme Court of
Fiji. But much to everyone's surprise and consternation, he was
found not guilty and acquitted. Naraini later lost her senses and
spent the rest of her life as an
insane vagrant……
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