Block 2

Colonial
Colonial

50
 Indentured Labour
UNIT 38 INDENTURED LABOUR MIGRATION Migration

Structure
38.0 Learning Objectives
38.1 Introduction
38.2 Definitions, Contexts and Regional Origins of Indentured Labour Migration
38.3 Main Features of Indentured Labour Migration
38.4 Plantation Life and Resistance
38.5 Overview of Indian Women under Indenture Labour System
38.6 Construction of Identity
38.7 Indian Indentured Labour Migration Across the World: Case studies
38.8 Let Us Sum Up
38.9 Key Words
38.10 References / Selected Readings
38.11 Check your progress – Possible Answers

38.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the meanings, causes and main features of indentured labour
migration.
 Know the various processes and patterns of indentured labour migration.
 Distinguish indentured labour migration from other forms of migration during
colonial era.

 Gain knowledge about its spread and impacts in home as well as in host countries.

38.1 INTRODUCTION
The advent of industrial revolution in England had led to an increase in inflows of
colonial capital around the globe. The investments were made for the extension of the
Industrial agricultural crops like tea, coffee, sugar and rubber in many colonies. After
the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, there was a huge demand for
unskilled, cheap labourers in the plantation economies of many British colonies. The
failed work experiment with the local indigenous population like with the Africans,
Chinese and other ethnically diverse labourer groups made the British turn towards
India. As being a ‘jewel in the crown’, it started outsourcing its surplus population
which had already been reeling under socio-economic crisis due to the unscrupulous
policies of British regime. Hence, Indian unskilled labour force became an alternate
cheap labour source replacing the previous slave labourers so as to cater to the needs
of the colonial capital.
The ‘indenture system’ was a recruitment mechanism for the mass exodus of unskilled
Indian labourers in order to meet the increasing labour demands in mainly sugar cane,
coffee, tea and rubber plantations of countries lying in the Indian Ocean, African, 51
Colonial Caribbean, Southeast Asia and South Asian parts of the world. The Indian indentured
labour scheme was not only confined to the British colonies, but also extended to the
French and Dutch colonies however to a smaller extent. Indenture labour system is a
global process of labour movement across the British, the French and the Dutch colonies
during 19th and 20th century. So, it is a colonial experiment of Indian international
labour migration across space. The indenture system formally came into existence in
the year 1834 and lasted up to 1917 until its abolition through legislation. It is believed
that by the time indentured labour migration ended; over one million Indians were
displaced. Their eventual settlement in various parts of the globe resulted in a global
spread of Indian Diaspora, numbering around 27 million today. The fourth and fifth
generation descendents of these labourers have emerged as a ‘strategic asset’ and
‘soft power’ for India given their vast, numerical strength and preservation of Indian
cultural values.
Let us discuss the contours, features, spread and impacts of the phenomenon of
Indentured labour migration.

38.2 DEFINITIONS, CONTEXTS AND REGIONAL

ORIGINS OF INDENTURED LABOUR
MIGRATION
The concept of ‘Indenture’ can be simply defined as contractual bound manual labour
agreement signed by an individual to work for a prescribed period of time with an employer
or planter, in exchange for covering the cost of his or her passage. The indenture contract
specified wage rate, working hours, free housing, type of work and free medical aid. It
was a contract by which the labour migrant was bound to work for an employer for three
to five years, performing the task assigned to him or her for a fixed wage, free medical aid
and set ration of food (Kondapi 1951). After the end of contract, the indentured labour
could either extend his work period or change his employer or was entitled to a free or
subsidized return passage. In the words of Carter, “An indentured migrant was an individual
who had not paid his or her passage” (Carter1996), but had entered into a written
agreement to do service of manual labour for a fixed period of time against the costs of
passage. It can be pointed out that the terms and conditions were more or less same for
all the colonies in general albeit with minor variations. Moreover, the indenture labour
system as contractual form of labour was different from other contractual systems because
it derived its authority from various acts that were enacted at various points of time in the
colonies, for regulating the relationship between employers and labourers and their mutual
duties and obligations.

As stated earlier, after the abolition of slavery, the sugar plantations of British colonies
were duress due to shortage of labour force; the indenture labour scheme was then
innovated to facilitate faster movements of unskilled, cheap, pliant labourers to meet
the increasing labour demands. The system officially came into being in 1834. Mauritius
was to receive the first batch of Indian indentured labourers (Tinker1974). Later, it
was expanded to other countries: British Guiana (1838), Malaya (1844), Trinidad
(1845), Jamaica (1845), Grenada (1856), St.Lucia (1858), Natal(1860), St.Kitts
(1860), St.Vincents (1860), Reunion (1861), Surinam (1873), Fiji(1879), Burma
(1885), East Africa (1896), Canada (1904), Seychelles (1904) and Thailand (1910)
52 (Clarke1990).
 Indentured Labour
S.No Name of the Colonies Period of Migration No. of Emigrants Migration

01. Mauritius 1834-1900 4,53,063

02. British Guiana 1838-1916 2,38,909
03. Malaya 1844-1910 2,50,000
04. Trinidad 1845-1913 1,43,939
05. Jamaica 1845-1913 36,412
06. Grenada 1856-1885 3200
07. St.Lucia 1858-1895 4350
08. Natal 1860-1911 1,52,184
09. St.Kitts 1860-1861 337
10. St.Vincents 1860-1880 2472
11. Reunion 1861-1883 26,507
12. Surinam 1873-1916 34,304
13. Fiji 1879-1916 60,965
14. East Africa 1896-1921 39,282
15. Seychelles 1904-1916 6315
Source: Brij V.Lal, Girmitiyas: The Origins of the Fiji Indians, 1983.

What prompted the Indians to emigrate in large numbers heeding to the clarion call of
the colonial planters in concurrence with the colonial government, was a prevalence of
adverse socio-economic conditions during British rule. There was a co-relation or
connection between British expansionism in India and the international commoditization
of Indian labour (Thiara1994). The Indian economy was integrated with the world
economy by heralding in socio-economic structural shifts, resulting in major socio-
economic consequences. Factors like commercialization of agriculture, stagnant rural
economy and decline of handicraft industry, discriminatory taxes on Indians goods,
urban enclave-based industrial development, Zamindari system and recurring famines
had degraded the socio-economic conditions of rural India as they were excluded
from the economic development. Apart from the above, the prevalence of illiteracy,
vicious cycle of poverty, seasonal unemployment, and rigid caste system had also
fuelled the need for new avenues of opportunities for survival and to lead a dignified
life. Despite these push factors, the assurances of stable good income and better standard
of living by recruiters also motivated the down trodden rural immigrants to grab the
new found opportunity of indentured labour migration. There are conflicting views
among migration scholars whether push or pull factors played out for the large scale
migration of Indians. In general, it has been agreed to be a combination of both, for the
mass exodus of Indian labourers during colonial rule.
Indian Indentured labourers to British colonies were widely drawn from Northern,
Eastern and Southern parts of India while the contribution of western and north western
parts of India was at a smaller scale (Lal2007). The French India between 1842 and 53
Colonial 1916 also supplied indentured labourers to its colonies in the West Indies and Reunion
Island, but it was later banned after the promulgation of Emigration Act XXII.
Nevertheless, the British colonies continued to receive Indian indentured labourers.
The hinterland of North India supplied a large scale of indentured labourers who had
been embarked through the port of Calcutta while labourers from Southern India were
embarked through the port of Madras. Initially, the majority of the labourers were
recruited from the hilly districts of Chota Nagpur division and Bankura and Burdwan
districts of the Bengal Presidency. Tinker estimated that during the 1840s and 1850s,
Dhangars formed a sizeable proportion and roughly two fifths to one-half of the
indentured emigrants (Tinker1974). Later, it was extended to the most backward,
Hindi speaking districts of Western Bihar and Eastern UP, which remained the leading
recruiting areas in Northern India (Tinker1974). The districts of Trichinopoly, Madurai,
Ramnad, Salem and Tanjore from the Tamil speaking region and the districts of
Vizagapatnam and Ganjam from the Telugu speaking region of erstwhile Madras
presidency contributed to the inflows of indentured Indian labourers (ibid). Ahmad
Nagar district was the main recruitment centre in Bombay presidency. Overall, the
major pool of Indian indentured labourers was mainly drawn from Northern India,
followed by Southern India.

38.3 MAIN FEATURES OF INDENTURED LABOUR

MIGRATION
Indenture was a worldwide phenomenon which began in 19th century and it was initially
involved with the mass migration of labourers from Africa, China, Southeast Asia and
India to the colonies of European powers. It was first initiated by the British in Mauritius
and was later adapted to other British and European colonial powers like the French
and the Dutch who embraced it after its success in Mauritius.
In the context of India, Indentured labour scheme was the first documented, state
regulated, international Indian labour migration across the colonies of European powers
during 19th and early 20th centuries. The ‘Protector of Emigrants’ who was a government
official looked after the affairs of emigration of indentured labourers at the embarkation
points of ports.
The following enacted legislations regulated and controlled the inflow of labourers. For
instance, India Act of XV of 1842 was the first comprehensive measure to provide a
semblance of government control and supervision. Emigration Act XIII of 1864 clearly
defined the duty of the protector of emigrants. In 1882, the government of India passed
an all encompassing Emigration Act (XXII) with minor modifications in 1908 which
governed indentured emigration until its end in 1917 (Lal2007).
The indenture system was in practice for eighty three years beginning from 1834 until
its official abolition on 13 March, 1917 by Lord Hardinge. But it was unofficially
continued until 1920 at different circumstances in various countries. The indentured
labourers were known as ‘girmityas’- a colloquial expression of the English term
‘agreement’ (Lal1997). Initially, Indentured labour migration was transient in nature.
But given the conducive atmosphere and combination of various reasons, most of the
indentured labourers stayed back in their host societies after the end of indenture period.
A very few of them returned back.
54
The social origin of indentured labourers were mostly drawn from middle peasant Indentured Labour
Migration
castes, followed by lower castes or Dalits and a fraction of the higher castes, including
a significant number of Muslims mainly from the Northern and Southern parts and few
numbers from Western parts of India (Tinker1974; Lal1984). The indentured labourers
were not only recruited for agricultural work but were also used for public works like
laying railway lines, construction of roads, buildings and so on.
The indenture system was based on the principle of penal contract labour and so was
a form of ‘un-free labour’. The penal sanctions were used as an instrument to condition
the erring labourers and mainly to oppress them.
The Indenture system can be characterised by struggle, sacrifice and resistance on the
part of indentured labourers. As the system was closely connected to slavery, it was an
exile into bondage as many found that they had exchanged one form of poverty and
servitude for another, hence, the British Historian Hugh Tinker described it as a “New
System of Slavery” (Tinker1974).
Duration of Contract
Initially, the duration of contract period was from one year and then was increased to
three years by an ordinance of number 3, 1849 and finally raised to five years for
Mauritius. In the case of West Indies, the contract period was initially ten years and
was later reduced to five years as in Mauritius. The period of five years was followed
for other colonies more or less until its abolition (See for details Tinker1974; Lal1984;
Anonymous Report).
Wages and Duration of Work
The indenture contract had a fixed rate of pay throughout the indenture period. The
payment was made weekly in the colony of Jamaica and British Guiana. In the case of
Trinidad and St. Lucia, it was fortnightly and in Mauritius monthly. Labourers had to
work for five days a week and seven hours a day in British Guiana. In the case of
Trinidad, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Grenada, six days in a week with exclusion of holidays;
nine hours per day; 280 days in total for a year. In Mauritius, the labourers had to
work nine hours per day from Monday to Saturday and for two hours on Sundays
(Anonymous Report).
Punishment for absence from work
In Mauritius, absence of labourer from work, led to a deprivation of wage and rations,
a half penny cut on every Shilling of his monthly wages or imprisonment of 14 days or
extension of his contract. If the labourers were absent from work for three continuous
days, he was imprisoned for three months. In the case of Trinidad, the labourers were
punished for seven days, while two month imprisonment followed for five days of
absence from work in British Guiana (Anonymous Report).
Return Passages
The free return passage was one of the basic principles of indenture ship at the end of
the contract. There was a disparity in arrangements for return passage among the
labour importing colonies. In the case of Surinam, the return passage was provided
immediately upon the expiry of their five years indenture contract (Emmer1984). In
contrast, the colonial government of Trinidad paid all return transport costs for the
labourers after working for additional five years only. But by 1898, male labourers
55
Colonial were required to pay half the cost of return passage, while females one third of the cost
(Brereton1981; Wood1968).
In British Guiana after 1895, the labourers had to pay a part of the cost, quarter until
1898 and after that a half. Later, it was only provided to the invalids and destitute
labourers in Mauritius and in the colonies of West Indies. The term ‘free return passage’
was deceiving. In reality, the labourers themselves were paying because the money
that was used for return passage was from the deduction made out of the labourer’s
wages. To cite an example, in the context of Mauritius, the contract agreement permitted
to retain one fifth of the wages by the employer until the end of indenture contract. The
deducted money was used to pay for the return passage of the labourers. If the labourers
desired to re-engage, the money was given back to them.
Process of Recruitment
The process of recruitment of labourers was long and cumbersome for intending
immigrants. The licensed emigration agents were permitted to operate from the erstwhile
port cities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. The Act V of 1837 stipulated the various
terms, regulations and conditions for the recruiting agencies recruiting potential migrants.
In reality, the emigration agent hardly recruited, except in the vicinity of immigration
depots. He forwarded all the requests from the colonies to the sub-agents in the country
side. The sub-agents employed recruiters who were licensed by the protector of
emigration on the recommendation of the emigration agent. The license was given for a
year renewable countersigned by the magistrate of the district where the recruiter desired
to work. The remuneration was based upon the colonies for which they worked for.
The recruiters were mostly male and operated their own business. They employed
unlicensed recruiters called arkatis who mobilized the labourers by hook or crook
given their local knowledge and familiarity of place, local issues, customs and language.
It was mandated by the colonial government that the migration of labourers should be
voluntary; no forceful recruitment of labourers by the recruiting agencies for commercial
gains was to be done. The immigration records in Calcutta reveals little evidence of
fraud, deception of kidnapping to mobilize the indentured migrants (Erickson1930;
Emmer1986). However, according to Hugh Tinker, recruiter and their unlicensed sub-
agents arkatis with local knowledge and contacts lured the vulnerable by telling them
fancy tales of promised opportunities that was to be exploited. So, forced banishments,
kidnapping and deception were adopted to meet the increasing demand of the labourers
for commercial interests by the recruiters (Tinker1974). Even without checking the
migrant’s background so as to meet the given quotas by the recruiting agencies, they
were transported to do hard agricultural labour. For instance, in the case of Natal
during 1891-92, labours dispatched to Natal included travellers, weavers, shopkeepers,
palanquin bearers, beggars and policemen, all of whom were generally unsuited for
unskilled agricultural work (Tinker1974).
Ports of Embarkation of Indian Indentured Labourers

S. Year Calcutta Madras Bombay/ French Ports

No. Karachi
01. 1856-61 14,533(66.5) 6479(29.6) 860(3.9) N.A
02. 1871-70 1,22,241(67.5) 56,356(31.1) 2479(1.4) N.A
03. 1870-79 1,42,793(78.4) 19,104(10.5) N.A. 20,269(11.1)
56
 Indentured Labour
04. 1880-89 97,975(76.0) 21,653(16.8) N.A. 9351(7.2) Migration

05. 1891-1900 1,06,700(76.0) 28,550(16.9) 33,343(19.8) N.A

06. 1907-16 66,839(62.3) 32,369(30.2) 8016(7.5) N.A
Source: Brij V.Lal, Girmitiyas: The Origins of the Fiji Indians, 1983.

Furthermore, majority of the migrants were marginal farmers, landless agricultural

labourers, illiterate and gullible poor village folk who were recruited by deception as
they were ignorant of the reality of the outside world. The Sanderson Committee reported
to the British parliament that many Indian emigrants did not fully understand all the
implications of indenture ship and migration (Vertovec1995:59). Of course, there was
a substantial voluntary migration of labourers at the same time as there was constant
demand for more labourers from the colonies, Arkatis were always looking out for
people who they trapped at fairs, pilgrim centres, towns, and other places of
congregation by offering them food and other indulgence. They were transported to
licensed recruiters from whom the arkatis received their commission. The licensed
recruiter transferred them to a depot where they were briefed about the terms and
conditions of indenture contract, followed by thorough medical check up and finally
their travel papers were prepared before boarding the ship by which they were to
travel. They were herded to the lower deck of the overcrowded ship and were
subjected to many hardships during traumatic long journeys. Many could not survive
because of unhygienic conditions on the ship and the dead were thrown into the sea.
Those who survived became ‘Jahaji’ or ‘jahazi bhai’ (Ship brothers) or Jahaji Behan
(Ship sisters) as traditional barriers of caste, religion and language were eroded during
the long journey to the colonies.
Check Your Progress 1
1. Define the term ‘indenture’?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
2. What was the principle of Indian indentured labour system?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

38.4 PLANTATION LIFE AND RESISTANCE

The plantation life regimented and restricted the free movement of labourers outside
the estates. The workers were confined to the estates through formal and informal
systems of control (Swan1990). Conditions of contracts were harshly enforced through
labour –coercive techniques (Swan1985). Indian managers or overseer known as
‘Sirdars’ were appointed to manage the effective working of the labourers. The everyday
reality of plantation life for the labourers was marked by grinding over work, low
wages, malnutrition, persistent illness, and issue of poor housing, lack of medical 57
Colonial facilities as well as range of punitive measures, including beatings, fines and imprisonment
(Tiara1995:66). The introduction of legislations to stop the abuse of the employers
over the labourers was ineffective. Because, as Tinker notes: “The watch dogs-the
protectors and the Magistrates– supposedly set by the government to ensure that the
harsh laws were not exceeded, were in most cases themselves involved in the system:
they identified with the interest of the planters, not with those of a benevolent government,
still less those of the coolies” (Tinker1974:178). Hard labour and hostile conditions
impacted the health of indentured workers, leading to high rates of job-related and
environmentally related diseases and mortality (Brian and Brian1982). Fiji stood first
in terms of suicide rate of labourers at 64 per 100, followed by Natal (Brain and
Brain1982). On the face of tough working environment, many poems and ballads
were composed by themselves describing their life on the plantations. The work of
‘coolitude’ captures the experience of Indentured labourers through their poems and
ballads(see for details Carter, et al 2002).

Adverse working conditions and persistent abuses led to collective actions by the
labourers which manifested through a variety of passive and active methods. In the
case of Fiji, a major strike broke out in the year 1886, where 132 workers marched
from Koronivia to the agent general of immigration in Suva by carrying their work
instruments (Lal1984). In the colonies of Mauritius and Natal, a large scale strike
took place in the year 1872 and 1913 respectively (North-Coombes1990;
Bhana1990). Further, the labourers adopted an array of methods to show their anger
and dissent, including absenteeism, idleness, desertion, destruction of property and
tools of the employers and drunkenness (Thiara1995). However, their resistance against
the dominance of planters was controlled through more stringent legislations (Lal1984).

38.5 OVERVIEW OF INDIAN WOMEN UNDER

INDENTURE LABOUR SYSTEM
The experiences of Indian women indentured labourers in general have been under
explored by the scholars. But we could make a few generalizations about their status
and conditions based upon available peripheral studies. In the beginning, women hardly
joined the indentured labour work force as they were viewed as a burden by the
employers. Some efforts were made to induct women as indentured labour force in
1840s and 1850s. The hiring of women gained momentum after 1860s. The proportion
of women to men varied throughout the indenture period. It was finally decided to
have the ratio at 40:100 which remained in force throughout the indenture period. In
general, they were considered as ‘reserve labour’ by the employers though they
performed productive and reproductive roles. Indian women indentured labourers
performed tasks like hoeing, planting, weeding, cutting and other light work than men.
They worked eight to ten hours but were paid a fraction of male wages and received
half of the rations allotted to men (Beall1990). The Indian traditional patriarchy was
reconstituted in alien environment. They were subjected to negative stereotyping
and performed the traditional roles of daughter, wife and mother. At the same time,
they challenged the colonial and traditional patriarchy and exercised their agency to
assert their gender identities and created their own political space. For instance,
Valliamma Munuswami Mudliar of Tamil origin and Mrs. Bai Fatima sheikh Mehtab
and Kasturba Gandhi played a vital role in the Satyagraha struggle in 1913 in South
Africa (Hiralal 2010).
58
With regard to the condition of women under indenture in Fiji, Brij V.Lal observes that Indentured Labour
Migration
“Women, it has been shown here, generally suffered greater hardships than men. They
shouldered the dual burden of plantation work, the double standards of morality, and
carried the blame for many of the ills of indenture. To be sure, they were not the chaste
heroines of Indian mythology that the Indian nationalists made them out to be, but
neither on the other hand, were they the immoral ‘doe rabbits of the overseers’ accounts”
(Lal1985:71). The sexual imbalance (the ratio of women to men was 40:100 in Natal
and 33:100 in Mauritius) resulted in sexual harassment and even murder of unfaithful
wives (Thiara1995). In Fiji, there were 230 cases of murder due to ‘sexual jealousy
between 1885 and 1920’ (Lal1984:148). However, while analysing the situation in
British Guiana in 19th century, Brian Moore observed that the paucity of women led to
a more bargaining power coupled with their independent earning capacity, ‘enhanced
their independence of the man or husband’ (Moore1984:12). In spite of oppressive
conditions and subordination to men, Natal Indian Indentured women managed their
gender relations well within Indian community and also with broader society of South
Africa (Beall 1990).

38.6 CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY

Though the Indentured labourers could not transplant the traditional Indian social and
cultural institutions, they adapted or negotiated to the new environment by culturally
borrowing from the host societies with the maintenances of a few of their own (Jain1993).
It led to the emergence of new identity that was based on their economic circumstances
in the host countries. At the same time, they were very reluctant to adapt to new values
and norms as they were transient labourers, so should be accepted back after their
eventual return to India. Moreover, as they were housed in cocooned plantation
environment, the preservation of Indian cultural values remained. Those labourers who
went to East Africa, Malaya and Ceylon maintained close ties with their villages, while
those who left for the Caribbean and Fiji had lost their ties given the nature of long
distance. Thus, the preservation of Indian cultural traditions is much visible in the host
countries closer to India than the far-off ones. The social institution of caste was no
longer an important social unit nor determined the social relations of Indians in the host
societies. But, it persisted in diluted forms in some host countries (Schwartz1967). As
the colonial government encouraged the Furnivall notion of ‘plural society’
(Furnivall1948) which restricted the interactions of Indians in the economic spheres
only, this kind of arrangement favoured the Indian labourers to keep their cultural
values and norms intact to an extent. As stated earlier, the Indian labour migrants were
drawn from varied regional and social origins of India. But, there was a process of
cultural homogenization and the subsequent emergence of syncretism of Indian culture
lead to a construction of a common Indian identity. The disappearance of caste
boundaries favoured the integration of various social groups under Hindu identity. Later,
the Indian community was marked by the process of great traditional Hinduism or
sankritization and syncretism in the religious sphere.
The ‘Coolie’ identity of Indentured labourers had now been replaced by a burgeoning
middle and entrepreneurial class of descendants of indentured labourers who were
catching up with the economic growth of their respective host countries. For instance,
“a successful merchant Rahamut came as a boy with his parents from India. He never
attended school and he worked full-time in the ‘paragrass gang’ on the estate. After his
parent’s indenture ship ended, he worked fulltime as a huckster and travelled throughout
59
Colonial Trinidad selling dry-goods. By 1888, he had enough money to buy a property in High
Street, the main street of San Fernando, and established a store there. Later, he set up
branches at Point-a- Pierre, Siparia and Port of Spain. In addition, he owned cocoa
estates in Longdenville, Tableland, Siparia and Penal Rock Road. Today, one of his
grandsons is engaged in the essential business of bottling and selling liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG)” (Proceedings of the International Seminar, 2-3 June, 2003.P.24). Likewise,
there are numerous examples of rags to riches stories among the descendants of
Indentured labourers across the world.

38.7 INDIAN INDENTURED LABOUR MIGRATION

ACROSS THE WORLD: CASE STUDIES
Mauritius
The British government chose the island of Mauritius to be the first site for what it
called ‘the great experiment’ of Indian Indentured labour force in 1834. It set precedent
for the other British, French and Dutch colonies in connection with the Indian indentured
labour migration. The first batch of Indian indentured labourers arrived after a travel of
ten weeks from the port of Calcutta in the year 1834. Before the arrival of Indian
indentured labourers, Mauritius had experimented with Indian convicts. The sugar
industry came into being in the 1790s and it was expanded after the British conquest.
Between 1834 to 1910, over a half million indentured migrants entered Mauritius; the
ratio of Indian women Indentured labourers was at 33:100 (Tinker1974). The labourers
were mainly drawn from Northern India, followed by erstwhile Madras and Bombay
presidencies (Tinker1974). Out of the imported indentured migrants, 31 percent of the
labourers had returned back to India (Tiara1995). After the end of the indenture
period, Indians were encouraged to settle, resulting in the emergence of majority ethnic
community of Mauritius. They are culturally and politically active, retaining strong ties
with India.
Mauritius is now an independent republic with a constitutional monarchy consisting of
an Indian President and an Indian Prime Minister. The immigration Depot in Mauritius
– Aapravasi ghat- was built in 1849 to receive indentured labourers from India, China
and Southeast Asia, Madagascar, Eastern Africa and so on, which was declared as
UNESCO heritage site recently.
South Indian Indentured Emigration to the Sugar Colonies

S.No Country Numbers Percentage of Total

01. Mauritius 1,44,342 31.9
02. Natal 103,261 67.9
03. British Guiana 15,065 6.3
04. Fiji 14,536 23.8
05. West Indies 12,975 N.A
06. French West Indies 330 2.0
07. Reunion 2131 14.2

60 Source: Brij V. Lal, Girmitiyas: The Origins of the Fiji Indians, 1983
The Caribbean Indentured Labour
Migration
The sugar plantations of the tropical Caribbean countries greatly demanded unskilled,
cheap labour force in the absence of slaves as well as locals. British Guiana was the
first Caribbean country to receive Indian indentured labourers in the year 1838 and
other Caribbean countries followed suit (see table below for the details). Four years
after Mauritius, in the year 1838, the hill coolies from Northern India were imported
through the Calcutta Company of Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Co by John Gladstone
who owned sugar estates in British Guiana. On May 5, 1838, the ship by the name of
‘Whitby’ arrived in British Guiana from Calcutta with 249 immigrants on board, after a
voyage of 112 days. Trinidad received the third largest contingent of Indian indentured
labourers mainly drawn from Northern India. Almost 1,45,000 Indians arrived to work
in Trinidad, out of which 1,20,000 had come by 1850. In the case of Jamaica, the first
batch of 261 Indians arrived in on the barque Blundell Hunter on 8 May 1845. They
came from Northern India and comprised of 200 men, 28 women under 30 years old
and 33 children under 12 years old. It received about 36,000 Indians over the years.
Indians came to Suriname between 1873 and 1916 only after the abolition of slavery
in 1863 in the Dutch colonies. The first shipment of 452 Indian indentured labourers on
board of ‘Lala Rookh from Calcutta reached on 5 June, 1873. Over 37,000 Indian
Indentured labourers reached over the years. It seems that more than half a million
Indians were brought to the Caribbean between 1838 and 1917 (Vertovec1995).
They were commonly known as “East Indians” in the Caribbean world. Although
migrants were from South and other parts of India, the bulk of Indian migrants to the
Caribbean countries of either British or Dutch colonies came mainly from Northern
India especially from the Western part of Bihar and Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh,
embarked through the port of Calcutta. The ship journey from Calcutta to the Caribbean
took three to four months (later reduced to six weeks) having between 270 and 510
migrants on board (Vertovec1995; 59). After embarkation, they were taken to
plantations and were housed on the estates. The houses were nothing but wooden
barracks which were slave quarters earlier. They were permitted to cultivate a small
patch of land for growing vegetables and to keep cows or pigs. The poor drainage
system and lack of light and ventilation had led to spread of diseases like Malaria,
hookworm and so on. They had to work around nine hours per day and six days per
week. The work was allotted based on age, sex, ability and experience. Labour men
in general was given the task of forking and cutting cane under a overseer who was
usually an Indian and women did the task of weeding while the skilled estate workers
were made to work in the sugar mills. Besides, they also served the estates as carpenters,
stock keepers, grooms, and watchmen.
Indentured Indian Migration to the Caribbean

S.No Colony Period Immigrants

01. British Guiana 1838-1917 2,3,909
02. Trinidad 1845-1917 1,43,939
03. Guadeloupe 1854-1889 42,326
04. Jamaica 1854-1885 36,420
05. Dutch Guina 1873-1916 34,304
06. Martinique 1854-1889 25,509
61
Colonial
07. French Guiana 1856-1877 6,551
08. St.Lucia 1858-1895 4,354
09. Grenada 1857-1885 3,200
10. St.Vincent 1860-1865 2,472
11. St.Kitts 1860-1865 337
12. St.Croix 1862 321
Total 5,38,642
Source: Roberts and Byme(1966); Singaravelou (1990); Tinker (1974).

After the five year indenture period ended, they had the provision of return passage.
But most of them stayed on and chose to remain in the Caribbean for host of reasons:
expanding opportunities for work; gaining land in lieu of return passage; achieving
social position faster than in the home country and so on. Further, many disliked the
idea of returning back to India as they would be treated or rejected for having lost their
purity of caste since they had crossed the ocean and had lived with unfamiliar lower
castes or disregarded the caste taboos. They also realized that their resettlement would
be tough and time consuming. Some did comeback with their savings and faced many
hardships. Hence, they soon returned back. It seems that not more than a quarter of
the Indian immigrants to the Caribbean returned to India (Roberts and Byne1966).
The free Indian indentured labourers, as early as the 1860s, availed Crown lands that
were offered by the colonial government in lieu of their return passage, which facilitated
them to become independent farmers and later emerged as the largest producers of
sugarcane and rice in countries like British Guiana and Trinidad. Some of them diverted
themselves to take up various occupations and entrepreneurship. Indians gradually
gained a position and recognition in the plural society of Caribbean world. Nevertheless,
they faced discrimination and ethnic tensions in the wake of decolonization in countries
like Trinidad, British Guiana (Guyana) and Surinam. In the case of Suriname, the
descendants of the Indian labourers have been emigrating to various other countries
due to the persistence of racial strife, resulting in scattering across the globe and eventually
have become a transnational Indian community.
Fiji
The conquest of Fiji by the British in 1874, led to the promotion of plantation agriculture.
Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon- the first governor of Fiji had initiated the import of Indian
indentured labourers after numerous work experiments with labourers from the Pacific
Islands. Between 1879 and 1916, a total of 60, 965 Indians landed in Fiji (Gillion1962).
The majority of the Fiji labourers were drawn from the United provinces, Bihar and
Central provinces; 75 percent recruits embarked from Calcutta and after 1903, 25
percent left from Madras (Lal1984). The social origin of the Indian labourers to Fiji
were 34.8 percent from middle castes like Ahir, Kurmi, Kahar, etc., 26.2 percent from
lower castes of Chamar, Kori, Pasi, etc.,, while 3.7 percent were from the allied
castes of Brahmans, Kshatriyas (10 percent) and Banias (3.5 percent) (Lal1984:130).
In comparison with other colonies, the average age of recruits was low in Fiji; 42
percent of men and 45 percent of the women were under 20, the remainder being
under 30 (Tinker1974). Historian ken Gillion was told by the girmitiyas that plantation
life was narak (hell) in the 1950s. In the 1970s, it was described by Ahmed Ali as
Kasbhigar (brothel) (Lal 1983;1984).
62
In the aftermath of the indenture system, the descendants of the free migrants and ex- Indentured Labour
Migration
indentured labourers established their living with agriculture and started leasing lands
from the colonial sugar companies for trade and commerce (Lal2004:22-23). The
Indo-Fijians have continued to play a major role in the trade and commerce sector. At
the time of independence, Indo-Fijians (48.6%) slightly outnumbered the majority native
Fijians who constituted 46.2% of Fiji’s multiracial population (Lal1990:115). For the
past 34 years, Fiji has witnessed coup d’etat first in 1987 and then in 2000 led by the
indigenous Fijians. As a result of military coups, discriminatory legal provisions and
rising fundamentalism, the Indo-Fijian community was forced to leave the country.
They migrated to a diverse range of countries within and beyond the Pacific, from
Southern hemisphere countries such as New Zealand and Australia, to Canada and
the United States in the North. As a result, they emerged as a transnational community
across space. The constitution which was reformed in 2013 has provided a new hope
for better treatment of the Indian community and political stability of the country.
South Africa/ Natal
The province of Kwazulu/Natal in South Africa- a British colony- received a bulk of
Indian indentured labourers between 1860 to 1911, because of its fertile sugarcane
plantations which faced a shortage of cheap labour force. After two weeks of journey,
the first ship named ‘Truro’ carrying 342 intended migrants arrived at the Durban
harbour on November 16, 1860(Anonymous report). The second ship ‘Belvedere’
carrying the same number of passengers reached the port on November 26, 1860(ibid).
Of those transported to Natal, two-thirds embarked from Madras and a third from
Calcutta; nearly 60 percent of the Tamil-speaking migrants from three districts in Madras,
North and South Arcot and Chingle put (Beall1982). By the end of abolition of indenture
in the year 1911, the total number of Indians immigrants to South Africa was estimated
at 1,42,670 (Chattopadhyay 1970: 39). The depressing trade and human rights
violations led to the discontinuation of labourers between 1866 and 1874. On hearing
the atrocities against Indian indentured labourers, it was banned in 1911 due to the
mounting pressure from the Indian National Congress. Despite many hardships and
subjugation to racist laws, only about 23 percent of the Indians returned to India by
1911. In Natal, the descendants of Indian labourers entered into diverse occupations
though the apartheid policy by the white government which gradually restricted their
economic activities (Bhana and Brain1990). The East African countries had also received
indentured labourers from India, they were mainly utilised for public works related
activities than plantation related works (Tinker1974; 1977).
French Colonies
Apart from the British colonies, the French colonies also received Indian indentured
labourers during the 18th and 19th centuries. The abolition of slavery took place in
1848 in the French colonies leading to a labour shortage like the British colonies. The
French colonies of Reunion Island, Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana received
Indian indentured labourers. The French could recruit the Indian labourers from their
small coastal colony of Pondicherry, but it was insufficient. After persuasion from the
British government, transportation of labourers was permitted from British India by the
Act of XIVI of 1860 to the French colonies of Reunion Island, Martinique, Guadeloupe
and French Guiana. The vast majority of Indian immigrant coolies were of Tamil origin:
practically all in Martinique, 87% in Reunion, 60% in Guadeloupe. In the two latter
63
Colonial islands, the remainder of the indentured immigrants were from Northern Indian and
were called ‘Calcutta’ because of their port of embarkation. Immigrants from Southern
India were generally called ‘Malabars’. Indentured immigrants from India were
suspended in Reunion in 1883 and in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1885. It was
halted completely in 1917. The Reunion Island received a small number of Muslim
immigrants from North West (Sind and Gujarat) India, locally known as Z’arabes
between 1920 and 1935. Indians still continued to live mainly on the cultivation of
sugar cane and bananas and so on in these countries. At the same time, they penetrated
more and more into territory sector now. In Martinique, the small Indian minority had
culturally assimilated well with the host societies except for a few traces of the Hindu
religion. In Guadeloupe, as the Indian population was larger than in Martinique, they
were in a position to preserve Indian cultural traditions while they integrated well with
the economy. In the case of Reunion, the socio-economic integration was well under
way. However, the revival of Hindu culture had led to a decline in cultural assimilation.
Malaysia and Singapore
The Indian connections to the then Malaya Peninsula (presently known as Malaysia)
and the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 dates back to historical antiquity
given its proximity to India. But the arrival of Indians as indenture labourers through
Indentured labour scheme began when the plantation agriculture was expanded in
19th century. The period from mid 1840s to 1910 was marked by Indian indentured
labour migration to Malayan plantations. It has been estimated that between 1844 and
1910, some 2,50,000 indentured Indian labourers entered Malaya (Jain1993:2364).
As elsewhere, indentured labour in Malaya was regulated through contracts. In order
to meet the growing labour demand, there was parallel recruitment mechanism called
Kangani (See for details in the next unit) from the 1870 onwards along with indenture
labour system. Later, the Kangani system became the dominant mode of labour
recruitment after the abolition of indentured labour system in 1910.
Check your progress 2
3. Why did the Indians migrate as indentured labourers?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
4. Explain the indenture labour system in the Caribbean countries?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
5. What were the reasons for the abolition of indenture ship?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
64
 Indentured Labour
38.8 LET US SUM UP Migration

Indentured labour migration had led to displacement of Indians to various locales under
the colonial rule. Indian indentured labourers made tremendous sacrifices for their
survival in an alien, harsh and oppressive environment. They turned the condition of
adversity into advantage by dint of their hard work, grit and determination. With their
resilience and tenacity, they made huge strides in various fields of the host societies.
The profile of the fourth and fifth generation descendents of Indian indentured labourers
is not the same as like their forefathers in the early part of twentieth century. At the
same time, in the post-colonial situation, they have been facing ethnic or racial
discrimination in countries like Fiji, Kenya, Trinidad, Suriname, Malaysia and so on
due to majoritarian nationalism, leading to their emigration to various countries of the
world again. Hence, they have become ‘twice migrants’(see for details
Bhachu1985).The year 2017 was commemorated as the centenary year of indentured
labour abolition. Given their enviable socio-economic position and persistence of Indian
culture, the government of India further needs to leverage upon the old Indian Diaspora
or people of Indian origin as they have been classified under Indian policy documents
for national development, though the engagements had already begun in the recent
years.

38.9 KEY WORDS

Zamindari System : It is the system of landholding and revenue collection
by zamindars

38.10 REFERENCES / SELECTED READINGS

Bhachu. P. (1985). Twice Migrants : East African Settlers in Britain. London and New
York: Tavistock Publication.

Chattopadhyay, K.P. (1970). Ancient Indian Culture Contacts and Migrations. Calcutta:
Sanskrit college.

Bhana,S. And J.Brain. (1990).(eds). Setting Down Roots: Indian Migrants in South
Africa1860-1911. Johannesburg: Wit-watersrand University Press

Beall, Jo. (1990). Women under indenture in colonial Natal 1860-1911. In C.Clarke.,et
al. (eds) South Asians Overseas: Migration and ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambrdige
University Press.57-74.

Brereton, B. 1981. A History of Modern Trinidad 1783-1962. London: Heinemann

Cohen, Robin. (1995). (Ed). The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Clarke, Colin., Ceri Peach and Steven Vertovec. (1991). (eds.). South Asians Overseas:
Migration and ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Carter, Marina. (1996). Voices from Indenture. Experiences of Indian Migrants in the
British Empire. London: Leicester University press.
65
Colonial
38.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – POSSIBLE
ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
1. Indenture refers to a legal and binding agreement, contract, or document between
two or more parties. ... Historically, indenture has also referred to a contract
binding one person to work for another for a set period of time (indentured servant),
particularly European immigrants.
2. The indenture system was based on the principle of penal contract labour and so
was a form of ‘un-free labour’. The penal sanctions were used as an instrument to
condition the erring labourers and mainly to oppress them.
Check Your Progress 2
3. Many Indians agreed to become indentured labourers to escape the widespread
poverty and famine in the 19th century. Some travelled alone; others brought their
families to settle in the colonies they worked in.
4. For the indentured immigrants, life on the estates was bound by the terms and
conditions of the contract which they had signed; though most were illiterate in all
of the three languages in which the contract was formulated. In effect, the Indians
were not free during their periods of indenture. They could not demand higher
wages, leave the estate without permission, live off the estates, or refuse the work
assigned to them.
5. The free return passage was one of the basic principles of indenture ship at the end
of the contract. There was a disparity in arrangements for return passage among
the labour importing colonies.

66
 Indentured Labour
UNIT 39 KANGANI/MAISTRY LABOUR Migration

MIGRATION
Structure
39.0 Learning Objectives
39.1 Introduction
39.2 Kangany system in Ceylon/Sri Lanka
39.3 Evolution of Kangany System in Ceylon
39.4 Decline of Kangany System in Ceylon
39.5 Kangany System in Malaya/Malaysia
39.6 Context of Indian Labour Migration to Burma/Myanmar
39.7 Main Features and Characteristics of Maistry system of Burma.
39.8 Let us sum up
39.9 Key Words
39.10 References and Select Readings
39.11 Check your progress-Possible Answers

39.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the meanings, causes and main features of kangany/Maistry in
labour migration.
 Know the various processes and patterns of kangany/Maistry labour migration.
 Distinguish kangany/maistry labour migration from other forms of migration
during colonial era.
 Gain knowledge about its spread and impacts in home as well as in host
countries.

39.1 INTRODUCTION
The labour recruitment systems that emerged to replace indenture came to be known
as the kangany or kangani system in Ceylon(present Sri Lanka) and Malaya(present
Malaysia) and in Burma(present Myanmar) as the Maistrysystem(Amrith2011:34).
The Indian unskilled labour emigration during the colonial period is multidimensional or
varied in nature. The Kangany and Maistry systems were used as labour recruitment
mechanisms to outsource the Indian unskilled labourersenmasse to the then British
colonies namely Ceylon, Malaya and Burma during late 19 th and early 20th
centuries(Sandhu 1969;Lal 2007).
Relatively, the Kangany and Maistry systems were informal, less regulated, lesser
documented, cheaper and alternate contractual labour recruitment systems than the
formal, vast, regulated, documented efficient and familiar Indenture labour recruitment
system of the colonial era. Besides, thekangany or maistry recruitment systems were 67
Colonial perceived as ‘other’ or ‘insignificant. In contrast, it was nothing but a fallacy, it seems
that these systems were far more voluminous in magnitude than indentured
migration(Jaiswal2018).
The emigration of 30 million Indians to Burma, Ceylon and Malaya took place, out of
which 90 percent through Kangani and Maistry systems between 1834 and 1937(Cited
in Jaiswal 2018). Further, it was affirmed that over 1.7 million Indians were recruited
to work in Malaya (including Singapore), over 1.6 million to Burma and roughly about
1 million to Ceylon between 1840 and 1942 under the labour recruitment regimes of
Kangany and Maistry systems (Lal2007:53).
The labour recruits for the Kangany and Maistry systems were commonly drawn from
the erstwhile Madras Presidency of the British India. It was predominately Tamil labourers
in the case of Ceylon and Malaya and Telugu labourers in the case of Burma. It
seems that the Tamil region of Madras Presidency emerged as hinter land by providing
its surplus labour force to tea, coffee and rubber plantations of Western Ghats, Ceylon,
Malaya and for rice farming in Burma(Baker1984:179). Even though both the systems
had resemblance in terms of its nature and characteristics, it had differences interms
of its operations and labor regime. Let us analyze in detail about the functioning of the
Kangany and Maistry systems of the colonial period in the following sections.

39.2 KANGANY SYSTEM IN CEYLON/SRI LANKA

Ceylonwas the first British colony to receive the unskilled labourers through Kangany
system. Hence, the genesis of Kangany system can be traced with the expansion of the
plantation agriculture in Ceylonwhich demanded abundant unskilled labourers. The
term Kangani’ is derived from the Tamil language which has the following connotations
in English namely headman, foreman or overseer and supervisor.Kangany was recruiter
cum foreman or supervisor on the plantations. Under kangany system, Tamil foremen
working on a plantation was sent back to their villages in India by the planters to recruit
their kinsmen. Instead of relying on labour recruiters, planters took the help of trusted
workers, usually workers who had done well for themselves. Debt remained central to
the system(Amirth 2011:34).

39.3 EVOLUTION OF KANGANY SYSTEM IN

CEYLON
Since its inception, the Kangani system has evolved over the years.Kanganywas given
an advance money by the planter to recruit the labourers from his native village or
nearbyvillagers by telling them about high wages, savings, free and safe onward as
well as return passages. He would set out with a gang of intending labourers and would
conduct them to the estates. The earlyKangany system developed most likely in the
1820s, the latest in the early 1830s when Tamil labourers migrated seasonally in gangs
from the South Indian coastal districts to the up country of Ceylon. When Coffee
cultivation was introduced initially,around 10,000 Tamil labourers were recruited in the
1820s and 1830s through the Kanganisystem(Cited in cited in Heidemann1990:11).
After a half decade, there was a conversion of plantation crop from coffee totea and
rubber, leading to an increase of labourers numbering around 6,50,000 on the estates,
mostly through Kangani system(Jackson1938:24). With the expansion and extension
68
of plantation agriculture in Ceylon over the years, the planters increasingly relied Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
onKanganiesto get the needy labourers. It resulted in the different types of Kanganies
overa period of time. According to Heidemann, he distinguished six different types of
Kanganies namely the early Kangany, the professional Kangany, the crimping Kangany,
the head Kangany, the controlled Kangany and the contemporary
Kangany(Heidemann1990). It seems that the different types of Kangany systems co-
existed together in Ceylon at a same time.
As mentioned above, the early Kangany system had begun when the Coffee was
introduced as plantation crop in Ceylon. At this nascent stage, the earlykanganies who
were an elderly or experienced men from the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu recruited
his own kin groups or from his own village guiding them to reach the estates. Further,
he was like a patriarch for his labour gang who negotiated the wages with the planters.
He himself being a worker on the estates supervised his own relatives or his own
village men, leading them back to his village after the harvest of coffee beans. This
early Kangany system as an organized recruitment system remained in existence in
the first half of the 19thcentury (De Silva1962:484;Kumar1965:129). During this
phase,the intending migrant labourersfrom their village led by the Kanganies walked
up to Rameswaram, a coastal fishing town and took dhoneys(non mechanised
fishermen’s boat) to Talaimannar in Ceylon. From there, they walked for seven or
maximum ninedays covering around 220km by passing through dense jungles to reach
the upcountry estates of Ceylon(ibid). Given this tough journey and hostile conditions,
it was estimated that between the year 1841 and 1849, 25% of the Indian immigrants
had died in Ceylon (Roberts1966b; De Silva1965:299, 300). Based on the reports
from the hospitals in the 1840s, more than fifty percent of the admitted Indian migrants
had died(Vanden Driesen1982:13-17).
Later, the professional kanganysystem came into being in the 1850s as the planters
started advancing money for the recruitment. Under the professional kangany system,
a kangany received a sum of money as advance from the planter to pay for the transport
of intending labourers or coolies and he described about high wages and return
journey with substantial savings. After getting a sufficient number of labourers, he took
them to the coast and conducted them to the estate. In the words of Cave, “The
cangany receives a sum of money from the planter with which to engage ganags of
coolies in the Indian villages and to pay for their transport. With his he starts on his
quest. He details the wonderful story of Ceylon and high wages to the villagers telling
them how easily they can earn and save and return, till he obtains a sufficient number;
and then after the few formalities with the Zamindar’s men, whom he possibly bribes
with the gift of a few rupees or an umbrella to make matters swift and easy, he sets out
with his gang for the coast, advances their passage and conducts them to the
estate”(Cave1900:182-83).Despite severe economic problems, droughts, crop failures
and epidemics, the professional kangany took serious efforts to collect the labourers
to meet the greater demands of the Coffee plantations as he was making profit out of
labour recruitment(Wesumperuma1986;16-47).
As discussed above,the labour gangs were from the same village of kangany and thus
homogenous in nature under the early kangany system. In contrast, the recruited
labourers were heterogenous in nature, hailing from neighbouringor different villages,
unknown to eachother under the professional kangany system because of the
announcement for the labour recruitment at public places like markets and etc., Even
after the advent of professional kangany system, the hassle-free journey was not
69
Colonial guaranteed for the labourers, though rest houses were built on the way, many died
due to exhaustion and starvation as kanganies did not spend even one third of advances
given by the employers during the passage of the labourers. So, the labourers spent on
their own which led to accumulation ofdebts with kangany. On the estates, the
professional kanagnayreceived the wages in the name of the members of the gang and
paid a small fraction of the amount to the labourers and kept the rest to balance their
debt amount.
At times of labour shortage, some kanganieswere trying to recruit or approach the
labour gangs on the way to plantations from India through various ways and means.The
act was known as ‘crimping’. As crimping became a profitable business, some
professionalkanganies and head kanganies finally turned out to be ‘crimp
kanganies’.The crimp kanganies assisted the ‘ran away labourers’ from an estate to
find a work in other plantations. To avoid crimping, the planters introduced ‘tundu
system’ by which the planter sold his surplus labour force to his kangany by issuing the
receipt of cash or against a promissory note- a certificate called tundu. By the tundu,
the other planter who was need of labour force hired the labourers by paying the cash
to the kangany.This method helped the planters to recover the expenses incurred for
the recruitment of labourers as well as controlled the power of kangny over labourers.
It was known as tundu system that ensured more flexible labour supply. In general, the
introduction of professional recruiting system resulted in a systemic order for recruitment
and strengthened the kangany’s position on the plantations. Some kangany families
gained a monopoly on the labour force in a particular estate and became an influential
person between the labourers and planters. As the professional kangany system ensured
the permanent settlement of labourers on the plantations, subsequently, it led to an
emergence of new social order on the plantations.
Following the professional system of kangany, the crop conversion started in the 1880s
from coffee to tea production,a hierarchy basedhead kangany system came into being.
At the top, the senior kangany or head kangany, followed by, subkanganieswere also
known as silrakangany or cinnakangany at the bottom who were usually his relatives.
They were sent to India eitherto recruit labourers or had to supervise the labour force
of the head kangany in the estates. As there was demand for a permanent labour force
on the tea plantations, the head kangany was given huge advances to recruit the
needed labourers. The successful head kanganies started supplying labourers to several
estates. Over the years, these head kanganies have gained the professional skills
leading to attain a bargaining position over the planter. Further, he became an important
link or intermediary between the labourers and the management. Heaugmented his
income through various sources; advances for the recruitment of labourers; received
premium for every labourer on the completion of one year or a half year service; got
head money for every labourer who completed the contract at stipulated time.
Moreover, he was given the contractfor weeding and earth work on the plantations.
He owned small shops on the plantations. Not surprisingly, many head kanganies
became rather rich(Elliott and Whiehead1931:276).
As the labourers had settled permanently on the plantations, their relationships with
their native villages weakened and their dependence with kanganies became stronger.
SinceKangany became an inevitable figureunder the plantation social and economic
systems and monopolized the labour recruitment, the Ceylon government and planters
decided to control or restrict the power of kanganies and dependency on them. In the
first decade of the 20th century, they introduced two schemes namely the tin ticket
70 system and setting up of the Ceylon Labour Commission(CLC) for the recruitment of
labourers that controlled the operations of kangany. Subsequently, itpaved the way Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
for the advent of the controlled kangany system that remained in practice until 1939,
when migration was banned by the Indian government.
The first scheme, the tin ticket system, was implemented in 1901. As per the scheme,
the Ceylon government assumed the responsibility for the transportation of the recruits
from South India to the plantations in Ceylon and thus the duty of the kangany was
restricted to recruitment alone. Tin tickets were coins having been inscribed the number
of particular plantations given to the kangany. With the tin tickets, the kangany could
pay for himselfas well as for the recruit’s transportation and for stay in the camps. The
expenses were collected from the planter who recovered the amounts from the labourers
later. The tin ticket scheme was a successful and reduced the risks involved on the way
and had a strong control over the operations of kanganies. Two years after the
commencement of the tin ticket system 70% of all recruits came by this
scheme(Wesumperuma1986:66-69).
The second scheme was the Ceylon Labour Commission (CLC)- the private
organization working on behalf of the planters that opened its head office in
Thiruchirapalli in South India in 1904 and sub offices in the recruitment area. It paid the
advances directly to the labourers. The kanganies had to present the recruits before an
officer of the CLC who confirmed the good health status and the willingness of the
recruits. Thus, the CLC assisted and controlled the kanganies in the recruitment process.
Seventy percent of all labourers were recruited by the CLC in 1910 and it rose to
ninety five percent in 1931(Elliott and Whitehead 1931:284-86). In a nut shell,both
schemes had reduced the power and control of kanganiesover the recruitment process.
In addition to the reduction of power of kangany in the recruitment process, the power
of kangany was restricted on the plantations as well. Firstly, the Labour Ordinance No
9 of 1909 said that the wages would be paid monthly to the labourers directly, not by
the kanganies hereafter(Majorbanks and Marakkayar1917:10).
Secondly, the ‘Indian Emigration Act No.VII of 1922 led to the creation of the office
of the Controller of Indian Immigrant Labour in 1923 announced that no kangany or
any other recruiter was permitted to recruit from India unless he carried a license,
issued by the Controller.In the light of the above measures, Kanganies were no longer
the dominant or inevitable person on the plantation system of Ceylon.

39.4 DECLINE OF KANGANY SYSTEM IN CEYLON

The decline of the kangany system began in 1920s as there was a growth of political
consciousness due to the activism of trade union. Besides, the visiting of the Indian
national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru in 1927 and Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 added to
thepolitical awakening of the plantation labourers. Later, the various labour reforms
were introduced conditions based on the labour reports of the Agent of the Government
of India in Ceylon such as the Education Ordinance in 1921; the abolition of tundu
system in 1921; the implementation of Minimum wage act in 1929 and in 1930/31;
voting rights with pre-conditions.Owing to pressure from the trade union movements,
many head kanganies were replaced by staff members of the estate in 1940s that
resulted in disappearance of head kangany system in 1940 itself .”The kangany as a
worker-recruiter therefore virtually disappeared, but he continued his functions as
headman, patriarch, money –lender and shop keeper, according to circumstances. In
some instances, he might render valuable service both to the estate and to the worker; 71
Colonial in other cases, however, toomany openings undeniably existed for tyranny, extortion,
or embezzlement”(CSP, Labour Conditions in Ceylon, 1943:13).
Owing to the advent of the great depression in 1933, the trade union movement
witnessed a setback because of the planters who started repressing the movement
(Jayawardena1972:332-68). The revival of trade union movement took place in 1939.
The revisit of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1939 inspired the foundation of Ceylon Indian
Congress Labour Union. The Ceylon Workers Union—an offspring of the Ceylon
Indian Congress Labour Union- became the biggest trade union in Ceylon and emerged
as the most important political body of the Tamil plantation labourers until now.
At present, the contemporary kangany is a supervisor of lower rank in the present
plantation system. The contemporary Kangany is no longer the centre of the
system.Kanganies have become the member of a trade union and in many cases, they
are the local trade union leader. Though the life of the plantation labourers have improved
a lot, they remaincontinue to face many issues related to work and wages living in
deplorable conditions. They have become ‘ forgotten people’ due to negligence and
exclusion from the economic development measures by the successive Sri Lankan
government since independence.

39.5 KANGANY SYSTEM IN MALAYA/MALAYSIA

Like Ceylon, the kangany or kangani system was replicated in Malayaas well. Though
both looked identical or similar, the kangany system of Malaya was more formal and
organized than Ceylon. The role of the kangany as a recruiter of Indian labour immigration
to Malaya has been outlined in details in the works of Parmer(1960), Sandhu(1969),
Arasaratnam(1970), Tinker(1970), Jain(1970) and Stenson(1980).
The kangani system in Malaya gained a momentum when there was a crop conversion
from tea and coffee to rubber in the mid19th century.Adapa Satyanarayana puts it
“The rubber plantations heavily depended on kangany-recruits and the government
also adopted a policy of supporting kanganis. The increasing number of kangany-
recruits revealed the fact that kangany became the mainstay of labour recruitment for
rubber plantations”(Satyanarayana2011:16). The kangany system replaced the
indentured labour migration system after its abolition in 1910 because of the indenture
system failed to secure a large or enough supply of labourers. The kangnay system
was cheap and ensured regular inflows of needy labourers.
As Charles Gamba puts it, “indenture proved economically unsuccessful and socially
unsatisfactory. Furthermore….it did not satisfy the great demand for
labour”(Gamba1962:5). Further, this system wasconsidered as the best available option
as it was cost-effective, inexpensive and ensured the regular inflows of labourers in
comparison to indenture labour system(Kaur2003:192).So, Kangany recruitment system
was the dominant form of labour recruitment and control from circa 1910 to 1938 on
Malaysian plantations. In terms of the social composition of kanganies, they were
mainly of non-Brahmin castes but some belonged to theadi-dravida, paraiyan and
palla castes as well(Jain1993:2365).The kangany was usually linked to his recruits by
caste or even kinship(Amrith2011:34).R.K.Jainalso confirmed that family, kin and
caste ties were preserved and respected much more in the kangani system than under
indenture (Jain 1988:128).
72
The social composition of the labour force recruited by the kanganies was largely Dalit Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
communities and lower-castes and also members of higher agricultural castes too
migrated in large numbers (Amrith2011;Sandhu1969: Arasaratnam 1970; Jain 1970:
Mearns1975;Mahalingam 2011).Unlike Ceylon, kangany was not the paymaster of
his labour gang in Malaya and the employers paid wages directly to each labourers.
Hence, the hold of the kangany over the recruits or labour force was reduced
considerably in the context of Malaya (Sandhu1969:91).
The labour relationship of kangany was dynamic in nature. Not only he was the recruiter
cum foreman or overseer, but also was patron, negotiator, entrepreneur and financier
to the labourers. Thekangany intervened and took decisions on the professional as
well as domestic disputes of the labourers. Thus, there was ‘on’ and ‘off’ relationship
between the both. Further, the Kanganies acted as an ‘inevitable link’ or ‘intermediary’
between the planters and labourers on the Malasyian plantation economic
structure(Breman1984; Jain 1993). Despite the close ties of ascription between the
kangany and his labour gang on Malayan plantations, he was not considered as one
among the equals as he was a representative or an agent of the employer by his labour
gang.The kangany was not “mediator of conflicts between labour and capital; he was
very much the agent of capital and his primary role was to subject labour to the rigorous
discipline required by the plantation production system”(Ramasamy1992:99).
The kangany system of Malaya provided and met the demand of the labour, after its
existence for a few decades, it came to an end in 1938 after the ban of Indian migration
to Malaya.
Table-1

Labour Country Period Indian Immigrants

Recruitment
Systems
Kangani Ceylon/Sri Lanka 1852-1937 1,500,000
Malaya/Malaysia 1852-1937 2,000,000 (includes
indenture also)
Maistry Burma/Myanmar 1852-1937 2,500,000
(Table: Adapted and complied from N.Gangulee.1947. Indians in the Empire
Overseas: A Survey, London: New India.p 238. And Colin Clarke, Ceri Peach
and Steven Vertovec (eds.).1990. South Asians Overseas: Migration and
Ethnicity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.pp8-9).
Check Your Progress 1
Note : a) Write your answer in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit
1. What is the meaning of the term of ‘kangany’?
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Colonial .......................................................................................................................
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2. How many types of kanganies were in Ceylon?

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3. Write a brief note on the kangany system in Malaya?

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Maistry System

39.6 CONTEXT OF INDIAN LABOUR MIGRATION

TO BURMA (PRESENT MYANMAR)
Based upon the archaeological, literary and folklore sources, the different streams of
Indian labour migration from the different parts of India to Burma can be traced back
from pre-historic to historicalperiods(Majumdar1955). The early Indian immigrants
were the deported Indian princes, religious mendicants and merchants who were
driven by socio-economic and political motives. The successive Anglo-Burmese war
beginning from 1824-1885 facilitated the movement of the Indian migrants such as
camp followers of the British troops consisted of primary traders, sailors, sepoys, civil
servants and labourers. The emigration of Indians to Burma gained momentum after
the annexation of Burma by the British during 19th century. Even though Indian migration
to Burma had began in 1830s, it gained momentum in 1880s after the annexation of
Burma with India. The works of Kondapi (1951), Adapa Satyanarayana(2001),
Chakravarti(1971) and Jaiswa(l2018) provide detailed discussion on the migration of
Indians to Burma.
74
The mass exodus of Indian labourers over the years was growing exponentially because Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
of its proximity and a viable labour recruitment system known as –Maistry which was
a variant of kangany system. Unlike Malaya, the Maistry system was the only exclusive
labour recruitment mechanism to meet the growing demand of the unskilled labourers
for the colonial economy of Burma. The Indian mobility to Burma was sustained,
regulated and stimulated by the networks of maistry , Indian shipping agents and sub
agents and Chettiyars a Tamil merchant caste that was not only the back bone of
Burmese agricultural economy, but also funded the maistries for their recruitments as
well.
The following push factors such as exploitative land revenue structure, landlessness,
recurrent famines, epidemics, caste restrictions and etc., forced the unskilled
Indianlabourers to take up emigration to Burma as an escape route from the vicious
cycle of poverty since it assured regular employment, higher wages better health and
living conditions beside a relief from caste restrictions. Majority of Indian migrants to
Burma were from the peninsular parts of the British India.Ritesh Kumar Jaiswal puts
it”Migrants largely comprised of Telugu, Tamil and Uriyalabourers coming from Ganjam,
Godavari, Vizag, Ramnad, and Tanjore regions of Southern India. Most of them
belonged to the lower and “untouchable” castes, and the agricultural class”(Jaiswal
2018:51).It was basically a Telugu phenomenon as the majority of labour recruits
drawn from the Andhra region of erstwhile Madras Presidency. The Telugu speaking
people in Burma were known as “Coranghees” to the local people as well as the
press and government. Since the Andhra migrated in earlier times from a port called
Korangi in the present day East Godavari District of Coastal Andhra Pradesh in South
India.Satyanarayana2001;3). The recruitment of laborers by the maistries were not
only for agricultural and plantation or rural related works but also a substantial
labourerswere also recruited as urban labour work force for the various sectors of
colonial economy of Burma. TheIndian labourmigrants in general were transient
andcirculatory in nature(Satyanarayan2001;Jaiswal2018).

39.7 MAIN FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF

MAISTRY SYSTEM OF BURMA
The word‘maistry’ is believed to be derived from the Portuguese word ‘mestre’ which
means ‘master’ in English. It was also informally used to denote a labour contractor
who enters into an agreement or written contract with an organization or employers to
supply the requisite labour force for a specified period(Kondapi195;Jaiswal2018).
Maistries were generally drawn from the higher castes of Indian men who could speak
fluent Burmese and enjoyed a good position in his native places and in place of
work(Jaiswal 2018:59). Maistry was a recruiter cum supervisor for labourers employed
in mills, factories, and other commercial and industrial establishments.Not only maistries
largely recruited the unskilled Indian labourers for the European firms, but also for
non-European firms like the Burmese, Indians and Chinese. Maistries had carried out
the recruitment from “their native villages/towns/region/caste; in many cases they had
kinship ties or friendly relations with recruited labourers”(Jaiswal2018:60).Maistries
were not only recruiting their village men, kin and friends but also extended their
recruitment drive by inducing strangers or unknown persons whom they came across
at the time of recruitment.so, they extended their network beyond these ascriptive ties
during the phase of rising demand for labourers. And also, they faced severe competition
from the shipping companies that employed their own agents and sub agents for 75
Colonial recruiting the prospective labour migrants. Under the circumstances,maistries used the
inducements tactics to secure labourers at any cost. It resulted in malpractices
like”abduction, misrepresentation of wages, work, facilities and even destinations at
times”(Jaiswal2018:61).
The intending emigrants were given cash advances by the maistry. The advance money
helped them to clear their loans and to free themselves from the shackles of debts
acquired from the native landlords and money lenders. Cash advances also included
the cost of transportation to the colony and for sustenance in the initial period of their
stay. The advance was recovered through monthly deductions. In order to fulfil his
obligations to the employers for supply of requisite labourers, the maistries insisted the
labourers to sign a contract or agreement prior to embarkation. Unlike the kangany
and Indenture systems, the labourers gave an undertaking to serve the maistry, not
under the actual employer for a stipulated period of time. They had to acknowledge
cash advances as debt owned by the labourers. Neither the terms of service nor the
actual amount of debt owed by the laboueres was mentioned on the promissory note/
contract. The gullible, illiterate and ignorant labourers gave their thump impressions
on blank stamped papers.They also acknowledged that the cash advances were
considered as debt owned by the labourers. Under this context, the maistries had a
free will over labourers, so they were coercive and exploited the labourers in favour of
their vested interests. The maistries not only recruited the labourers from India, but
also recruited the labourers who came to Burma on a voluntary basis for saw mill
industry over there. The passing of the following two acts namely the Workmen’s
Breach of contract Act of 1869 and the labour act of 1876 established and legitimized
the maistrylabour recruitment system in Burma. There was an imbalance of sex-ratio
as women migrants never formed more than ten percent of the population. For
instance,According to Jaiswal, “the average male-female ratio of different Indian
immigrant communities in Burma was 19F:100M, worst being the case with Oriyas
(3F:100M) and Chittagonians (9F:100M)” (Jiaswal 2018:57-58).
The maistry system had an informal internal hierarchy –labour contractor at the top,
head maistry, charge maistry and gang masitry at the bottom level-that depended
upon the strength of labourers employed under a maistry. As the evidence states that,
“The labourcontractor, the head maistry, the charge maistry and the gang maistry
constituted the hierarchy of middlemen employers. A man in charge of a small gang of
between ten and twenty labourers was a gang maistry, and a maistry having under his
control several such gangs was a charge maistry. A maistry in charge of the entire
labour organization of a particular firm or company was the head maistry, while
thelabourcontractor was a superior individual who was under a contract to supply and
maintain the necessary labour force as stipulated in the contract”(Kondapi1951:41).
Thus, the maistry system was relatively structured, hierarchically graded and had a
well-defined labour relationship.
The main characteristics of the maistry system was the enslavement of labourers to the
middlemen-employers due to debt- bondage relationship. maistries had control of
disbursement of wages and had the power of hire and fire of the labourers. Thus, the
maistry system gave the maistries more freedom in exercising power over the labourers
vis-a-vis the employers. Adapa Satyanarayana puts it “debtbondage and enslavement
of labour to the middlemen was the hallmark of maistry system. Different layers of
maistry system at various levels curtailed and restricted labourer’s freedom for bargain
and betterment. The extent of the maistry’s control and his opportunities for extortion
76
were evident for the fact that he advanced loans to labourer as an inducement for Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
immigration, regulated labourers’ employment, controlled the disbursement of wages,
besides being vested with an arbitrary power of selection and dismissal of
labourers”(Satyanarayana2001:14-15).
The advance-debt method of maistry system was given legal validity through the
Workmen’s Breach of Contract Act of 1859 which served to restrict, more vigorously,
labourer’s freedom of mobility and employment.Further, the maistry could seek legal
aid against labourers who deserted or bolted before a full settlement of his debts as
mentioned in the signed contracts through this act. The defaulters could be sentenced
for three months or fine of the sum of due amount, or both. The act also permitted a
labour to go home for an urgent work and at the same time ensured a labour’s return
by keeping family members as hostage. Subsequently, the act was used as an instrument
of oppression by the maistries for curbing labourer’s freedom of employment, bargaining
power, and for establishing an absolute control over the entire labour market.
Under maistry system, though the colonial state was not involved in terms of recruitment,
immigration-emigration or signing of the contracts, It regulated the enforcement of the
terms of contracts through legislative measures which strengthened the informal modes
of control by maistries over the labourers. As wages were deducted for the advance
debt, they received a meager amount which was not sufficient for sustenance and for
remittance back home, so, the labourers started borrowing money from the maistries,
local shop keepers and the Chettiars for higher interest. So, it led to an accumulation of
advance debt money that resulted in a vicious cycle of poverty. With all its oppressive
and exploitative characteristics, the maistry system of labour recruitment continued
until its abolition in 1937.
Check Your Progress 2
1. Give a summary of Indian labour migration to Burma?
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2. What are the types of maistries?

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77
Colonial .......................................................................................................................
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3. Give a short note on important features of maistry system of Burma?

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39.8 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we discussed about the coloniallabour recruitment systems such as kangany
and maistrythat facilitated the emigration of the Indian unskilled migrants to Ceylon,
Malaya and Burma under colonial regime at large scale, which led to‘A New System
of Slavery’(Tinker1974)’ after the abolition of slavery in 1833 in the West. Given its
volume and size of labourmigrants, it is as significant as the indenture system of colonial
period. These systems were confined to the peninsular India only. Even though both
looked similar in many ways, it had differences too. With its inherent exploitative and
oppressive features, these systems assisted the expansion of colonial capitalism in south
Asia and southeast Asia and also paved a way for the spread of Indians in these regions.

39.9 KEY WORDS

Kangany : Kangany is an anglicized form of the Tamil word ‘kankani’ and
describes persons who overseeworkers(kan means ‘eye’). Other
forms of spelling are‘cangani’, Khangani’, ‘canghani’ and similar
forms, but the most frequently adopted spelling is‘Kangany’ with
the plural form ‘Kanganies’. The term was originally used for those
whosupervised the agricultural labourers on temple land in Tamil
Nadu, and was later adopted for therecruiters of labourers.
Maistry : The word ‘maistry’ is believed to be derived from the Portuguese
word ‘mestre’ which means ‘master’ in English. It was also loosely
used to denote alabour contractor who enters into an agreement
or written contract with an organization or employers to supply the
requisite labour force for a specified period. The term is commonly
used by the Tamil working class.

39.10 REFERENCES AND SELECT READINGS

Amrith, Sunil S.2010.Indians Overseers? Governing Tamil Migration to Malaya, 1870-
1941.Past and Present.208(231-261).
78
————————2011.Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia. Cambridge: Kangani / Maistry Labour
Migration
Cambridge University Press
Arasaratnam, S .1970. Indian in Malaysia and Singapore. Oxford University Press:
Kuala Lumpur.
Baker, CJ .1984. An Indian Rural Economy, 1880-1955: The Tamil Nadu
Countryside. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Breman, Jan. 1989.Taming the Coolie Beast. Oxford University Press. Delhi.
Chakravarti. N. R.1971. The Indian minority in Burma: the rise and decline of an
immigrant community. London: Oxford University Press.
Colin Clarke, Ceri Peach and Steven Vertovec (eds.).1990. South Asians Overseas:
Migration and Ethnicity.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
De Silva, K M.1965. Social Policy and Missionary Organizations in Ceylon 1840-
1855, The Royal Commonwealth Society, Imperial Studies No.XXVI.London,
Longmans.
Elliot, E.C., and F.J. Whitehead.1931. Tea planting in Ceylon, (second edition),
published by the Times of Ceylon.
Gamba,Charles,1962. The National Union of Plantation Workers. Singapore:
Eastern Universities Press.
Gangulee,N.1947. Indians in the Empire Overseas: A Survey.London: New India

Heidemann, Frank.1990. Kanganies in Sri Lanka and Malaysia: Recruiter-cum-

Foremen as a sociological category in the 19th and 20th century. Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies (Mimeographed).
Jayaraman.R.1975. Caste Continuities in Ceylon: A Study of Social Structure of Three
Tea Plantations.Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Jain, R.K.1970. South Indians on the Plantations Frontier in Malaya. New Haven
and London: Yale University Press.
———————. 1993. Tamilian Labour and Malayan Plantations, 1840-1938.
Economic and Politcal Weekly. 28 (43):2363-2370.
Jackson, R.N.1961. Immigrant Labour and the Development of Malaya:1786-
1920. Kuala Lumpur: Government Press.
Jaiswal, Ritesh Kumar.2018. ‘Ephemeral Mobility: critical appraisal of the facets
of Indian migration and the Maistrymediation in Burma (c. 1880-1940)’. Almanack
No:19, May/Aug. On-line version; Available at http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?
pid=S2236-46332018000200079 & script=sci_arttext.
Jayawardena,V.K.1972. The rise of the Labour Movement in Ceylon, Durham:
Duke University Press.
Kaur, Amarjit.2003. Sojourners and Settlers: South Indians and the
CommunalIdentity, in Malaysia in Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians
in Diaspora, edited by Crispin Bates. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.
79
Colonial Kondapi, C.1951. Indian Overseas, 1838-1949. New Delhi: Indian Council of World
Affairs.

Lal, Brij V., Peter Reeves and Rajesh Rai (ed.). 2007. The Encyclopedia of the
Indian Diaspora. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Majoribanks, N.E. and A.K.G. Marakkaya.1917. Report on Indian Labour

Emigration to Ceylon and Malaya. Madras. Government Press.

Mahalingam. M . 2011. Tamil Dalits in the Plantation Economy of Malaysia: Past

and Present in Human Development and Social Exclusion, edited by D. Pulla Rao.
New Delhi: Serial Publications. pp. 368-381).

Majumdar, R.C. 1955. Ancient Indian colonization in South-East Asia, Baroda:

Oriental Institute.

Mearns, David James.1975. Shiva’s other Children: Religion and Social identity
amongst Overseas Indians. New Delhi: Sage publications.

Parmer, J. N. 1960. Colonial Policy and Administration: A History of Labour in

the Rubber Plantation Industry in Malaya, 1910-1941. New York: J. J. Augustin
Inc.

Ramasamy.P.1992. Labour control and Labour Resistance in the plantations of colonial

Malaysia. Journal of Peasant Studies 19(1 and 2):87-105.

Roberts, Michael.1982. Observation and computations of the Mortality Rate among

Immigrant Indian Labourers in Ceylon in the Coffee Period, Ceylon Journal
Historical and Social Studies, 9(1), 81-84.

Sandhu, Kernial Singh. 1969.Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of their Immigration

and Settlement (1786-1957). London: Cambridge University Press.

Satyanarayana, Adapa. 2001. “Birds of Passage”: migration of South Indian labour

communities to South-East Asia 19-20th Centuries A. D. Clara Working Papers,
n. 11, Amsterdam.

Stenson, M.1980.Class, Race and Colonialism in West Malaysia. St. Lucia: University
of Queensland Press.

Tinker, Hugh.1974. A New System of Slavery: The Export of Indian Overseas,

1830-1920.London: Oxford University Press.

————————. 1977. The banyan tree: overseas emigrants from India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh. London: Oxford University Press.

Vanden Driesen, I.H. 1982. Indian Plantation Labour in Sri Lanka. Aspects of the
History of Immigration in the 19th Century. Research Paper No. 3, Centre for
Southeast Asian Studies, University of Western Australia, Nedlands.

Wesumperuma, Dharmapriya.1986. Indian Immigrant Plantation Workers in Sri

Lanka- A Historical Perspective 1880-1910,Kelanya, (Sri Lanka): Vidyalankara
Press.
80
 Kangani / Maistry Labour
39.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS-POSSIBLE Migration

ANSWERS
Check your Progress: 01
1. The term Kangani’ is derived from the Tamil language which has the following
connotations in English namely headman, foreman or overseer and
supervisor.Kangany was recruiter cum foreman or supervisor on the plantations.
Under kangany system, Tamil foremen working on a plantation was sent back to
their villages in India by the planters to recruit their kinsmen. Instead of relying on
labour recruiters, planters took the help of trusted workers, usually workers who
had done well for themselves. Debt remained central to the system.
2. There were six different types of Kanganies namely the early Kangany, the
professional Kangany, the crimping Kangany, the head Kangany, the controlled
Kangany and the contemporary Kangany. It seems that the different types of
Kangany systems co-existed together in Ceylon at a same time.

3. The kangani system in Malaya gained a momentum when there was a crop
conversion from tea and coffee to rubber in the mid-19th century. Adapa
Satyanarayana puts it “The rubber plantations heavily depended on kangany-recruits
and the government also adopted a policy of supporting kanganis. The kangany
system was cheap and ensured regular inflows of needy labourers.
Check your progress: 02
1. Majority of Indian migrants to Burma were from the peninsular parts of the British
India. “Migrants largely comprised of Telugu, Tamil and Uriyalabourers coming
from Ganjam, Godavari, Vizag, Ramnad, and Tanjore regions of Southern India.
Most of them belonged to the lower and “untouchable” castes, and the agricultural
class”. It was basically a Telugu phenomenon as the majority of labour recruits
drawn from the Andhra region of erstwhile Madras Presidency.. The recruitment
of laborers by the maistries were not only for agricultural and plantation or rural
related works but also a substantial labourerswere also recruited as urban labour
work force for the various sectors of colonial economy of Burma. The Indian
labour migrants in general were transient and circulatory in nature.
2. There are three types of maistriesnamely headmaistry, charge maistry and gang
maistry.
3. The main characteristics of the maistry system was the enslavement of labourers
to the middlemen-employers due to debt- bondage relationship. maistries had
control of disbursement of wages and had the power of hire and fire of the labourers.
Different layers of maistry system at various levels curtailed and restricted labourer’s
freedom for bargain and betterment.

81
Colonial
UNIT 40 FREE PASSAGE MIGRATION
Structure
40.0 Learning Objectives
40.1 Introduction
40.2 Definition and Characteristics of Free Passage Migration
40.3 Historical and geographical overview of Free Passage Migration
40.4 Passenger Indians in East Africa
40.5 Passenger Indians in South Africa
40.6 Free passage Migration to other parts of the world
40.7 Creative reconstructions of the free passage experience
40.8 Let us sum up
40.9 Key Words
40.10 References and Select Readings
40.11 Check Your Progress- Possible Answers

40.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, you will be able to:

 Understand the meaning and characteristics of free passage migration

 Distinguish between different free passage migration and other types of

migration that took place during the colonial period

 Understand the contexts of free passage migration to different geographical

locations

 Familiarize yourself with sources of writing which offer insights into the nature
and experience of free passage migration

40.1 INTRODUCTION
The study of the Indian diaspora is generally divided into two main phases of migration
which are described as the colonial and the post colonial phases. These phases are
also characterized as the ‘Old Indian diaspora’ and the ‘New Indian Diaspora’.
Migration which occurred during the colonial phase under the British rule had certain
defining features that distinguished it from the movement in the postcolonial phase
after India’s independence , to the developed countries in the West, especially the
United Kingdom and the United States of America. In this unit we will be specifically
looking at free passage migration as one of the three types of migration that took
place during the colonial phase mainly between the mid 19th century and the early
decades of the 20th century.
82
 Free Passage Migration
40.2 DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
FREE PASSAGE MIGRATION
Scholars of the Indian diaspora have divided migration during the colonial period
into three categories. The first category is that of ‘indentured’ labor emigration,
while the second category is ‘kangani’ and ‘maistry’ labor emigration. The third type
is referred to as ‘free passage’ or ‘free’ emigration. While you have already studied
the definition of indentured and kangani migration in Units 27 and 28, it is important to
have a brief revision of what these kinds of migration involved in order to understand
better the context of free passage emigration from the Indian subcontinent.
In Unit 27 on indentured labour, we examined how the abolition of slavery in 1833,
and the fast growing colonial economy, resulted in a massive demand for alternate
labour to work on the sugar, coffee, tea and other cash crop plantations in the colonies.
The colonial authorities turned to the Indian subcontinent for the cheap supply of labour.
The system of recruitment of labour which began in 1834 and ended in 1920 came
to be known as ‘indentured labor emigration’ because of the nature of the contract
which was signed by the laborers who were recruited to work on plantations. Indenture
is defined as a ‘formal agreement or contract signed by a person to work for a set
period for a colonial landowner in exchange for passage to the colony ’ (Pirbhai 2009,
4). In this manner huge numbers of labor emigrants were taken from North India to
the British colonies of British Guiana, Fiji, Trinidad and Jamaica. The French also took
labor to work in their colonies of Guadalupe and Martinique (Jayaram 2004, 21).
The second type of contracted labour emigration was known as the kangani system
(derived from the Tamil word ‘Kankani’ meaning a foreman). This was the system
used to recruit labor from India to Ceylon and Malaya. This system was also known as
the ‘maistry’ system and was practiced in the recruitment of labor for emigration to
Burma (again the term was derived from Tamil maistry meaning a supervisor). It is
estimated that about 2.5 million Indians went to work in Burma, 2 million to Malaysia
and 1.5 million to Ceylon between 1852 and 1937 (Jayaram 2004, 21). Under these
systems the kangani or maistry who was himself an Indian recruited families of Tamil
laborers from villages mainly in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Unlike the indenture
system, the laborers were not bound by any contract or fixed period of service. In this
sense they were ‘ free’. However, labourers were caught in a complicated network of
middlemen who thrived on creating a debt relationship. They cannot therefore be
considered as migrants who travelled on their own violation, like those who were free
passage migrants (Jayaram 2004, 21).
The third pattern of emigration is what came to be termed as ‘free passage’ migration.
It is important to distinguish between the term ‘free passage’ migrants from ‘free-
Indians’ which was used to describe ex-indentured laborers who decided to stay back
in their new locations after their contracts expired. Unlike the indentured labourers
who had to sign a contractual agreement, free passage migrants were not bound by
a contract. Rather they travelled on their own initiative and paid for their own passage
or travel. They came to be known as passenger Indians. Hugh Tinker points in out in
The Banyan Tree that “the nickname seemed to have an implication that they were
travelers, sojourners, not settlers and immigrants” (1977, 3). In A New system of
slavery, Tinker notes that the free passengers were sometimes also called by the Hindi
term ‘khula’ (open migrants) and indentured labourers were referred to as girmit-
83
Colonial wallahs since they “were not bound to the contractual obligation of indentured labour
and since their arrival, settlement and return to their point of origin was, at least in
theory, a matter of independent choice and means” (1974, 179). Miriam Pirbhai
summarizes that the major difference between the free passenger and the indentured
labourer was therefore that while the “former was generally an autonomous agent
(albeit circumscribed by a colonial infrastructure) while the latter was bound by a
written contract covering a period of two to five years which dictated everything from
the terms and conditions of labour to the accommodations and freedom of movement”
(2009, 5). A major distinction was that unlike the indentured class of labourers ,
passenger Indians who were mainly traders who had more economic stability and
greater freedom of mobility. They made trips back to the Indian subcontinent thus
sustaining ties with the mother land/culture. Marriages were arranged with women
back in the homeland, and migrants over time established family migration networks.

40.3 HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL

OVERVIEW OF FREE PASSAGE MIGRATION
As we have discussed in the earlier units , the bulk of immigration of the old Indian
diaspora took place to the Caribbean Islands, South East Asian countries of Burma
and Malaya, East and South African territories, as well as the islands of Mauritius and
Fiji between the 1830s and 1920s . Mariam Pirbhai points out in Mythologies of
Migration (2009) that the growing presence of migrant populations in the British
colonies necessitated various kinds of bureaucratic and commercial services that
would cater to the growing community of migrant Indians. Not surprisingly therefore,
the colonial authorities turned once again to the Indian subcontinent to meet these
demands ( 4).
The highest proportion of free passengers voluntary moved into the African continent
as the movement of passenger Indians to Africa was particularly facilitated by
colonial authorities who realized it would be to the greater benefit of the consolidation
of the British Empire. For instance, it was acknowledged that Indian traders would
play a vital role in introducing organized commerce and hence would aid in the
expansion of the British trade interests, especially in East Africa. The petty traders,
who came to be known as dukawallahs, gradually replaced the barter system and
establishing regular shops. Agehananda Bharati points out that the term ‘duka’ in time
became a term of ‘economic-ecological identification’ for the Indians in East Africa
(1972, 10) The free movement of Indians was mainly from the trading communities
from Gujarat which had centuries old tradition of mercantilism. Traders moved to
South Africa and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), as well as to the former
Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe). There were also traders
from South India who migrated to South East Asia.
It is important to keep in mind that the community of passenger Indians was
heterogeneous in composition. Apart from merchants and petty traders, passenger
Indians also comprised people from different professions who were seeking better
economic prospects. The British colonial government encouraged the influx of Indian
clerks, and other professionals to work in various jobs as part of the colonial machinery
in the respective colonies as they saw this as to their advantage. For example, while
about 6000 manual labourers were brought from Punjab to construct the railways
of East Africa from Nairobi to Mombasa, the colonial authorities also brought in
84
station masters, and clerks from the Portuguese colony of Goa as they had good Free Passage Migration
English language skills. Other professions included doctors, lawyers, accountants,
teachers and lower end administrators to work in the colonial bureaucracy. In South
Africa also, the community of passenger Indians grew along with the growing
community of indentured laborers.
The reasons for free passage emigration can be attributed to both ‘pull’ and ‘push’
factors. The push factors for emigration from India included repeated famines and
drought, wide spread poverty, pressure of population and lack of employment
opportunities. The pull factor is associated with the commercial opportunities provided
by the colonial administration , a sense of adventure of the unknown and also family
networking (chain-migration) which provided a security blanket. Unlike with the
indentured migrants, the free passengers continued to maintain contacts with family
back home and therefore also continued to retain caste practices. For example, they
did not mix with other castes in eating and drinking and were endogamous in that they
married only within their respective castes.
The narratives of the ‘free’ or passenger Indians are mainly from the perspective of
male migrants. There are hardly any records on the experience of arrival and
settlement of Indian women who joined their spouses as part of the family migration
process. Kalpana Hiralal (2014) explains that one of the differences between
indentured women and women of ‘passenger descent ‘ is that the latter led what she
terms as ‘transnational lives’. She explains that while women managed households in
India while their husbands were in Africa attempting to build businesses. They travelled
only after their spouses had established their livelihoods. As with the men in this sub-
diaspora, Passenger women also came from very diverse backgrounds in terms of
language, religion, place of origin, caste and ethnic group.
Check Your Progress 1
1. Explain Indentured Labour?
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2. Explain the basic difference between indentured system and free passage migration?
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Let us now examine the contexts of migration to different locales, the backgrounds of
these migrants and their occupational diversity.
85
Colonial
40.4 PASSENGER INDIANS TO EAST AFRICA
Trade between the East coast of Africa and Western India dates back centuries.
However, the larger influx of traders inland for commercial purposes took place in
context of colonial capitalism from the late 19th century onwards. These traders came
on their own volition and paid for their passage. In 1840, the Sultan of Oman Slayed
Said, shifted his court from Muscat to Zanzibar and he encouraged the mass movement
of Indian merchants so that by 1865, there were almost 6000 traders in Zanzibar. The
British, having consolidated control over the Indian subcontinent by the mid nineteenth
century, began to turn their attention towards expansion of trade in the Indian
Ocean region. They realized that traders from India who had already established
trading networks in East Africa could prove to be indispensable agents in the project
of British commercial expansion that would take place in the next five decades, and
began to encourage their movement across the Indian ocean. These petty traders
were known as the dukawallahs.
An important marker for the further influx of traders inland was the construction of the
Kenyan-Ugandan railway (1896-99) from Mombassa to Nairobi. Approximately
thirty two thousand laborers from Punjab were brought in for the construction of the
railway line. Accompanying them were station masters, clerks and other white collared
workers , many of whom were both Parsi and Goan. Asian traders followed the
railway line, and then branched off into remote areas not touched by the rail.
The British East African governments, unlike in South Africa, did not pass any legislation
against Indian immigration and there was a free flow of migrants from India to East
Africa (Bharati 1972, 11). The population grew at a rapid rate of 50% per year for a
period of 50 years (Bharati 1972, 11). Although the Indian settlers in East Africa
were viewed as a monolithic racial group by the Europeans and black Africans, they
were separated and fragmented among themselves on religious, linguistic and class
lines. The immigrant population comprised of the following segments:
a) The Hindu ‘Bania’ trading class who made up almost 80% of the Indian
population. This group consisted of a number of sub-sects with a long history
of economic and social mobility such as the Lohanas, the Shahs and the
Patidars. A number of Patels, who were the most eminent clan among the
Patidars families, immigrated to East Africa around 1900 when the Karia
district in Western India was badly hit by famine.
b) The Muslim community formed the second group, which was divided into the
Sunni and Shia sects. Among the Shias, sub-sects included the Ismaili Khojas
who were followers of the Aga Khan, the Bohras and the Ithna-Ashris.
c) The Goan community stood apart from the Gujarati Hindus and the Muslims
on the basis of practices of the Christian religion, inter-racial marriages, and
other associated customs. There was also a small population of Sikhs who
immigrated to East Africa. Almost half the labor force recruited for the railway
was from Punjab, however only a miniscule opted to stay back. A few of the
early immigrants among the Sikhs took African wives. Sikhs were accepted
more freely because unlike the other Asians they came into contact with the
African all the time as carpenters, lorry-drivers, contractors, plumbers, and
86 even policemen. There was also a miniscule population of Parsis.
Gijsbert Oonk (2013) suggests that we can examine the background of this diaspora Free Passage Migration
in East Africa diaspora in terms of three phases. First, we have the early years of
settlement from the late 19th century leading up to the 1920s. This was followed by
the 1930s and 1940s which was considered a ‘golden age’ for the community. However,
with the 1950s came the rise of African nationalism, and strong anti –Asian sentiments
followed mainly due to the economic prosperity of the Indian traders. Also, within the
colonial pyramidal structure, class and racial divisions had been institutionalized wherein
Europeans occupied the top positions, the Asians were the mercantile middlemen, and
black Africans were confined to the role of laborers and peasants. There was therefore
a growing resentment against the trading community. With independence, the animosity
intensified and this led to the exodus of the community from East Africa to U.K and
Canada among other destinations. In the postcolonial phase, they became known as
‘twice migrants’.

40.5 PASSENGER INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The history of passenger Indians in South Africa is closely related to the history of
indentured labour. As the number of indentured migrants to South Africa increased,
so did their economic requirements for goods for everyday purposes. This paved
the way for permission for traders from India who could cater to the needs of the
Indian labourers by setting up commercial operations in Natal. By the 1870s, Indians
who had paid for their own passage via ship began to arrive in South Africa. There
was a small group of wealthy ‘merchants’, as well as a larger group of small
shopkeepers and hawkers who were referred to (as in East Africa) as ‘dukawallahs’.
Passenger Indians to South Africa embarked mainly at Bombay and Port Louis in
Mauritius. They disembarked at Durban and Cape Town. Bhana and Brian point out,
that as in East Africa, “the imperial connection provided a structural network to facilitate
the mobility of Indian traders” (34). Gandhi in Satyagraha in South Africa describes
how one of the first Indian traders Sheth Abubaker Ahmed moved to South Africa
from Mauritius. When stories of his prosperity reached Porbunder, other Indian traders
were induced to follow (1928:21). The two major famines in the mid-1890s added
to a large exodus from the Surat , Valsad and Kathaiwar districts. These were mainly
Gujarati-speaking Hindus and Muslims from the west coast of India. This group of
migrants were mainly from the province of Kathiawad, and its surrounding coastal
districts and villages, for example, Surat, Kutch, Porbander, Jamnaggar, Rander and
Kholvad. The Gujarati-speaking Muslims in Natal comprised two groups, mainly the
Memons and Khojas (Hiralal, 2008, 28). However, unlike the dukawallahs in East
Africa, not all these passenger Indians were not necessarily from trading communities.
Migrants who came from the District of Surat and its nearby villages such as Bardoli,
Navasari and Broach were often referred to as ‘Surtees’ (Hiralal, 2008, 28). They
consisted of different caste groups and in many cases this determined the type of
occupation they engaged in. For example, the Sonis (goldsmiths) migrated from
Porander, Rajkot and Jamnagar while the Dhobis (laundrymen), and the Mochis
(shoemakers) originated from Kholvad, Kathor and Navasari. Many of the caste groups
continued in their respective occupations even after migration. Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie
in her paper on the “Passenger Indian as Worker: Indian Immigrants in Cape Town in
the Early Twentieth century” (2009) reminds us that we tend to associate the term
‘passenger Indian’ with the image of the Gujarati trader. She however points out that
the term should also be used in reference to workers who came from not only Gujarat
but also from Maharashtra and the Punjab. In addition to trading, they also were 87
Colonial engaged in a wide range of other vocations. You may want to read her paper for
interesting biographical sketches of workers and the kinds of employment Indian
immigrants found in Cape Town. The passenger Indians also included members of the
Memon, Vohra, Khoja and Parsi Communities. Gandhiji makes the observation that
the Muslim merchants, and Hindu and Parsi clerks “had none but business relationships”
with the indentured laborers” ( 90).
Like passenger Indians to East Africa, these free passengers who migrated to South
Africa were also motivated by similar ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. As they came as ‘
free Indians’, they were considered as subjects of the British Empire. Initially they
were free to settle and trade anywhere in the colony and they were allowed to own
property and land, and also to vote in local government elections. By the 1890s, the
Indian population had begun to grow rapidly and it soon surpassed the number of
whites settlers. The success of the commercial enterprise of Indian traders soon led to
anti-Indian sentiments and the Indian traders were soon perceived as a threat to white
traders. Natal’s white settlers referred loosely to the non-indentured traders as being
Indian, ‘Arab’ or from ‘Bombay’.
Due to the growing concern over what was termed as ‘Asiatic invasion’, the Boer
controlled provinces of Orange Free State and the Transvaal passed laws which forbad
Indian settlement inside their borders. They also introduced the ‘pass law which
restricted movement across the state borders without a pass. It is in this context of
heightened racism and laws that restricted economic, political and residential rights
that one of the most well-known of passenger Indians Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
arrived in South Africa in 1893 under the employment of the merchant firm Dada
Abdullah and Company. Gandhij went on to spearhead a resistance movement against
oppressive racist laws and represented the merchant class or free Indians who had
paid their own passage to South Africa. In 1894, he became the first secretary of the
Natal Indian congress which fought against the Indian Disenfranchisement Bill. Gandhiji
later took up the case of the injustices of indentured labour and launched a protest
movement. In his autobiography ‘My Experiments with Truth Gandhiji describes the
incident of the anti-Indian demonstration at the docks in Durban in 1896 in order to
stop further immigrants landing. The demonstrators eventually dispersed peacefully
but Gandhi was assaulted as he made his way into town. This is because he had
published a pamphlet titled ‘The Grievances of British Indians in South Africa: An
Appeal to the Indian Public’ wherein he had described he discriminatory policies of
the Natal Government and the hardships of British Indians residing in the colony. For
example, the Bill required immigrants to read and write in a European language, and
this would have hindered the expansion of Indian commerce since many of the assistants
who were brought from India were fluent only in Gujarati and had no knowledge of
English.
Fearing economic domination by Indian traders, and a growing ‘brown’ presence,
there emerged a strong anti-Indian antagonism among white settlers. The Immigration
Act 28 of 1897 passed in Natal had made it essential that Indians carry passes. In
1902, there emerged a movement towards a ‘nationally coordinated policy of greater
restriction on Indian movement’ ( Bhana 18) on the lines of the policy in East Africa. In
1910 the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and the former Boer republics
the Orange Free State and the Transvaal entered into a political Union and in 1913 the
Union government passed the third Immigration Bill, aimed at restricting the Indian
trading class. Indian immigration had more or less stopped in 1911, and thereafter
88
only a very small number of professionals and dependents were allowed to enter the Free Passage Migration
country (Tinker, 1977, 22).
Check Your Progress 2

3. List the different locations to which Indians travelled as passenger migrants and
also the reasons for their passage.
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4. Compare the nature of migration to East Africa with that to South Africa
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40.6 MIGRATION TO OTHER PARTS OF THE

WORLD
As in other parts of the British empire, Indian immigration was encouraged to Burma
as a result of British policy to import both skilled and unskilled Indian workers . The
British annexed Lower Burma during the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1853, and
Indians were encouraged to migrate to Lower Myanmar to fill a wide range of positions
created by the expanding economy and greatly enlarged bureaucracy of the new
province of the Indian empire (Pradhan 2000:151). There were two kinds of emigration
to Burma. First, unskilled emigration of indentured and voluntary labourers who
worked in rubber, rice, sugar, tea, coffee, and oil-plantations, and secondly skilled
labourers who went to work as and school teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers etc
(Bhattacharya 2007:51). Interestingly, the educational institutions in Rangoon were
affiliated to Calcutta University during the British rule. Bhattacharya 2007:51) . As in
the other colonies, opportunities for employment and trade were promoted by the
British administration (Pradhan 2000:151) and immigration of Indians into Myanmar
remained free and unregulated. Indians bureaucrats were used to administer Burma.
It is estimated that 60 per cent of the population in central Rangoon at the time was
Indian (Bhutia 2011:317). – Nattukotai Chettiars who were traders from South India
89
Colonial played a vital role in transforming Burma’s subsistence economy to a commercialized
economy. They also established an extensive network in Malaya, and Sri Lanka. As
in the other colonies, the visible economic success of the Indians led to wide spread
resentment among the local population, leading to the exodus and expulsion of Indians
in the 1940s.
There were also smaller numbers of migration of Indians via free passage to other
parts of the world. As early as 1820s, a group of Punjabi Sikhs migrated to the
southwestern US where many of these migrant laborers eventually established
prosperous farming communities. There was also a small influx of male Sikh immigrants
in 1903 in Vancouver, British Columbia in order to work in lumbering, agriculture,
and the railroads. Several of these migrants had served in the British army. However,
fearing a steady increase in the number of Indian workers, the Canadian
government passed several laws to limit their entry into Canada’. Canada denied entry
to Asian immigrants by 1908. The famous Komagata Maru incident of a Japanese
vessel which was carrying 300 passengers and forced to return to India on July 23rd
1914 brought to the fore the discriminatory attitude of the then Canadian authorities.
The government had used the discriminatory “Continuous Passage” immigration law
to discourage immigrants from India from permanently settling in British Columbia so
that Canada could be kept as a ‘white man’s land’. A number of workers moved to
southwards to the United States of America , and especially California, as the United
States had not yet passed discriminatory legislation. However, in time, the ‘Oriental
exclusion Act in 1924’ prohibited immigration from the Asian countries to the USA
also, and the number of migrants dwindled as Asian immigration remained curtailed
up until the post second world war era.
The three hundred year rule of the British Raj inevitably led to the emergence of an
Indian community in Great Britain. There are several narratives of domestic servants
who accompanied their English masters and chose to stay back. Other Indians,
especially from the Parsi and Bengali communities went to England to law and
medicine in the 19th century. They took up these professions and settled in the
United Kingdom.

40.7 CREATIVE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE

PASSENGER EXPERIENCE
While there is a sizeable body of research available today on the history of indentured
migrants, there remain gaps in the information available on the historiography of
passenger Indians. One means of recreating past experiences is to draw from oral
histories, and immigration records. In the recent past, there have been historical-
creative reconstructions of this particular diaspora by third/fourth generation authors
who draw from archival sources and family history, and offer fascinating insights into
the passenger migrant experience. By examing such narratives, we can come to
understand the distinction between the indentured experience and the experiences of
the passenger Indians. For example M.G Vassanji who is a writer of East African
Asian descent recreates the early history of Ismaili traders in Zanzibar and Tanzania in
his novel The Gunny Sack. Peter Nazareth offers a comprehensive reconstruction of
the Goan Community in Uganda in his novel The General is Up. Cynthia Salvadori
offers a fascinating account of the passage via the sea to the East African territories of
90
Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in We came in Dhows. Amitav Ghosh in The Free Passage Migration
River of Smoke describes how a large number of Indian traders found themselves in
the Chinese ports of Nanking during the opium wars. On the other hand, the narratives
on the indentured experience focus on the trauma and painful conditions associated
with bonded labour. What therefore emerges from the stories of passenger Indians is
“ a differently constructed sub diaspora from that of the indenture experience” (Pirbhai
2009, 68). In The Wedding by Imraan Coovadia describes the movement of the
passenger Indian to South Africa in terms of an adventure and a quest for self betterment
(Pirbhai 2009, 68). As mentioned in the section on South Africa, Gandhiji’s
autobiography My Experiments with Truth also recreates the life and travails of free
passenger migrants at the turn of the 20th century.

40.8 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we discussed the definition and characteristics of free passage migration.
We differentiated it from indenture migration while at the same time examined how the
two kinds of migration were interrelated during the colonial period. We learnt about
the demographic composition of passenger Indians in particular to East Africa and
South Africa, as well as to other parts of the world. We also looked at some narratives
which give an insight into the experiences of passenger Indians from a historical and
biographical perspective.

40.9 KEY WORDS

Indentured Labour: the system of recruitment of labour which began in 1834 and
ended in 1920 came to be known as ‘indentured labour emigration’ because of the
nature of the contract which was signed by the laborers who were recruited to work
on plantations. Indenture is defined as a ‘formal agreement or contract signed by a
person to work for a set period for a colonial landowner in exchange for passage to
the colony.
kangani system: This was the system used to recruit labour from India to Ceylon
and Malaya. This system was also known as the ‘maistry’ system and was practiced
in the recruitment of labour for emigration to Burma (again the term was derived from
Tamil maistry meaning a supervisor). Under these systems the kangani or maistry who
was himself an Indian recruited families of Tamil laborers from villages mainly in the
erstwhile Madras Presidency. Unlike the indenture system, the laborers were not bound
by any contract or fixed period of service. In this sense they were ‘free’. However,
labourers were caught in a complicated network of middlemen who thrived on creating
a debt relationship. They cannot therefore be considered as migrants who travelled on
their own violation, like those who were free passage migrants.

40.10 REFERENCES AND SELECT READINGS

Bharati, Agehananda. (1972). The Asians in East Africa. Jai Hind and Uhuru.
Nelson Hall:Chicago.
Bhana, Surendra and Joy B. Brain. (1990). Setting Down Roots. Indian Migrants
in South Africa. 1860 – 1911. Witwatersrand University Press. Johannesburg.
91
Colonial Bhattacharya, Swapna Chakraborti. (2007). India Myanmar Relations: 1886-1948
KP Bagchi and Company
Delf, George. (1963). Asians in East Africa. Oxford University Press:Oxford.
Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Uma. ( 2009). “The Passenger Indian as Worker:
Indian Immigrants in Cape Town in the Early Twentieth century.”
African Studies. 68 (1), 111-134.
Gandhi, M.K. ( 1927). An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with
Truth. Navajivan Publishing House: Ahmedabad. rpt. 1995.
Ghai, Dharam P. (1965). (Ed). Portrait of a Minority. Asians in East Africa. Oxford
University Press: Oxford.
Hiralal, Kalpana. ( 2008). “Indian Family Businesses in Natal, 1870 – 1950”. Natalia
38, 27–37
——.( 2014). “ Women and Migration in South Africa. Historical and Literary
Perspectives.” Journal of South Asian Diaspora. Vol. 6 (1), 63-75.
Jain, Ravindra K. (2010). Nation, Diaspora. Trans-nation. Reflections from India.
New Delhi: Routledge.
Jayaram, N. (2004). (Ed). The Indian Diaspora. Dynamics of Migration. Vol 4. New
Delhi: Sage Publications.
Mangat. J.S. (1969). A History of the Asians in East Africa 1886 to 1945. Oxford:
Claredon Press.
Mehta, Nanji Khalidas. (1966). Dream Half-Expressed. Bombay: Vakil and Sons
Ltd.
Mohamed H.E. ( 1979). The Asian Legacy in Africa and The White Man’s Color
Culture. New York : Vantage Press, Inc.
Nazareth, Peter. ( 1984). The General is Up. Calcutta: A Writers Workshop
Publication.
Oonk, Gijsbert. (2013) Settled Strangers. Asian Business elites in East Africa
(1800-2000). New Delhi:Sage.
Pirbhai, Mariam. (2009). Mythologies of Migration, Vocabularies of Indenture :
Novels of the South Asian Diaspora in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific.
University of Toronto Press.
Pradhan, Swantanter K. (2000). New dimensions in Indo-Burmese Relation.New
Delhi: Rajat Publications.
Salvadori Cynthia and Others. 1998. We came in Dhows. Nairobi: Kulgraphics. Tinker,
Hugh. ( 1974). A New System of Slavery. London: Oxford University Press.
——. (1977). The Banyan Tree. Overseas Emigrants from India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh. Oxford University Press.

92 Vassanji, M. G. (1990). The Gunny Sack. Penguin Books. New Delhi.

 Free Passage Migration
40.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS – POSSIBLE
ANSWERS
Check your progress 1
1. The system of recruitment of labour which began in 1834 and ended in 1920
came to be known as ‘indentured labour emigration’ because of the nature of the
contract which was signed by the laborers who were recruited to work on
plantations. Indenture is defined as a ‘formal agreement or contract signed by
a person to work for a set period for a colonial landowner in exchange for passage
to the colony.
2. It is important to distinguish between the term ‘free passage’ migrants from ‘free-
Indians’ which was used to describe ex-indentured laborers who decided to stay
back in their new locations after their contracts expired. Unlike the indentured
labourers who had to sign a contractual agreement, free passage migrants were
not bound by a contract. Rather they travelled on their own initiative and paid for
their own passage or travel. They came to be known as passenger Indians.
Check your progress 2

3. The bulk of immigration of the old Indian diaspora took place to the Caribbean
Islands, South East Asian countries of Burma and Malaya, East and South African
territories, as well as the islands of Mauritius and Fiji between the 1830s and
1920s . Mariam Pirbhai points out in Mythologies of Migration (2009) that the
growing presence of migrant populations in the British colonies necessitated various
kinds of bureaucratic and commercial services that would cater to the growing
community of migrant Indians.

The highest proportion of free passengers voluntary moved into theAfrican continent
as the movement of passenger Indians to Africa was particularly facilitated by
colonial authorities who realized it would be to the greater benefit of the consolidation
of the British Empire.

The free movement of Indians was mainly from the trading communities from
Gujarat which had centuries old tradition of mercantilism. Traders moved to
South Africa and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), as well as to the
former Northern and Southern Rhodesia (Zambia and Zimbabwe). There were
also traders from South India who migrated to South East Asia.

The reasons for free passage emigration can be attributed to both ‘pull’ and ‘push’
factors. The push factors for emigration from India included repeated famines and
drought, wide spread poverty, pressure of population and lack of employment
opportunities. The pull factor is associated with the commercial opportunities
provided by the colonial administration, a sense of adventure of the unknown
and also family networking (chain-migration) which provided a security blanket.
4. East Africa: Trade is one of the reasons that promotes migration between East
Africa and India. The free flow of Indian to East Africa is another potent factors
for migration. The British East African governments, unlike in South Africa, did not 93
Colonial pass any legislation against Indian immigration and there was a free flow of migrants
from India to East Africa (Bharati 1972, 11). The population grew at a rapid rate
of 50% per year for a period of 50 years (Bharati 1972, 11). Although the Indian
settlers in East Africa were viewed as a monolithic racial group by the Europeans
and black Africans, they were separated and fragmented among themselves on
religious, linguistic and class lines.
South Africa: The history of passenger Indians in South Africa is closely related
to the history of indentured labour. As the number of indentured migrants to South
Africa increased, so did their economic requirements for goods for everyday
purposes. This paved the way for permission for traders from India who could
cater to the needs of the Indian labourers by setting up commercial operations
in Natal.

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