Indians Of Indian Ocean And Beyond

In the wake of Prime Minister Modi’s Indian Ocean tour, we look at the history of the Indian diaspora of the region and beyond

China already has its nose well ahead in the race to make its presence felt among the nations that dot the world’s third largest ocean. It has gained much influence through economic and military means. PM Modi’s tour is expected to strengthen India’s relations in the region. Here, we take a look at the centuries-old Indian connection among these countries.

Diaspora

The word comes from the Greek root or scattering or dispersion, and the modern meaning is that of a movement of people from the homeland. Indians began to migrate overseas in the 19th century. The overseas Indian community, estimated at over 25 million, roughly the population of Haryana, is found on every continent.

Mauritius

The island nation named after a Prince of Orange, was originally a Portuguese settlement, named Cirné, or the ‘island of swans’. The bird of honour was supposedly the ‘dodo’, though it is a far shot to imagine someone actually equated the graceful Cygnus genus with the ungainly flightless dodo. Whether it was indeed the bird responsible for the naming, or not, it was one of the first species to witness modern man’s madness. It was wiped out within a century of it being spotted by Europeans.

Colonisation attempts of Mauritius by both the Dutch and the French did not last long. When Napoleon was defeated, the island, along with Seychelles was transferred to the British.

The 18th century saw the French bring in Indians, chiefly from Pondicherry. These were skilled artisans employed as builders. Today nearly 70% of the island’s million-strong population are of Indian origin.

Indenture

The British abolished slavery in those parts. They however reared another animal – ‘indentured labour’. The dictionary defines it as ‘a contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term.’ It was also a cunning system that uprooted unlettered Indians out of their homeland and transported them thousands of miles away. Starting in 1835 and in the decades that followed, hundreds of thousands of workers were sent to Mauritius. All of them were so poor that they wished to escape the miserable conditions at home, not knowing what was in store for them abroad.

Girmitiya

This word, that came back into public consciousness through Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, is from Bhojpuri. The ‘agreement’ that the labourer entered into corrupted into ‘girmit’ and the men and women who entered bonded labour were termed girmitiyas.

“How had it happened that when choosing the men and women who were to be torn from this subjugated plain, the hand of destiny had stayed so far inland, away from the busy coastlines, to alight on the people who were, of all, the most stubbornly rooted in the silt of the Ganga, in a soil that had to be sown with suffering to yield its crop of story and song? It was as if fate had thrust its fist through the living flesh of the land in order to tear away a piece of its stricken heart.”
― Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies

Sugarcane

The plant from the genus Saccharum, native to temperate regions, has a strong association with the island. Introduced by the Dutch, and later profited from by the British, it was the chief reason why girmitiyas were needed. It is estimated that at the peak of the migration, there were more than 250 factories all over Mauritius. Even today, 85% of arable land in Mauritius is filled with sugarcane plantations.

Apravasi Ghat

History turning a blind eye bore him not witness

History standing still told not his full story

He who first had watered this land with his sweat

And turned stone into green fields of gold

The first immigrant He, son of this land

He was mine, he was yours, he was our very own.

–Abhimanyu Unnuth’s poem inscribed on a slab at Aapravasi Ghat, Port Louis, Mauritius

Now a UNESCO world heritage site, Aapravasi Ghat is the remains of an immigration depot in Port Louis. The buildings are all built using a unique mortar that sounds like it would fit in a cookery book than an architectural manual. The stones are held together with a mixture made of yoghurt, egg whites, butter and gingely oil, a concoction that is still employed these days.

Apravasi Ghat was where immigrants were housed before being sent to work on the plantations.

Seewoosagur Ramagoolam

What is common to Bharat Jagdeo, Aneerood Jugnauth, Abdul Razak Noor Mahomed, and Anand Satyanand, among others? They are all persons of Indian origin who have held, or are holding, positions as head of state in other countries.

In 1959, Britain began the process of decolonisation, giving up Mauritius along with a host of other colonies. In 1968, Sir Seewoosagur Ramagoolam, then aged 68 became the first non-British head of government in Mauritius. His father came to Mauritius at the age of 18 and became a foreman at an estate. Sir Seewoosagur leads a host of others who have risen out of the shackles of a colonial past to achieve fame.

Guyana

Remember Rohan Kanhai, the dashing West Indian batsman, whose 256 remained the only double ton at the Eden Gardens, until VVS scripted that famous innings in 2001. Kanhai was the second person of Indian origin to play for the Windies. He hailed from Guyana.

Guyana had become part of the expanding British Empire nearly the same time as Mauritius. The new form of virtual slavery saw the displacement of a quarter of a million Indians to this far-flung country too. While the erstwhile United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), and Bihar contributed to the diaspora in Mauritius, many sent to Guyana were from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Estate Tamils

Painful long hours, miserable pay, and a life full of struggle was not limited to those who were thrown off to faraway lands. Closer home, it became the fate of many from Tamil Nadu as they were sent to work in the tea plantations in Ceylon. Ignored by Sinhalese and by their own people—the Sinhalese Tamils—these people in places like Nuwara Eliya continue to be exploited.

Kenya. Uganda. Tanzania. Zambia. Fiji. Reunion. Trinidad. The list is endless. Often referred to as coolies owing to their unskilled status, there were thousands who were part of a scheme that retained all of the viciousness of its predecessor, slavery. Over the years, many have become successful, but a good percentage remain incarcerated in a life that is not any different from the abysmal conditions seen 175 years ago.