Leaves of the Banyan Tree Origins and Background of Fiji's North Indian Indentured Migrants, 1879-1916

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.