Girmitiya: An Unfamiliar Saga of Indian Poor Migrant Laborers

Abstract

Girmitiyas were laborers whom the British Empire sent to Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and the Caribbean (mostly Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica) to work on sugarcane plantations for the benefit of European settlers. On the one hand, the present study briefly describes migration and tries to understand various socio-cultural and economic consequences that led to the first generation of Girmitiya laborers and their descendants. On the other hand, their sukh-dukh (way of life) such as vedana (derived from ethnic oppression), parakram (bravery), harsha-vishad (happiness), shringar (erotic), bhakti (devotion), nari vedana (women’s suffering), udveg (excitement), zeal, prakriti prem (attachment with nature), coincidence-disconnection, and emerging social values​​, etc. are illustrated in the present article with the help of their folklores and available literature. To get an in-depth understanding of the socio-economic problems, various secondary sources have been used in the present article.