Emergence of The Fiji Indian Identity
After a further five years of work as an indentured labourer or as a khula (free labourer), they were given the choice of returning to India at their own expense, or remain in Fiji. The great majority opted to stay because they could not afford to return under the low pay (even in many instances they were denied paid wages) of the British government or were refused to be sent back. After the expiry of their girmits, many leased small plots of land from Fijians and developed their own sugarcane fields or cattle farmlets. Others went into business in the towns that were beginning to spring up.
The indenture system had two positive effects on subsequent generations. Firstly the need for people of different castes to live work and eat together led to an end of the caste system. Furthermore, shortage of females resulted in many marrying outside their caste. Another positive was the development of a new koiné language, known as Fiji Hindi that was formed from different languages and dialects of India. The speakers of these languages originated from different regions in India that supplied a lot of slave labourers. Music too, was important, with a distinct Fiji Hindi culture that some commentators have described as a forerunner to both bangla and jazz. For the most part, these people came from in certain rural or village areas. The language was further heavily enriched by the inclusion of many Fijian and English words. The language is now the mother tongue of almost all Fiji Indians and is the lingua franca of not only all the Fiji Indians but also of all Fijian communities where ethnic Indians are in a majority.
Read more about this topic: Indians In Fiji
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