1979 DOCTORATE THESIS ON PONDICHERRY SLAVES TAKEN TO GUYANA IN FRENCH : NO ONE TRANSLATED AND TOLD IN TAMIL THOUGH LOT OF FRENCH SCHOLARS LIVE IN PONDICHERRY

SINGAPORE LOCATED BY A TAMILIAN

SINGAPORE SURGES AHEAD

N.Nandhi Varman

Role of Tamils in history of Singapore

 “The second successful six year term of unanimous choice for President Sellappan Ramanathan  of Singapore is a silent revolution. It denotes recognition could be earned by constitutional means by peace loving Tamils anywhere in the world” said Director of Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture Dr.Marudhanayagam. Pondicherry has many a contact with Singapore. The handloom weavers of Muthialpet for long had been exporting to Singapore. Pe.Tha.Rasan of Tirumalairayanpattinam of Karaikal region went to Singapore, made a fortune and participated in that country’s politics. He wrote a monumental book Singaporin Varalatril Vazhukinra Thamizhargal. 

Chinese named Singapore as Pu-luo-chung, which meant "island at the end of a peninsula" in third century. Javanese  language book Nagarakretagama' of 1365 calls as Temasek, or Sea  town. Vietnamese source for that name is there. But from 14th century  Singapuram which means Lion City is commonly used indicating the predominance of Tamil settlers.

On 29 January 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen landed in the island to establish a trading station at the southern tip of the  Malay Peninsula after having surveyed other nearby islands. Along with him came Narayana Pillai and Pe.Tha.Rasan records the contribution of Narayana Pillai in building of Singapore. Singapore proved to be a prized  settlement. 

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made Singapore a major port of call for ships navigating between Europe and East Asia. Rubber planting, especially after the 1870s  made Singapore the main exporter for rubber in the world. At the end of the 19th century Singapore experienced unprecedented prosperity with eightfold trade expansion between 1873 and 1913. This prosperity attracted immigrants from countries around. The population  grew to 80,792 by 1860 with Chinese  61.9 per cent  the Malays and Indians 13.5 and 16.05 per cent respectively; and others, including the Europeans, 8.5 per cent.

Dravidian Movements impact on Singapore

 In that island nation the unity of the multi ethnic society did not come over night. It had been a long and strenuous period with visionaries shaping the destiny of that nation. Its Union with Malaya, subsequent  independent nationhood, all were passing phases. In that phase the political  movements of Tamil Nadu played an important role. Periyar visited Malaya in 1929 to inaugurate Malaya Tamil Congress. In later years after he parted company with Congress, Singapore Dravida Kazhagam and subsequently Singapore Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came up as independent outfits. They were not extensions of the Tamil Nadu based political outfits. They were independent parties dedicated to the country and they never had extra territorial ambitions. Leaders like Anna advised Tamils to be loyal to the country of settlement. This mature guidance led to amalgamation of Tamils in that country’s national mainstream. Pe.Tha.Rasan was the General Secretary of Singapore Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In his time even in Ceylon there was a  separate Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam unit with A.S Manavaithambi as General Secretary, so was the case of Malaysia Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. They waning of the influence of Indian nationalists, communists and Dravidian movement in the South East Asian countries where Tamils went as settlers created a vacuum which was occupied by militancy in Srilanka, but in Malaya and Singapore though these parties lost relevance, the ground they prepared helped Tamils gaining national identity, Tamil language getting official language status, and now Tamil heading a multi ethnic country like Singapore.

 

As settlers from Europe amalgamated into American society Tamils and Indians became Singaporeans and Malaysians. Peace prevails in a multi linguistic and ethnic country unlike other places of turmoil. Immediately after independence doubts over its very survival were raised in international media. The pressing issues were unemployment, housing, education, lack of natural resources and lack of land. 

Singapore lacked national unity among most of the population, with people still  attached to their countries of origin. Chinese identifying as being from China, Indians from India and so on rather that being citizens of Singapore. Singapore dealt with each of these problems separately.

 Its leaders decided that the population would need to be fluent in English and English was made the medium of education for all schools. Education, at least for primary schooling was made compulsory. The education system was designed to be rigorous and intensive, with emphasis on immediately practical, rather than intellectual, applications, such as on the technical sciences as opposed to political discussion or philosophy. A large portion, around one-fifth of Singapore's budget was devoted to education to facilitate a large and competent work force upon graduation.

 Language Policy Evolution in Tamil Nadu and Singapore

It is pertinent to note that DMK founder C.N.Annadurai’s visit to Singapore and Malaysia in 1965 was an eye opener to the leader who later introduced the two language formula without diluting the importance of English. His visit and meeting with Lee Kuan Yew played an influential role in his later day policy perceptions on language as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

The leadership of Lee Kuan Yew  achieved a miracle. After dominating political scene for longest period in office now Lee is looking back at his past policies in a mode of introspection . 

In spite of all that Lee still has soft corner for his mother tongue. Lee expressed concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Singaporeans. In one of his parliamentary speeches, he said: "Singaporeans must learn to juggle English and Mandarin". Subsequently, he launched a television program in January 2005, in an attempt to attract young viewers to learn Mandarin. In June 2005, Lee published a book, Keeping My Mandarin Alive, documenting his decades of effort to master Mandarin, a language which he said he had to re-learn due to disuse. The racial unity was fostered well during Lee Kuan Yew’s regime.

 TAMIL PRESIDENT OF SINGAPORE :S.R.Nathan

Now an ethnic Tamil had been chosen for a second term. Mr. Sellapan Rama Nathan received a walkover on nomination Day i.e 18 August 1999 for his first Presidential election. The Presidential Elections Committee said in the second Presidential election in August 18 2005 that Mr. Nathan has all the credentials for the office. “Not only is Mr. Nathan well regarded and respected for his public service, he is also a man of integrity, good character and reputation”.

The Tamil becoming unopposed again as President of Singapore has generated lot of interest in Pondicherry and  The students of Dr.Ambedkar Law college launched a signature campaign in various colleges to urge Pondicherry University to confer Honorary doctorate on S.R.Nathan citing the precedent of Maldives President getting doctorate from Pondicherry University at an earlier period. The author of the book that records all the services of Tamils in nation building of Singapore Pe.Tha.Rasan after 45 years in Singapore is back to Karaikal and presides over Kamban Kazhagam of Karaikal. It is irony of fate.

Courtesy: New Indian Express 17.09.2005

DECCAN CHRONICLE NEWS ON NEED FOR TAMIL SCHOOLS IN GUADELOUPE

THE TAMILS OF REUNION AND THEIR HYBRID CULTURE

Colonialism cannot be condemned outright. This may sound outrageous. But colonialism in a way introduced the concept of outsourcing attempted in the bygone centuries and currently being debated in the free market era. In a world where free market dominates, the sweat and toils of the slave labourers may be forgotten, but we must realize that in their sufferings the foundations for global market economy is sown. ReUnion is a typical example of outsourcing by the French East India Company, and its history reveals how an hybrid culture emanated amidst Tamil settlers there, who are Tamils but could not speak Tamil, their mother tongue lost in the interregnum of 5 generations of separation from their homeland namely Pondicherry.

The archipelago, comprised of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion, was christened the Mascarenes by Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas, following its European discovery in 1512. In 1642 the French settled in the island when La Compagnie des Indes Orientales (the French East India Company) sent its ship, the St-Louis, and the King of France named it Île Bourbon. Much water had flown in the five rivers that irrigate this tiny island since then.

The French Revolution is a turning point in its history. The greatest achievement of the 1848 revolution for the colonies was the abolition of slavery. Slavery, the foundation of economic life in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana and Reunion, had been abolished by the Convention in 1794 but was re-instituted by Napoleon.  National Assembly by way of definitive decree on April 27, 1848 declared that `slavery is an attack on human dignity', it `destroys the principal of natural law and duty . . . it is a flagrant violation of republican dogma," and that great unrest could erupt in the colonies if slavery were not ended, the law abolished slavery in all French colonies and possessions.  Thus a total of 262,564 slaves were thereby freed, most of them in the plantation colonies of the West Indies and Réunion.

But with this abolition of slave labour the need to fill that vacuum arose and plantation owners looked for French India to compensate the loss of slave labour. Thus lot of Tamils found their way to the island of Reunion situated in the Indian Ocean closer to Madagascar. Lot of people from Pondicherry and its surrounds went to the coffee and other plantations in Reunion as labour.

The coffee plantations were destroyed often destroyed by cyclones and the Tamil labour had to struggle hard facing the fury of Nature. Napoleon Bonaparte lost the island to the British for a short break of five years.  Under British rule, sugar cane was introduced to Réunion and quickly supplanted food production as the primary crop. It resulted in the dispossession of many small farmers who were forced to sell out to those with capital to invest in the new monoculture. The supplanted farmers migrated to the interior to find land and carry on with their agricultural activities. During this period, the Desbassyns brothers rose to success as the island's foremost sugar barons. The vanilla industry, introduced in 1819, also grew rapidly. The golden age of trade and development in Réunion lasted until 1870, when competition from Cuba and the European sugar beet industry, combined with the opening of the Suez Canal, resulted in an economic slump. Shipping decreased, the sugar industry declined and land and capital were further concentrated in the hands of a small French elite. Close on the cessation of hostilities in First World War global demand for sugar increased. This helped Reunion's economy out of the doldrums. But during World War II, an economic blockade once again crippled the island's economy. A colony under French law must provide to the French mainland goods of greater value than the amount of money allocated to it. A colony had to be profitable. This obligation was lifted in 1946, when Réunion's status changed from colony to overseas department, a change in status intended to provide the island with the benefits of social and political equality with the mainland. The island still falls under the jurisdiction of the French government.

It cannot be said that Catholic faith dominates the island's religious character. It is visible in the shrines along every highway and byway, in caves, on cliff tops and in the many saint's days and holidays. St-Denis shuts down on Sunday, when half the city goes to the beach. Hindus and Muslims follow their respective religions freely and most large towns have both a mosque and a temple. Popular Hindu rites include teemeedee, which involves fire walking, and cavadee, involving piercing one's cheeks with silver needles, often take place. A great deal of syncretism with Catholicism has evolved over the years, and vice versa. Thus a hybrid religion had come into existence. People celebrating all festivals and worshipping all deities have produced a hybrid religion of tolerance. Lot of Hindu Temples is there for Lord Shiva, Lord Muruga and Godess Kaali.

French is the official language, but Créole is the most widely spoken. Few people speak English. Réunion Créole is even beyond most French people. A word, which means one thing in French, can mean something completely different in Créole. But the island which has around 4 lakh Tamils who own Tamil names and celebrate Hindu festivals, yet unable to speak Tamil. The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Navalar Nedunchezian participated in a world Tamil Cultural Movements conference in neighbouring Mauritius and visited Reunion too. During this visit the Reunion Tamil Kazhagam seeking the help of Tamil Nadu Government to teach Tamil to the people of Reunion and to promote cultural exchanges with mainland Tamils put up demands. It remains still and unfulfilled dream. People in a distant place do not haunt our memory as we have other chores to attend in everyday life. But the Government of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry must open Cultural Exchange Centres in all these isolate islands, and like the Alliance Francaise that keeps teaching French throughout world, institutionalized teaching of Tamil and spreading the tenets of Tamil Culture must be undertaken, all who visit islands like Reunion will have these thoughts linger in their minds.

The Maha Bhadrakaliaaman Temple authorities and the Natha Musical Academy of Reunion have invited the students of TamilNadu Government Music College to provide them some insights into Tamil folk arts. Professor M.Anbarasan who teaches folk arts in the College of Music who heads the team comprising his students Miss K.Kala, Miss.K.Vijayalaxmi, Miss.N.Selvarani, Miss.Santhi and Mr.Nallusamy will be participating in various functions in Reunion as depicted in this poster. This ambassadors of Tamil culture carry forward the message of goodwill from the people of Tamil Nadu, and whole Reunion Tamils must be reassured that in upholding Tamil customs, religious practices, arts, music and language, a day will come that Reunion cultural ambassadors arrive here and capture our attention and can win our admiration. Where there is a will, there will be a way, goes the saying. Reunion Tamils have the will. Let them cherish their hybrid culture with Tamil component, we all hope and wish so.

N.Nandhivarman

Courtesy: New Indian Express dated: 13^th April 2004

நாம் அறியாத நாடோடிகளும் நம் இந்தியரே

CARRIBIENS : INDIANS : Doctoral Thesis of Singaravelou to Guyana University

ஃபீஜி தீவிலே கரும்புத் தோட்டத்திலே பாரதியாரின் கொதிப்பு ....

மொரிஷியஸ் தீவுக்குப் போன புதுவை அடிமைகள்

GARIBS OF INDIA MIGRATED TO CARRIBIENS

N.Nandhivarman

It is said that in his third voyage Christopher Columbus found Trinidad island  in 1498. But archaeological excavations in 29 places of Eastern Caribbean prove of earlier settlements of human beings dating back even to 7000 years ago. These tribal’s who lived there belong to stone age. Later their culture was classified as Hacienda Grende culture [250 BC to 300 A.D] ,Cuevas culture [400to 600 A.D]. Prosperity culture [ 1 to 300 A.D] Coral Bay Lang ford culture [ 350-550 A.D]. These settlers were from the river banks of Orino river that flows in Latin American country, Venezuela. They drove away the Ortorvid tribes and developed agriculture. Those who think that Columbus found a no man’s continent are mistaken in their belief. Tribal cultures prevailed and were well nourished much before Europeans set their foot in Trinidad and Tobago. The name Caribbean is derived from the Caribb tribes, whose pictures reveal sacred ash like mark in the forehead of the tribal women. Really a puzzle on how come traces of a  Saivite practice existed among those tribes, is matter for research.

178 years ago, British rulers of India trained their eyes on the teeming millions of India for manpower. Abolition of slavery resulted in shortage of labour to work in their sugarcane plantations. The father of British Prime Minister William Gladstone, Mr. John Gladstone on 4^th January 1836 wrote a letter to a company based in Calcutta  that he needed 100 labour on 5 to 7 year contract to work in his sugarcane plantations of Guyana. This company had a proven track record of earlier having sent slaves to Mauritius. On 5^th May 1838 in two ships Whitby and Hesperes 396 slaves including 22 women sailed to Guyana from Calcutta.  John Scroble who belonged to British Ant-Slavery Society wrote that these hill tribes were not taken voluntarily but were forcibly abducted and smuggled out of India.

They took the hill coolies of Chota Nagpur areas as bonded labour. Another ship carrying such coolies left Calcutta in February 1838 and reached Guyana on May 5^th of 1868 with 420 hill coolies including 50 women and 10 children. Many perished to diseases during the voyage and those who escaped disease and death on reaching the islands under a five year contract had to die unable to bear the stress and strain of their working conditions. The work conditions were designed in such a way that the workers were perpetually in debt to their employers. An Indian coolie was fined 24 dollars which was equivalent to six months wages , if he absented from work for more than 7 days . Suresh Kumar Pillai, a Keralite social scientist researched, wrote, shot, produced and directed the three part 50 minute documentary series titled Jahaji Bhai , a documentary with Urdu title. Title means brothers of the ship. The protagonists are not sailors in the same boat but slaves spirited away in the same vessel. Jahaji Bhai was shot in Guyana and Trinidad and produced by Trikkan Image Systems .It was telecast in televisions of Caribbean islands and India in 2003.

Suresh Kumar Pillai holds a post graduate diploma in mass communications in addition to fifteen years of journalistic experience.  His another documentary on migration of an Indian family in 19^th century from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to Caribbean titled Once More Removed for HBO documentaries USA is of special importance.

Through these documentaries he had depicted how migrant Indians to Caribbean’s lost their roots and culture. Negroes liberated from slavery climbed up in the social ladder, whereas Indian migrants  went to fill up the vacuum at the lowest strata of society. Most of them took to alcohol and for few women polyandry became the order of the day. Africans joined Europeans to suppress the brown race from India. Indian coolies were never allowed to practice their religious faiths or to speak their native tongues in the plantations. Quoting from various sources Suresh Kumar Pillai highlighted the plight of Indian immigrant labour including every day of their life in islands. An unknown chapter  of the struggle waged by Roar Guyana Movement and its leader Ravi Deb were recorded in the documentary Jahaji Bhai. It includes an interview of 108 year old man who recollects his fellow travellers of the slave ship which took him to the islands.

The temple in sea, built by Sadhu Sivadas symbolises the struggle for religious freedom waged by a Bihari in Trinidad. Born in January 1 of 1903 , Sivadas while he was only 4 years old went along with his parents in ship named S.S.Mutla to Trinidad. His parents and the boy worked as slaves in the Waterloo farm. When Sivadas grew he ran a grocery shop there and was saintly in his sermons to people. He bought a small piece of land closer to Waterloo Bay from a compant in 1947 and built Lord Shiva temple. The company which sold the land to Sivadas ordered him to demolish the temple. He refused and was sentenced to 14 day imprisonment and 400 dollars fine on claim that he grabbed the land. While he was in prison temple was demolished in 1952 and land records burnt. “ You can destroy the temple but I will build in sea vowed Sivadas Single handed carrying bricks and cement in his bicycle within 500 meters to sea Sivadas started constructing Siva Mandir. Sometimes others too helped him. But mostly he alone accomplished the task like a Hanuman. This temple is a monument for Indian struggle to religious faith. After this victory nearly 300 Hindu temples came up in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1971 Sivadas passed away and grateful people erected his statue in 1995.

Members of British Parliament voiced protests against Indians being taken as slaves to Caribbean islands from British India to work in plantations . British India halted its slave ships. In that place French India stepped in to supply new slaves. So on this hidden history Suresh Kumar Pillai shot another documentary titled Songs of Malabaris. The Songs of Malabaris “ was shot for Nederland based OHM Media Network and was telecast on Nederland National Television Channel in June 2004. All South Indians were referred as Malabaris in those days. French recruited between 1854 to 1920 around 50,000 coolies from Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Yenam , Chandranagore, French enclaves in India. They were taken to Guadeloupe and Martinique to work as plantation labour. The Indian labour in French colonies had to face stiff opposition from Africans, because Indians were ready to work for paltry pittance, which was not acceptable to Africans, who eyed Indians with enmity.  Thus Indians occupied the lowest position in the French Caribbean society  and were derogatively called as Coolie Malabaris or even as Chappa Coolies. In French colonies Indians had to be French in every sense, forgetting their native language and gods. But in Dutch colony of Surinam or British colony of Trinidad and Guyana , Indians enjoyed some degree of religious and linguistic freedom.  The documentary Songs of Malabaris gives us glimpses of the history of migration of Indians mostly Tamils from French India to French West Indies and their struggle to retain their language and culture against the French policy of assimilation.

The habitations of people of Indian origin are spread across many island nations, such as Trinidad and Tobago , Jamaica, Grenada. Barbados, and Saint .Vincent, Saint .Lucia, and in South American countries like Guyana and Surinam.

Indian Government headed by Narendra Modi, must assemble all these islands and nations where Indians went as migrants and evolve schemes for cultural revival and religious renaissance apart from building strong economic partnership with these nation states. Even in our neighbourhood to Srilanka Indian labour mostly Tamils went as plantation labour. While Caribbean countries assimilated Indians, India signed Srimavo-Sastri pact to take back our labour, nowhere in world such agreement was signed. It created a cursed category of stateless people. European settlers everywhere became citizens, Indian settlers were branded as stateless, due to the failure of our diplomacy. A healing touch towards our kinsmen who went to toil in plantations is need of the hour. Only Poet Bharathiar recorded the agonies of our women in sugar cane plantations.

Tamilnadu Government must initiate steps to start Tamil schools, colleges and institutions to reawaken the forgotten linguistic affinity these migrants from Tamilnadu and Pondicherry had once upon a time and deprived by cruel hands of colonialism.