Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Volume 11 Article 5

January 1998

Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad

Marion O'Callaghan

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Recommended Citation O'Callaghan, Marion (1998) " in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 11, Article 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1178

The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. T O'Callaghan: Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad

Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad

Marion O'Callaghan Trinidad

THE IMPORTATION OF Indian however a number of factors intervened indentured labour into Trinidad covers the affecting equality between Hinduism and period 1845 to 1917. Christianity, and affecting the nature of Trinidad had, in the century before Hinduism. Indian indentured labour, changed from a On the introduction of indentureship, it peasant society to a plantation economy was established that while an Indian based on sugar, from a country of few Christian marriage would follow the norm, settlers or slaves toa society with settlers i.e. that the duty of registration would be on drawn principally from French settlers and the priest or pastor performing the with a slave population drawn directly from ceremony, non-Christian marriages would be Africa or from other Caribbean islands. It valid only if registered by the Protector of had changed colonial hands from Spain to Immigrants or directly with the State Britain. registry. This meant that marriages Indian migration was rarely family according to Hindu or Muslim rites were not migration, with females reaching the legally valid and that the offspring of such proportion of 40/100 only after 1868. marriages were illegitimate. The transfer of Recruitment was first from Madras. This property and inheritance were also affected turned out to be unsuccessful. Recruitment while to "marry under the bamboo" often was then mainly from the United Provinces carried a social stigma. - about 50.7%, but also from , No cremation sites were at first Orissa, Oudh, , , the Punjab. 1 available. A crematorium was only Permanent settlement turned out to be established in Trinidad (Port of Spain) in the more attractive to Indian immigrants than early 80s, while cremation by pyre was not repatriation. qf the 143,939 introduced into permitted until the mid 50s. TriIlidad over the period 1838-1917, only In addition to these obvious deficiencies 29,448 returned. By 1918 Indians were the structure of the working week as well as approximately 34 % of the population, rising . official holidays followed Christian custom. to approximately 40% by 1990. The Indians This in turn affected the organization of were not all Hindu. 10.3 % of all Catholics Hindu community celebrations. It also are Indian. In some areas Indian Pente-' indirectly affected marriage dates: choosing costals, who settled in these areas only from an auspicious day for marriage was not only the end of the 1970s, are now the major a question of astrology but also of the Christian denomination, displacing practical business of weekends. Presbyterians and forming the second largest were affected in a more general group (slightly below Africans) within and pervasive manner by their designation as Pentecostalism. "pagans". The word implied not only a multiplicity of deities but also meant Religious Discrimination "uncivilized". It is not surprising therefore Indians were in principle permitted the free that the push of Hinduism has been to exercise of their religion. In practice counter . the charge of paganism and to

Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin 11 (1998) 2-10

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establish nDt Dnly the parity but increasingly Caste as a hierarchical DrganizatiDn Df the superiDrity Df Hinduism. clDsed DccupatiDnal groups was impDssible under plantatiDn cDnditiDns. Caste At the end Df indentureship, the The questiDn Df caste and its retentiDn Dr distributiDn Df land was at the will Df the nDn-retentiDn amDng the Indian DiaspDra authDrities and did nDt take into. and in particular within Trinidad has been a cDnsideratiDn the caste distributiDn. Villages I: matter Df debate and Df sharply DppDsing were never tDtally iSDlated but cDntinually views amDng schDlars, particularly given the exchanged gDDds and services with the wider impDrtance Df caste fDr Hinduism in . cDmmunity. GeDgraphical, mDbility The prDblem is cDmplicated by the lack undermined caste restrictiDns, while the Df precise data as to' the caste appurtenance main avenue Df sDcial mDbility, educatiDn, Df thDse Indians who. did arrive. while it was selective, was nDt selective The figures given by the ProtectDr Df accDrding to' caste criteria. Immigrants fDr Trinidad (1877-1918) are: No. caste DrganizatiDn exists. There is the Artisan caste 7 %, the Agricultural castes therefDre no. way Df enfDrcing caste 30%, (who. are considered slightly DbligatiDns including in the area Df meat IDwer) 14% and LDW Castes (slightly IDwer aVDidance Dr Df pDllutiDn.5 Vegetarianism again) 35 %. 2 Brahmins make up 13 % Df is mDre likely to' signal DrthDdDxy than the tDtal. caste. AlcDhDI aVDidance is mDre rare. Krishna Haracksingh basing himself Dn LibatiDns Df alcDhDI are sDmetimes made a study dDne in argues that caste althDugh, like animal sacrifice, increasingly representatiDn in the indentured pDpulatiDn frDwned upDn, and Hindus have been knDwn was rDughly the same as in India. It was to. keep rum ShDPS, particularly in Indian therefDre a "slice Df life transpDrted.,,3 villages. NDn.;.Indians have Dften cDuntered with Caste can be assumed Dr can be the argument that high castes were nDt awarded. It was pDssible fDr a higher caste amDng the indentured labDurers since ~ to' be assumed Dn emigratiDn. That it was crossing the "Kali-pani" - the Dark Waters dDne .is suggested by the terms used in - wDuld have been cDnsidered pDllutiDn. : "Ship Brahmin" and "Ship The broad Varna Castes were represent­ Kshatruya".6 The term "Ship Brahmin" has ed as well as SDme tribals Dutside Df the its equivalent in Trinidad: "Red HDuse Varna categDries. HDwever,jati Dr sub-caste Brahmin" indicating that the changing Df representatiDn was unequal and in SDme caste membership Dccurs. Caste within the cases nDn-existent. MDreDver in the,case Df Hindu cDmmunity is mDst Dperative with female immigratiDn there was a larger regard to' ritual. prDpDrtiDn Df IDwer castes.4 Caste and The insistence Df the cDIDnial particularly jati (sub-caste) endDgamy was gDvernment that permissiDn fDr the Pundit to' impDssible. While caste (Varna) endDgamy act as the marriage Dfficer as was dDne in CDuid be partly kept where marriages were Dther religiDns cDuld Dnly be accDrded if arranged, this is difficult where marriages Hindus spDke with Dne vDice, favDured no. IDnger are. Arranged marriages are tDday' centralized administratiDn and a quasi-clergy rare amDng middle class Hindus Dr Hindus similar to' the DrganizatiDn Df Christian,,? in urban areas. While parents in rural areas churches. The Pundit as Brahmin was still attempt to' arrange marriages, the TV, therefDre strengthened and had as its ease Df transpDrt, the decline Df the rural cDrDllary the decline Df nDn-Brahmin ritual areas have served to' weaken parental specialists. With Pundits being the majDr. authDrity particularly in the area Df marital ritual specialists thrDughDut Trinidad chDice. Hinduism, Brahminical Hinduism became

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol11/iss1/5 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1178 2 O'Callaghan: Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad 4 Marion O'Callaghan

"practically the only form of Hinduism. often still are) regarded as "mlecchas" However even the Pundit as Brahmin or impure and certainly not a part of . continues to be a subject of dispute in their own religious identity. 10 particular between the Sanatan Dharma This accords with the situation in Maha Saba and emerging sects or competing Trinidad except that upper-caste Hinduism is Hindu leaders. no longer caste defined, but increasingly Outside of ritual, caste and quasi-caste defines official Hinduism.. This process relationships are created as part of the accelerates as the saliency of caste even as a legitimation of social, economic, or political vague clustering of status within the Hindu status. Important leaders may be designated community disintegrates, and as Brahminism as Brahmins and can not only expect the is restricted to a ritual role. "Official" deference due to Brahmins but are Hinduism has, however, not succeeded in incorporated into Guru-Chela client eliminating "unofficial Hinduism" whether relationships. These relationships include in forms of devotion, sacrifice, or assistance particularly in time of need with pilgrimage. This unofficial Hinduism the requirement of loyalty. But designation maintains forms of Shramanic Hinduism and is also of Sudras as an indication of low establishes linkages with the Shouter Baptists 7 social status rather than descent. In this arid Orisha of African traditions. case the "Madrassi" are uniformly placed in Both official and popular Hinduism have the category of Sudra. been influenced by the wider society. In the The legitimation by caste or quasi-caste case of the former, the development of both also operates with regard to the relationship belief and practice have been influenced by between Indians and non-Indians. While conditions within Trinidad, by links intermarriages with Whites is preferred and developed with India at first by the Hindu intermarriage with Chinese and Coloureds missionaries of the 1930s and 40s and then tolerated, intermarriage with those of clear by direct contact with Hindu groups in African descent is considered forbidden not India, by Indian films, by meetings of the by social custom, but by the caste Indian Diaspora, by the8 rise of ethnic regulations of Hinduism. It is the offspring movem~nts in the 1930s and the 1970s, and of this last whieh is a "douglah,,8 while the by the recent gains of. Hindu natiol1alist maintenance of separateness in culture and parties in India. During the 1930s and 1970s to some extent in education is argued in Pan Africanism and Pan Indianism were terms of the refusal of "dooglahrisation." translated within Trinidad as ethnic political Caste or quasi-caste is also functional mobilization. with regard to the elaboration of Hindu Hinduism in Trinidad has always existed orthodoxy and the selection from forms of as a minority religion next to dominant Hinduism. Christianity. It is only since the victory of The worship of individual godlings the present government in 1996 that Hindus (deota) or village gods that are not in the have wielded direct political power and can Sanskritic Hindu pantheon is considered directly influence government policies. malevolent9 and associated withChamars or Madrassi and with demonism. Romila The Impact of Presbyterianism Thapar points out that in India the There is much debate on the 'impact of the Hinduism of untouchables, tribal and Presbyterian Canadian Mission on the Indian other groups is characterized by a community as a whole and on "race" predominance of the worship of relations in particular. With regard to the goddesses and spirits ... with libations latter, the Presbyterian policy of an of meat and alcohol ... For the upper exclusive mission to the Indians ensured that caste Hindus these groups were (and the majority of Presbyterians would be

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Indian. ritual. Beliefs are transmitted through the It is Presbyterians who first introduced prominence given to a Hindu creed. This is the teaching of (Trinidad Indians had taught and displayed in all of the Maha Saba evolved a modified form of Bhojpuri (a schools and has been since the 1950s. dialect of Hindi) as the language of Sunday school classes as well as schools communication) . teach a question-and-answer catechism Presbyterian missionaries attempted to modelled on the pre-Vatican II catechism. establish not only a racially exclusive The arguments for Hinduism are modelled mission but racially exclusive schools and on the former Catholic apologetics and agitated both with planters and with the arguments along these lines are the government to implement this. 11 The repertoire of even the most liberal Hindus. I aggressiveness of Presbyterians in their Articles carried weekly in the press reinforce conversions, their predominance in Indian dominant Hinduism. Satsangs,pujas, yagnas education, and their increasing emergence as inculcate beliefs through commentaries, an Indian Church prompted the rise of songs, and sermons. Weekly temple worship Hindu organizations whose agenda it was to gives centrality to the sermon and the temple stem the tide of conversions by the is arranged with chairs or benches. establishment of Hindu schools and of a Activities around the Divali Nagar - a network of Hindu temples. The ultimate cultural centre on land granted by the form of the major organization, the Sanatan Government to Indians - ensures an Dharma Maha Saba, was however dictated exchange of views between Maha Saba not by Presbyterianism but as a Brahminical pundits, those of other Hindu sects and reaction to the establishment of an Arya unattached "gurus". ,Beliefs are reinforced Sumaj mission during the 1930s in through contacts with the parent Maha Saba I , I and in Trinidad. The success of the Sanatan in India, by visiting Swamis and by the Dharma Maha Saba rested on its capacity to importation of Hindu literature from India. control ritual as well as to establish In the homogenization of beliefs the competing Hindu schools in every Indian Maha Saba has been of crucial importance. area. The schools issue was particularly Indeed the Maha Saba is almost the sole important given the colonial government's authority over social and educational policy of restricting the number of concerns and has successfully driven government schools in areas where church opposition groups such as the Arya Samaj schools existed. This in effect meant out of existence or has severely limited their Presbyterian schools in Indian areas. The capacity for action. 12 The traditionally Maha Saba school program owed its success close links of the Maha Saba with politics to the then Head of the Maha Saba Bhadase ensure a coherence be~ween beliefs and Maharaj. He also founded the Democratic politics cementing the unity of Hindus. Labour Party and for this used effectively There are few Hindus in Trinidad who the Guru-chela relationships. Loyalty to would say that they did not believe in One Hindu political leaders therefore was God. This God is incorporated as part of the religious only primal energy, Prakriti which is obligations of Hindus. This in the post 1970 called the Supreme Truth, the Brahman period would be reinforced by the special or simply God. 13 God is both position given to Tulsidas's Ramayana with transcendent and imminent in all its accent on obedience to authority. creatures. He is therefore the unity of the universe. 14 ,God has apparently Beliefs become the world without undergoing Hindus in Trinidad have achieved a any change. This is the mystery of it remarkable homogeneity of beliefs and of all, this is the concept of "Maya" illusion. 15 ,

I https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol11/iss1/5 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1178 4 r I J O'Callaghan: Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad 6 Marion O'Callaghan

Sanatan Dharma includes the "eternal terms. The Karma of each individual is truths ... taken from the Vedic statement, chosen by him- or herself. Wealth therefore God is One, Truth is One, Sages call him by is part of merit. Indian success is due to many names".16 Religions therefore are "hard work, self sacrifice and their skilful essentially the same and only represent art of thrift" while the inability of "some differing paths. Blacks to achieve socio-economic mobility Hinduism is the supreme non-pagan must be attributed largely, to a lack of self religion. Surujattan Rambachan explains: sacrifice and thrift on their part ... " .18 "Idolatry is when I claim that God is limited The similarity of these arguments to to that form which I worship and that he is Victorian Calvinism is striking and achieve confined to only that form. ,,17 The the ,same effect. The impact of the Christian Trinity is only a form of the Hindu Indologists, of Blavatsky, and of Bailey Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, should also be underlined. Laksmi is also Sita, Vamana, Dharani, Rukmini, or Kali. . Religious Practices The "Our Creed" lists the scriptures and A Satsang was a weekly or fortnightly -, their relationship to belief: gathering usually held in the absence of a I believe that the , the pundit and rotating from house to house. It , the Puranas, the , was the main congregational activity of the Mahabharata, the Ramayan and the Trinidad Hindus and served not only a contain all the eternal religious purpose but also as village truths of religion. recreation. Satsangs today are modelled It is however the Ramayana of Tulsidas more closely on the prayer meeting and which has the most popular appeal parallels the post-1970 popularity of throughout the Hindu community and is Pentecostal, Evangelical, or Catholic widely accepted by Indians outside of the charismatic prayer meetings. Hindu community. Tulsidas himself is The sanctity of Tulsidas' Ramayana is venerated as a great saint and a great underlined at the Satsang. It is this - the prophet. The words "saint" and "prophet" book - which is in itself the murti to which are used. His translation therefore is in itself offerfngs (usually of flowers or prasad) are sacred. While the emphasis on the truths and given. The readings are interspersed with revelation of the Ramayana is new belonging bhajans (sacred songs often called psalms).c to the post-1970 Hindu Revitalization These may be sung by neighbours, by a Movement, reading and acting the Rama­ group of children, and increasingly by yana was an integral part of popular rural professional bhajan singers (Ramayan Hinduism: The Ram lila plays and the singers) who are engaged for a fee. The celebration of Vijay dashmi - the day on importance of the harmonium is its use in which Rawan was supposed to be killed by bhajan accompaniment particularly at Ram. Beside this structured Brahminical poojas. The harmonium has itself become Sanatanist Hinduism there is 'also a strong quasi-sacralized as symbolic of the Bhakti influence of personal devotions and maintenance of Hindu culture. individual pieties. Pujas are more closely associated with The recent emergence of a wealthy the family and are given in thanksgiving for Indian middle-class and the sharp post-1970 prayers answered or as part of the demands decline in the achievements of Trinidadians of prayer. Their popularity since the 1970s of African descent with the spectacular now sees them giyen to celebrate birthdays, growth of urban marginalization has had as anniversaries, success in business or in its corollary an explanation not in social exams. Here Hindu practice closely follows terms, but in religious or quasi-religious the multiplication of services (both in the

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home and at churches) celebrating equivalent now modeled on modern Indian music. The events in the Christian community. Yagna, unlike the puja, is widely advertised During the period preceding Divali, the drawing in participants from other parts of nine days of Nav ratri, pujas are held to a the island. The capacity to attract a number of deities: Hancaman, Shiva, congregation is the test of the status of the . Saraswati, Laksmi. Pujas are preceded by a individual or of the temple. period of abstinence from alcohol, meat, and The Yagna has been one of the principal sex. The puja ritual is performed by a pundit methods of Hindu mobilization. Not only who not only invokes the particular deity are songs popular but the widening of the represented by a murti and makes the catchment area has served to bond Hindus offering (the number varies) but also blesses beyond their neighbourhood. Lead singers the bamboo pole which will be placed in a are well known and usually also sing over hole, usually at the front of the house. In Indian TV or radio becoming local "stars". this hole a number of offerings to the deity Particular Pundits are chosen according to is placed including milk, the tulsie leaf, the reputation of their discourses. Since while the bamboo pole is anointed with Pundits rotate, their interpretations of the saffron. A pennant is then flown. The colour scriptures or of events circulate in the Hindu of the pennant (jhandi) represents the deity. community having the effect of the preacher These pennants are not replaced but allowed in Christian communities. to disintegrate in the weather. Puja also includes food both as prasad Pilgrimages (offering to the deity), the distribution of There are few pilgrimage sites in Trinidad. prasad to those who attend and a meal Perhaps the major and oldest pilgrimage site usually of roti (a kind of chapati), is that of Sooparee MaL This site is also one vegetables, dhal, and rice. Food may also be of the most interesting examples of distributed to the poor. The officiating enculteration. Sooparee Mai for Hindus is pundit is given. money and a ritual gift also Our Lady of Siparia or La Pastora (the usually consisting of white cotton of a length Divine Shepherdess) for Catholics. The which can make a dhoti, rice (the former statue, a brown Virgin, is regarded as habit of giving paddy or unmilled rice from miraculous by Catholics, Hindus, and the the host's fields has been discontinued since African-Christian "Shouter" Baptists. Its fields are rare), and oil. history is·unknown. Its veneration pre-dates The Yagna is a more elaborate affair. It the arrival of Indian indentured labour and emerges out of the Bhagwat which was a would seem to belong to the Black Virgin seven day series of Pujas at which the phenomenon of Latin America. While for Bhagavad Purana was read. Catholics offerings are of candles or money, The post-1970s Revitalization Movement for Hindus offerings include bits of jewelry with its increased interest in the Ramayana (today usually costume jewelry), locks of saw the Bhagwat matched by the extended hair, oil, or flowers. reading of the Ramayana over a period of For Catholics the day of pilgrimage is nights. The Bhagwat then became one of a the Feast of the Good Shepherd. For Hindus type: the Yagna. These may be arranged by it begins on Holy Thursday culminating on wealthy individuals annually or bi-annually Good Friday. It is customary over this and have become a symbol of wealth. They period to give a boy his first haircut offering may be arranged by groups and increasingly the lock of hair to Sooparee MaL by temples. It should be noted that the pilgrimage The Yagna "tent" matches the· does not receive the blessings of "official" Pentecostal crusade tent and emerges at the Hinduism. Rather it is discouraged. same period - the post-1970s. Singing too is

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol11/iss1/5 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1178 6 O'Callaghan: Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad · 8 Marion O'Callaghan

Rites of the Life Cycle prayers for the dead followed by a small Life cycle rites may include the hair-cutting dinner, is in the case of Hindus the ten rite for boys. The more important rite which nights of Hindu ritual followed by the par­ is compulsory is the christening. This must taking of a common meal and the shaving of be performed before marriage and is often the hair of the eldest male relative. This is performed in the teens. At this rite the performed near to water and a ritual bath is teenager receives a godfather, usually a taken. Brahmin pundit who will serve throughout The dead will be honoured both on 1 life as a spiritual adviser or guru to the chela November, All Saints, or during Pitri Paksh, or disciple. It is he who will give the chela the fortnight of honouring the ancestors. the secret mantra or prayer which is part of the ceremony. Feasts Confirmation is only for the twice born The major Hindu feast is Divali. Houses are castes and is the ceremony at which they cleaned and painted, new curtains put up, receive the sacred thread. The use of small electric lights may be strung up. Since Christian terms: godfather, christening, it is a vegetarian festival the demand for confirmation, for what are Hindu rituals vegetables is great enough to send up prices emphasizes the similarity with Christian throughout most of the island. Deyas are lit ritual. In the case of the guru-chela in parks, before public buildings, stores on relationship, the client relationships pavements, and before each Hindu home, as established in creole society between a well as increasingly lit by non-Hindus. For wealthy godfather and a poorer godchild is Hindus in Trinidad Divali is the symbol of ritualized, with the same obligations of light conquering darkness. It is the feast of advice and if necessary of financial Laksmi, deity of wealth and success, but assistance. Marriage rites include the also symbolizes Rama's conquest of Rawan, anointing with turmeric "to saffron" as the conquest of malevolent forces sometimes purification, the suggestive dancing by interpreted as the non-Sanskritic deotas. It women, the exchange of parched rice, the can however be given a political connotation eating off banana leaves, the procession of as symbolizing the conquest of political cars, the presentation of garlands and gifts, power. the treading on the stone. This increasing importance of Divali has The former use of a saffron-coloured been consciously fed by the Society for the sari has been replaced by the traditional red Promotion of Indian Culture (SPIC). This is which may be changed after the ceremony a university students group which came into for a wedding dress. There is now a choice existence during the Black Power Students' between the traditional wedding and the Revolt of 1970 and was th~n mainly directed shorter and more Westernized form, the at stopping Indian Student Participation in table wedding. the Students' Revolt. It has produced a high Cremation has increasingly displaced percentage of the spokespersons of burial with cremation by pyre on the banks Hinduism today. For SPIC of the Caroni (the Shore of Peace) or the In (the situation of Trinidad) the older site on the banks of the Oropouche celebration of Divali as a symbol of the preferred above the crematorium. The Great Tradition, which functions as an "wake" is similar to the wake in Christian umbilical cord and as a compendium homes with prayers, the drinking of strong capable of accommodating. local coffee, and the eating of biscuits. Rum, traditions, achieved a new importance it although technically forbidden, may be didnot have in India ... for better odor available away from the main house. The worse the responses to the challenges "nine nights" of Catholics, where there are posed by this special situation, the modem is going to

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be written. 19 5. Vertovec argues that since actual caste relationships were no longer possible only Of some importance is the secular public vague identities and status relationships holiday of Indian Arrival Day. It is new, has based on regional caste clusters remained. increased in importance and acts as a These were not enough to structure mobilization agent for the entire Indian relationships as was the case in India. Steven population although it shows a strong Hindu Vertovec, op. cit., p.99 and also p.65. influence. Its accent on the importance of Schwartz gives seven specific social and the Indian Diaspora links it to some extent cultural factors which indicate the non­ with some elements of Divali. existence of caste: Barton M. Schwartz: or Pagwa, once a simple village "The failure of Caste in Trinidad" in festival, has become increasingly the Hindu Overseas Indian Communities, edited by counterpart of Carnival. Khatik-Ke-nahan, at Barton M Schwartz... (Chandler Publishing the end of the holy month of Khatik Company, San Francisco, California 1967), pp.141-2. (October-November) which had been in Colin Clarke notes that in San Fernando decline has had a new rise in popularity. It the caste system as such has broken down if is the time when Hindus travel to the sea for compared with traditional caste in 19th­ a ritual bath and jhandis can be seen century India. He nevertheless finds caste particularly along the long seashore of correlated with wealth. Colin Clarke, "Caste Mayaro. among Hindus in a town in Trinidad, San, Hinduism in Trinidad has proved itself Fernando", in Barton M Schwartz, The capable of re-working crucial aspects of failure of caste in Trinidad, pp.167-77. Hinduism' in India in order to bind Hindus On the other hand Morton Klass finds abroad as an ethnic group and to provide a caste to some extent operative in Amity, a strategy for upward mobility, and in order to village in Central Trinidad: Morton Klass, consolidate today's political dominance and East Indians in Trinidad, (New York Columbia University Press, 1961). growing economic dominance. 6. R. T. Smith and Chandra Jayardene, "Caste and social status among the Indians in Guyana in Overseas Indian communities", Notes edited by Barton M. Schwartz, op. cit., pp.54-6. 1. Here quoted from Steven Vertovec 7. For an illustration of this see Mahin Gosine, "'Official', and 'Popular' Hinduism in the Fai/ure of Class over Ethnicity: East Indians Caribbean: Historical and contemporary and Black Power in the Caribbean. The case trends in Surinam, Trinidad and Guyana" in: ofTrinidad. (African Research Publications), Across the Dark Waters Ethnicity and Indian p.141. Identity in the Caribbean. Edited by David 8. A derogatory term meariing bastard. It is the Dabydeen and Brinsley Samaroo. (Warwick term used for the offspring of an Indian and University, Caribbean Studies, Macmillan, someone of African descent. For inter­ Caribbean 1996), p.113. marriage see also Arthur Niehoff and Juanita 2. Protector of Immigrants - 1877-1918. Niehoff, East Indians in the West Indies, 3. Krishna R. Haracksingh, "The Hindu (Milwaukee Public Museum, Publications in experience in Trinidad", (Paper presented at Anthropology, Number 6, Milwaukee the Third Conference on East Indians in the Wisconsin, USA 1960), p.62; Morton Klass, Caribbean 29 Aug - 5 September), pp.8- 9. Singing with Sai Baba: the Politics of 4. cf. letter of Murdoch to Rogers, 25 April Revitalization, (Boulder San Francisco and 1865 and 2 June 1865 quote in Keith Oxford: West View Press, 1991), p.52. Laurence, "Immigration into Trinidad and 9. A. Niehoff, East Indians in Trinidad, p.126. British Guiana 1834-1871", Ph.D. thesis, 10. Romila Thapar, syndicated in University of Cambridge, October; 1958, Seminar, 1985, No.3I3, The Hindus and Facsimile Vol II, p.302. their times, p.17.

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol11/iss1/5 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1178 8 O'Callaghan: Hinduism in the Indian Diaspora in Trinidad 10 Marion O'Callaghan

11. Carl C. Campbell, op. cit., pp.52-4. Issue 1988, p.37. See also Article III of 12. Morton Klass, Singing with Sai Baba: The Hindu Creed. polities of Revitalisation p.157. 17. Surujrattan Rambachan: Thoughts on Divali 13. Praksh Persad, "The significance and use of - Many Gods. Mantras". (paper), Undated, unpaged. 18. Manhin Gosine, East Indians and Black 14. Article I of the Hindu Creed. Power in the Caribbean, (Africana Research 15. Anantanand Rambachan in an interview by Publications, New York 1986), p.217. Roodal Moonilan. (Published in Society for 19. Unsigned in UWI Society for the Promotion the Promotion of Indian Culture, Issue of Indian Culture: Renaissance, Divali 1985 Divali 1987), p.9. issue, p.2 16. Savitri Nagoo in Renaissance, op. cit. Divali

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