Socio Cultural Approach Towards Fusion of Indian Diaspora in Fiji

Abstract

KEYWORDS: Indentured System, Indo-Fijians, Indian Diaspora, Sugarcane plantation, Fiji newlineCoups, Girmitiyas, Indian Indentured Labourers. newlineThe topic is germane to the journey of the Indians since they first stepped into Fiji in 1879 newlineand beyond. The people from India, when they were brought to Fiji, it was not out of their newlineown choice but was out of compulsion that may have been intrinsic or extrinsic during the newlineperiod of British regime in India. Now, their generations are Indian Diaspora in Fiji, called as newlineIndo-Fijians. They later stayed in Fiji out of their own free will and choice and others joined newlinethem in Fiji with prospects of business and trading and who had nothing to do with the newlineIndentured system. They all accepted the pacific way of live and adjusted in the Fijian society newlineyet preserved their cultural harmony and traditions living side by side with the fellow Fijians. newlineFiji was explored by the Dutch and the British and it was a British colony until 1970. The newlineBritish occupation lasted for almost a century. It is under the British rule the Indian newlineIndentured Labour was brought from India to Fiji in large numbers. newlineThe first of the sailing ships taking the Indian workers to Fiji, the Leonides, docked in Fiji on newline15 May 1879 with 463 persons (2000, August 18). The last of 87 ships, the Sutleg-V, arrived newlinethere on 11 November 1916. When the Indentured system was finally terminated after the newlineconsiderable opposition in India because of the inhuman treatment meted out to the newlineindentured Indians, a total of almost 61,000 persons were reported to have been transported to newlineFiji. About 75% of these Indians had been recruited from what are now called as the states of newlineUttar Pradesh and Bihar in India, and the remaining 25% from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil newlineNadu. They had been taken there to work for assigned employers on a five-year contractual newlineagreement.