Leaves of the Banyan tree: origins and background of Fiji's north Indian indentured migrants, 1879-1916
Abstract
Between 1879 and 1916, some 60,965 Indian indentured men, women
and children were introduced into Fiji, of whom 45,439- the subject
of this study- left from Calcutta and the rest from Madras when
recruitment was started there in 1903. Indian indentured emigration
to Fiji was a small but significant part of a larger process of labour
emigration from India, which began in 1834. The labourers were
introduced into the colonies on a fixed contract to meet the shortage
of labour caused either by the abolition of slavery, the inability or
unwillingness of the indigenous people to meet the growing needs of the
plantations or by the failure of other sources of supply.
The story of the experience of the indentured labourers in Fiji,
as indeed in other former colonies, is by now well known. Somewhat
less is known about their social and economic background and
their motivations for emigration. This study represents an attempt
to understand these aspects. Various questions are discussed: the
reasons for introducing Indian labourers into Fiji, the structure and
evolution of the indenture system, the changing regional origins of
the emigrants, the nature and patterns of internal migration in the
United Provinces from where the majority of the emigrants came, the
social and caste background of the labourers, their precarious economic
position in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the
emigration of women and families.
The picture which emerges from a computerised analysis of the
data in the Emigration Passes, and from folksongs and other conventional
sources, goes against the grain of mythology as well as the current
interpretation of indentured emigration. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, it is shown that the emigrants were not invariably of low
social origins. It is suggested that the strata from which they
originated were increasingly being subjected to unprecedented changes
brought about by British penetration of Indian society. Emigration
seems to have offered one of the alternatives to cope with the
consequent vicissitudes of rural life. The extent to which spatial
mobility was prevalent is shown by the fact that a very large
proportion of Fiji's migrants had already left their homes before
they were registered for emigration. Not only men but women and
families also emigrated in large numbers and they, too, were a part of
the uprooted mass. The important role of the recruiters in inducing
emigration is acknowledged, but it is suggested that the degree of
their influence has been exaggerated. In short, this study demonstrates
that indentured emigration was a much more complex and differentiated
process than has often been realised.