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Odyssey and Ordeal of Indentured Indians in the Colonial Era in Ghosh’S Sea of Poppies

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Odyssey and Ordeal of Indentured Indians in the Colonial Era in Ghosh’S Sea of Poppies East African Scholars Journal of Education, Humanities and Literature Abbreviated Key Title: East African Scholars J Edu Humanit Lit ISSN: 2617-443X (Print) & ISSN: 2617-7250 (Online) Published By East African Scholars Publisher, Kenya Volume-4 | Issue-7 | July- 2021 | DOI: 10.36349/easjehl.2021.v04i07.005 Review Article Odyssey and Ordeal of Indentured Indians in the Colonial Era in Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies Dr. Ganga Nand Singh1*, Mr. Rahul Kumar Gupta2 1Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vinoba Bhave University, Vinoba Bhave University Rd, Sindoor, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand 825301, India 2Research Scholar, Department of English, Vinoba Bhave University, Vinoba Bhave University Rd, Sindoor, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand 825301, India Abstract: This study is an attempt to assess the two-edged system of Indentured Article History Labour that was practiced in colonized India during the pre-independence period. Received: 18.06.2021 Accepted: 25.07.2021 In this malpractice laborers were sent outside their native land for earning their Published: 27.07.2021 livelihood, but on the other hand they were misguided and misled to misery. Each aspect of the migrant workers is discussed in detail. The implication of the Journal homepage: indentured and why it was so will be covered. The indentured laborers have to sign https://www.easpublisher.com a bond to work outside their native land for a limited period as a (girmitiya) and Quick Response Code were compelled to live a miserable life, which could also be termed as social death. The critical approach to the lives of the migrant workers and their life will be taken into concern in this work. How the system still prevails in modern India in camouflage will also be the point, and what are its impact on the modern generation will be also taken into consideration. Keywords: Ancient, Jingoism, Displacement, Bonded Labor, Malpractice, Ordeal, Girmitiya, usurped, Slavery, Migration, Agony. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited. NTRODUCTION Causes of this girmitiya will further be taken into I account. This write up will also summarise the Amitav Ghosh is one of the most prolific abominable slavery system that continued from the writers of contemporary India, he writes with nobility early 19th century and in what way it has affected the and diction. His sea of poppies briefly describes and Indians in past and present.Relevance of colonial throws light on the life of indentured labor, system, and aftermath in modern perspective would be spotlighted. their emigration from their Native land in the colonial era under British rule. The reason for the plight of the workers, their social and economic condition, why they LITERATURE REVIEW choose to be indentured, the pressure of the Britishers, According to Faizan Fahim, “It is a long book, etc. after being girmitiya will be positively taken into with a detailed history of characters, and their journey account without harming anyone‟s perspective. to the ship. With a large cast and separate motivation, arc, and theme of each character, the book remains IMS AND BJECTIVES shallow in terms of story. But maybe the Sea of Poppies A O is not about the story, but the journey of these The purpose of this research paper is to unfold characters – both physically and spiritually”. the socio- economic condition of India in the colonial era under the East India Company that started to build Peter Berard, May 9, 2019, in his journal says and extend colonies in various parts of India. This will that” This makes it sound like it‟s about the history, also peel off the barbaric conditions that the Indians which it isn‟t entirely. It is about characters getting suffered during that time and highlight the acute swept up in forces beyond their control, from political financial crisis that facilitated imperialism and economy to love to addiction. It‟s also about the rough colonialism. An overview of the indentured labor and ready adjustments people make on the fly to clashes system (girmitiya) will also be covered in a wide range of culture. Ghosh delights in the different dialects, concerning the state of the early 18th century India. *Corresponding Author: Dr. Ganga Nand Singh 297 Ganga Nand Singh & Rahul Kumar Gupta., East African Scholars J Edu Humanit Lit; Vol-4: Iss-7 (July, 2021): 297-301 including trade pidgin and the argot of the lascars, the Talking about the Sea of poppies, Amitav sailors of the Indian Ocean”. Ghosh has beautifully portrayed the indentured system in his narrative. The novel is a motley array of sailors According to Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the and stowaways, coolies and convicts sailing down the New Yorker, October 20, 2008, “Ghosh‟s best and most Hooghly aboard the Ibis on its way to Mauritius. The ambitious work yet is an adventure story set in odyssey of the indentured begins at the onset and their nineteenth-century Calcutta against the backdrop of the voyage across the Indian ocean as though washes away Opium Wars. On the Ibis, a ship engaged in the old family ties to encounter an ordeal in the remote transporting opium across the Bay of Bengal, varied life islands.Circumstances compel Deeti and her second stories converge. A fallen raja, a half-Chinese convict, a husband, a lower caste man named Kalua to escape plucky American sailor, a widowed opium farmer, a from the atrocities they would have faced in the caste transgendered religious visionary is all united by the and class ridden indian society. Here, Kalua is an ox “smoky paradise” of the opium seed. Ghosh writes with cart puller that rescues Deeti, a widow, who was going impeccable control, and with a vivid and sometimes to perform Sati after the death of her husband Hukam surprising imagination: a woman‟s tooth protrudes “like Singh, a worker and drug addict in the Opium Factory a tilted gravestone”; an opium addict‟s writhing spasms of Ghaziabad. Deeti as a link character is carried are akin to “looking at a pack of rats squirming in a throughout the Ghosh‟s Ibis Trilogy. She belongs to the sack”; the body of a young man is “a smoking crater upper-class society and it was a very shameful act for that had just risen from the ocean and was still waiting her family that she ran away while performing sati with to be explored.” the help of a lower caste man Kalua. Now, it was tough for her family to survive in their village as casteism was Though a lot has been said on opium wars, hyperactive at that time. So, Deeti and Kalua decided to addiction and plight of people during colonial reign, abscond from there and disguise themselves with this paper will attempt to explore the unexplored another name and sign as (Aditi) later in the novel on abominable and unfortunate system of indentured the ship, Ibis. laborers. „Girmitiya‟ is a term that means agreement or Textual Study bond. Coercion or Indentured in India started in 1834 Before coming of the British rule, India was and lasted up till 1922. Despite having been officially generally considered as a Golden bird but after the banned in 1917 by the British after untiring efforts and Britishers captured India; the Indian society, its pressure from the freedom fighter like Mahatma happiness, love and life became hellish. During the Gandhi, India‟s Imperial Legislative Council continued British rule, the colonizers forcefully tried to capture it. Talking about the endangered system that Indians the marginalized people of Indian society for their suffered on a major platform, first of all, the laborers pleasure and profit. Indians were so innocent by nature had to sign an agreement to work under their respective that it was very easy to manipulate them especially the masters as a slave. They were sent outside their native ones who belonged to the marginal areas and class. country for 5 years. They were even promised a good profitable amount as their income for their family. They Girmitiya, Indentured labor or Slavery were even convinced that their traveling, logistic system- all are interrelated in the colonial impact. After criteria will be on a cruise like a ship and they will be the inception of the East India Company, they started to living in a proper hygiene and amiable environment, but build colonies and started annexing rural areas. the scene was just the opposite. They were not provided Thereafter, they started to befool the poor villagers and the promised facilities andnot even paid what they were send them to distant lands outside their native land told earlier. As a result of the deceit, eventually the including places like Fiji, Trinidad, Mauritius, etc. The convicts were handled by the other person or agent who people were mainly from Bihar, Bengal and the drought was in charge of them now. The recruitment of - ridden districts of Tamil Nadu. These people had to indentured laborers was done based on their physical sign a bond to work for five years as indentured laborer. fitness and abilities. Similarly, after the indentured labor system, the slavery system was also developed in many parts across the Similar was with the plight and pain of the globe and is present till date but in a different form like female indentured laborers. Their recruitment was done child labour, bonded labour etc. Today, it is considered based on their skills and appearance. They were to be an evil practice in India and across the globe.
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