Girmityas

Girmitiyas, also known as Jahajis, were indentured laborers from British India transported to work on plantations in Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and the Caribbean (mostly Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica) as part of the Indian indenture system.

Etymology
Bhojpuri (Roman script) Plaque at Suriname Memorial, Garden Reach, Kolkata

The word girmit represented an Indian pronunciation of the English language word "agreement" - from the indenture "agreement" of the British Government with Indian labourers.[1] The agreements specified the workers' length of stay in foreign parts and the conditions attached to their return to the British Raj.[2] The word Jahāj refers to 'ship' in Indic languages (from the Arabic/Persian Jahāz/جهاز), with Jahaji implying 'people of ship' or 'people coming via ship'.[3]

In Fiji, Governor Arthur Hamilton-Gordon discouraged Melanesian Fijians from working on the plantations in an attempt to preserve their culture.[1]

See also

References
  1. "Girmit History". www.fijigirmit.org. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  2. "Article 2". www.fijigirmit.org. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  3. Lal, Brij V. "Chalo Jahaji – on a journey through indenture in Fiji". New Girmit.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Further reading
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