Le Site De Phooliyar À Maurice : L’Empreinte De La Mémoire Des Migrations Baishali Ghosh

Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations Baishali Ghosh

To cite this version:

Baishali Ghosh. Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations. Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien, Université de La Réunion, 2019, Varia. hal-02474956

HAL Id: hal-02474956 https://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-02474956 Submitted on 11 Feb 2020

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Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations*

Phoolyar in Mauritius: stamping memory and migration

Résumé Cet article retrace le processus de commémoration de la migration, des matériaux et de la mémoire des travailleurs engagés à l’île Maurice. Il examine les éléments visuels du site et de la sculpture à Phooliyar (ancienne usine sucrière, dans le district de la Rivière-du-Rempart), prenant ce site comme étude de cas. Je propose d’étudier le site comme un contre-engagisme qui a été

mais aussi leurs descendants et la matérialité du système sous-contrat. Le siteconstruit se présente pour authentifier comme une non contre-archive seulement la qui mobilité déploie des progressivement migrants engagés, les récits complexes de la migration des engagés et des générations suivantes. Les recherches de terrain de 2015 à 2018 m'ont permis de découvrir dif férentes trajectoires de transformation de l’héritage de la pratique du tra vail sous contrat et le processus de patrimonialisation associé. Dans la

du monument. Je discute de la façon dont le Phooliyar traduit l'émotion et l'imaginationpremière partie des de agences l'article, artistiquesje décris le quiprocessus ont participé de fabrication à l'exécution du site duet monument. Le site est l'incarnation de la compréhension cartographique

stratifiée de la terre, de l'île et de la Nation mauricienne par l'artiste, par les responsablesplace pour commémorer gouvernementaux l'histoire et de par la migration, la communauté. ainsi que Dans la méthode la deuxième de la partie, je soutiens que « l’acte de fiducie » est un processus qui a été mis en

Mots-clésmigration, pour bâtir le site Phooliyar. Maurice, empreinte, engagisme, migration, matériau

Summary This paper traces the process of the memorialization of migration, material and memory of the indenture labour system in Mauritius. It probes the visual elements of the site and sculpture in Phooliyar as a case study. I propose the site as a counter indenture that was constructed to authenticate not only the mobility of the indentured migrants, but also their descendants and the materiality of the indentured system. The site is a counter archive that gradually unfurls the complex narratives of migration of both the labourers and the following generations. The field research carried out between 2015 to 2018 has helped me to uncover various trajectories of transforming the inheritance of the indenture labour practice into the heritage. In the first part of the paper I describe the making of the site and the monument. I discuss how the Phooliyar resonates the emotion and imagination of the agencies that were engaged in executing the monument. It is an embodiment of the layered cartographical understanding of the land, island and nation-Mauritius of the artist, the government officials and the community. In the second half of the paper I argue that the "indenture process" was deployed to commemorate the history of migration, as well as the method of migration by making the site, Phooliyar.

Keywords Mauritius, stamping, indenture, migration, material

* GHOSH Baishali, Ph.D,

University of Hyderabad, India DOI : 10.26171/carnets-oi_0404

[email protected] Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

Sight of the site: Phooliyar

Today the monument in front of the Antoinette sugar estates in Phooliyar commemorative text on the pedestal reads “A tribute to the Indian immigrants who first(Fig. set 1) foot looks as likeindentured a lotus. labour It is installedon this sail on in a 1834. high raisedWith their pedestal. toll, sweat The and inscribed blood they nurtured this island which today is heaven of peace and prosperity”. A metal plate and patrons of the monument. It states the following: fixed on the boulder at the foot of the monument displays the information on the artist Today’s Mauritians salute their sacrifice perseverance and selflessness unveiled by the Prime Minister Mr. Aneerood Jugnauth on the 2nd September 1984, exe- cuted by Mala Chummun, with technical assistance from M.A Soobratty and J. Khirodhur on the occasion of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the coming of the Indian immigrants and abolition of slavery.

Fig. 1 - Phooliyar Monument, 2018

Courtesy author few small orange jhandas (religious pennants) that try in vain to reach the two The national flags of India and Mauritius fly well above the monument. A plaque displays an image of the ship, Atlas. Under the image the inscription runs as follows:national “ flagsShip aremodel tied on on which the trees.indentured Next tolabour the monument,were brought a perpendicularto Mauritius and stone to

62 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

other colonies; indentured labourers (36) who came on board the Atlas (1834).” The 1 At the foot of this

thirty-six labourers’ names appear underneath the inscription. commemorativeto honour tablet the memory is another of the slab first on whichindenture the inscriptionlabourers who follows: toiled and lived at Antoinette-Phooliyar in November 1830. This plaque was unveiled by Lady Sa- rojini Jugnauth in the presence of Hon. R. Yerrigadoo, Attorney General, Hon. S. Baboo, minister of Art and Culture, Hon S. Rutnah, Government Whip. and Mr. D.Y.D Dhuni, Chairperson of the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund, on 3rd April 2016. The Aapravasi ghat trust has put up a notice on the Antoinette sugar estate on

the top at the front end of the monument. It gives a brief history of Antoinette sugar estate that goes back to 1770 when Chevalier de Chermont, a French military officer got the land at a discount price. In 1783 Louis Naud transformed the land into an estate to cultivate sugar cane, spices and vegetables. Georges Charles Arbuthnot developed it sugarinto a estate.prominent He renamed estate with the branded estate in distilleries the memory in theof his region wife, of Antoinette Riviere de who Rempart died by 1830s. In 1863 Raoul de Maroussem and his associates became the owners of the (Fig. 2) early due to malaria. The last part of the board reads In total, more than 400 slaves and more than 4000 indentured labourers worked and lived at Antoinette where they contributed to the transformation of Mau- ritius into garden of sugar. Today, Antoinette Sugar Estate is known for being the sugar estate where the first indentured labourers went to work after their arrival from India on the Atlas on 2 November 1834. Their arrival marked the beginning of the experiment conducted by the British authorities to establish a new system of recruitment on contract in colonies called “indenture”. The experiment conducted in Mauritius led to the adoption of the indenture system by colonial powers and eventually led to the migration of 2.2 million indentured labourers throughout the world from 1820s to 1920s.

1 Juttoo, Chota Bhoodhoo, Bachoo, Aryoon, Rammohan, Sookram, Dhicram, Ghonssee, Bhooosan,They were ChotaSaroop Chooneelall, Sirdar, Sabaram Bigna, Mate,Auklah, Bhoodhoo, Lungen, Callachend, Champah, Bholah,Bhundhoo, Tisera Choonearam, Bhoodhoo,

Bhagyarath, Chungaram, Chola Muggroo, Chota Dhicram, Dookhun, Bhomoreh. Sibchure, Chota Bhundhoo, Deenram, Budhrem, Mugtoo, Jhareeah, Choylun, Choolango,

63 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

Fig. 2 - The Information board, 2018

Courtesy author This paper1 traces the process of the memorialization of migration, material

and1 memory of the indenture labour system in Mauritius. It probes the visual

andThis survival paper owes of the to indenturedthe plethora migrants. of painstaking It was studies presented on the in theindenture conference, labour titled history “Forced that inform me about the structure of recruitment, transportation, placement, sustainability

labour and migration: indentured & pacific labourchai trades” in Fiji, in July 2019. I thank to Movindrithe descendants Reddy, inCrispin Mauritius, Bates, Fiji Rachel and IndiaKurian, who and showed the anonymous me their intimate reviewers belongings and the editorand photo for their albums helpful and suggestion shared the and stories comments, over Priti. I Samyuktaalso thank for to thePrabhu translation. Mahapatra,

64 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

elements of the site and sculpture in Phooliyar as a case study. I propose the site as a

system.counter Theindenture site is thata counter was constructed archive that to graduallyauthenticate unfurls not onlythe complexthe mobility narratives of the indentured migrants, but also their descendants and the materiality of the indentured

of migration of both the labourers and the following generations. The field research carried out between 2015 to 2018 has helped me to uncover various trajectories of the Itransformation discuss how the of thePhooliyar inheritance resonates of the the indentured emotion labourand imagination practice into of the heritage.agencies In the first part of the paper I describe the making of the site and the monument. cartographical understanding of the land, island and nation-Mauritius of the artist, that were engaged in executing the monument. It is an embodiment of the layered that the “indenture process” was deployed to commemorate the history of migration, asthe well government as the method officials of migrationand the community. through the In making the second of the half site, of Phooliyar. the paper I argue

“Stamping” the site and sight

1 2 through a series In 1984 the Government of Mauritius decided to celebrate the one hundred 1and fiftyyears anniversary of the arrival of the Indentured Labourer

1980s was a transitory phase for the Mauritian Government which strove to Mauritius to become a republic state. Each political party had a pattern to recast the past through their indentured descent, social affiliation and political contingency. In 1967, the pro- independence alliance of the Labour party, the Independent forward bloc and the Muslim action committee won the election that brought a new constitution granting the internal self-government. Mauritius became an independent state and joined the Commonwealth on 12 March 1968. In 1976 the Labour party won the general election by forming an alliance with the Parti mauricien social démocrate (PMSD). In 1982 the Mouvement themilitant Prime mauricien Minister (MMM),and the inMMM alliance President with Labour exited fromseparated the MMM from andthe Partiformed socialiste a new mauricien (PSM) party, won the election of the National assembly. Anerood Jugnauth,

party, named the Mouvement socialiste mauricien (MSM). The alliance of the MSM, Labor and PMSD won the elections of 1983 and the MMM was in opposition. The coalition Fury:government Three Decadessplit in 1984. of Parliamentary The Labour PoliticsMPs formed in Mauritius”, the Rassemblement Journal of Southern des travaillistes African Studiesmauriciens (RTM) to support the government. See Srebrnik, Henry, “Full of Sound and Class Forces and Political Power,” Review of African Political Economy , Vol. 28, No. 2, June 2002,277-289. Seegobin, Ram and Lindsay Collen, “Mauritius: as the nation-state of Mauritius were entangled in the mandates of each, No. political 8, January party - April, 1977,109-118. Nevertheless, the projects of building the site of Phooliyar, as well

awho gesture was either of each in governmentthe position ofto thecast coalition their mandates or in the in opposition. connection On with 12 March the indentured 1992, the pastconstitution of Mauritius. was amended See Land to Reform make Mauritius a republic. Since then, visiting Phooliyar was

2 Tinker, Hugh, A New System of Slavery:, Vol.1, the Truth export and of JusticeIndian commission,labour overseas the 1830–1920Republic of, Mauritius, November 2011 of the Indian Indenture System,1834–1842,” Indians Overseas: the Mauritian experience, London, Oxford University Press,1974. Sadasivam Jagananda, Reddi, “The Establishment

65 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

1 2 of 3 in the north eastof events. of Mauritius The celebration was visited was physically designed and from historically. the place whereThe property the first was group found indentured labourers started working. Thus, the Antoinette sugar estate the worn-out chimney with the date 1865 on it and a shrine like temple, popularly knownto be part as Kalimaye of the Mount Sugar Estate in a dilapidated condition. On the estate site who worked in the Antoinette sugar estate since 1834.4 Kalimaye where the becamemonument a contact stands zone today to was trace cleaned the ancestors to install and the those commemorative Mauritians However, the nearby site to structure. Today, the site beside the road faces the paddies of sugar cane by keeping the temple-shrines at its back.

Voices from Indenture: experiences of Indian migrants in the British Empire, London, Leicester Uttama Bissoondoyal (ed.), Moka, MahatmaServants, Gandhi Sirdars Institute,1984. and Settlers: Carter, Indians Marina, in Mauritius 1834–1874 University Press,1996. Carter, Marina, Slavery and Abolition Teelock, Vijayalakshmi, Delhi, Oxford “Breaking University the Press,1995. Wall of Silence: Carter, slavery Marina,” in Mauritian The Transition Historiography,” from Slave Radicalto Indentured History LabourReview, in Mauritius,” , Vol.14, No.1,1993,114-130. System in Mauritius: its character and its impact on race relations in the immediate post- Vol. 91, 2005,104-109.African Studies Nwulia, Review Moses, D.E.,“The ‘Apprenticeship’ the central to the discussion of my paper. 1 emancipation period, 1839–1879,” , Vol. 21, No. 1,1978,89-101are was an aftermath of the discussion at the International Conference, in Tunisia on April The concept of commemorating the first stepnd of the Indentured Labourer in Mauritius “Phooliyar Revisited: Work Site of First Batch of Girmitiyas,” Mauritius Times, April 5, 18, 1982 and UNESCO’s resolution at its 22 session in November 1983. Boodhoo, Sarita, Designs of Destruction: The Making of Monuments in the Twentieth Century, 2016. Also see Allais, Lucia, “Stone also die, UNESCO and decolonisation of Museums, 2 1960-1975,” Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2018, 176-193. The Indian Labourers were brought to Mauritius in 1825, a decade before the abolition inof slavery,Mauritius. which See is Land connected Reform with the implementation of the indentured labour system. From 1825 to 1829, more than one thousand Indian contract labourers were recruited 3 , Vol. 1, Truth and Justice commission, the Republic of Mauritius, November 2011, 155. RaoulTen different De Maroussem, owners from and 1770 Gustave to 1939 Martin, handled who the played Antoinette a key role sugar in estate/ its development. Belle alliance At estate. There were five owners in particular Louis Naud, Joseph Diore, George Arbuthnot,

the same time, George Arbuthnot, RaoulAntoinette De Maroussem, (Phooliyar): and An Gustave Invitation Martin to Discover employed the hundredsIndenture Heritageof Indian, of Chinese, Mauritius, and Port African Louis ,contract Apravasi workers Ghat Trust between Fund, 2015.the 1830s Land andReform the, early 1900s. See Peerthum, Satyendra, 4 The workers and the following generations moved to other villages such as Iton Barlow, Vol. 2, Truth and Justice commission, the Republic of Mauritius, November 2011, 12-14 Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology,Belle Vue Maurel, Petite Julie, The Mount, Mont Loisir, D’Epinay. Ramchurn, Rashila Vigneshwari, “Life on Sugar Estates in Colonial Mauritius,”The Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 2, December 2018, 14, Jankee, Kiran Chuttoo, “Oral History Project on Antoinette sugar estate at Phooliyaar Nagar and Barlow, , No. 13, November 2016, 18-19, Boodhoo, Sarita, “Phooliyar Revisited,” 2016,

66 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

Mala Chummun was invited to sculpt a monument for this purpose. She was

a young graduate from Santiniketan, the academic1 institute established by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in West Bengal state of India. She joined the School of fine arts, Mahatma Gandhi institute (MGI) in Mauritius in 1979. Mala mentioned that she was not confident about making a sculpture for 2a thatgrand her event parents like thewere celebration reluctant of indentured labour; she was young and knew very little about her family history as well as the indenture labour system. She informed to speak about their family history in their childhood. They just knew that they are of Indian origin. When Mala and her siblings inquired they avoided speaking in detail. She3 mentionedHowever, she that decided the offer to of recastcarving her a memorial identity sculpturethrough makingpushed hera commemorative to reflect upon her knowledge production about the indentured labour and its difficult belongings. the Chaitm sevensculpture. spread Mala of initiallythe Chaitm thought4 leaf clingingof simple to forms a stem. of However,a figure. She the was sculpture drawing ultimately, a leaf of plant in those days to develop a figure out of it. She was fascinated with the and petaloid forms clinging together. The memorial approximately three feet high and she made bears some resemblance to a lotus from a distance because of its bloomy

suchtwo feet as Bhojpuri, wide looks Tamil, simple; Telugu, it is Marathia rising formand the (Fig. Muslim 3). The communities descendants as in well Mauritius as the sometimes connected the five petaloids forms with their predecessors’5 communities,

five elements of nature like earth, water, fire, air, and metal. The long tubular form monument.between the The five monumentpetaloids is is an made enigmatic of cement representation in the cast of and the mould chimney technique. of the sugar The processfactory. Malaof making pointed the out monument that it is theunfolds most thesignificant “structure and ofambivalent feeling” where aspect feeling of the

1 Mauritius. https://www.mgirti.ac.mu/. It also holds the Folk museum of indian immi grationIt was establishedwhich contains in 1970the original to offer documents secondary of Indian and tertiary indentured education immigration to students archival in documents. 2

3 lotExcerpts of discussion, from the chitchat, field notes questions, in from opinions,June 2016 arguments to May 2018. were taking place in the school, laterShe stated in the that workspace though nobodyand community would openly gatherings talk about outside either the family house. origins That made in the her house, think a

movement of Mauritius. When she started working in MGI it was the post independent about her practice and identity. She grew up during the period of the independent struggle

Mauritius; she willingly became an active participant of the nation-building project of asMauritius. if she was Mala reading started her forming own and the her ideas friends’ about memoirs her Indian while origin, reading indentured literature ancestors, during and community mostly from her empirical experiences of ‘seeing’ and ‘listening’. She felt from the discussion in May and June 2018. 4 Visva-Bharatithe course work University for her doctoral in Santiniketan research gives at the the last Chatim phase (Alstonia of her career scholaris) in MGI. leaf Excerpt to the outgoing graduates as a metaphor of learning. However, Mala, a fresh graduate from the

5 It is important to note the common people’s categorisation of linguistic and religious same university was nostalgic about the leaf.

based communities.

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thought.’1 and thought are not in counter relationship but rather ‘thought as felt and feeling as It is an area where belief system, institution and ideology are the experience of thought and feeling, but not an inherited articulation. It also belongs to the fluid consciousness of the people and their layers of living. Thus, it creates an embryonic Fig.relation 3 - Mala between Chummun, social artist and material. with her work, 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun

instead Stoneof stone as in the spite material of having for makingskills in thestone monument carving. Cement was preferred is the imported by the committee; it is also locally available in Mauritius. Nonetheless, Mala chose cement

1 Williams, Raymond, Marxism and Literature 134 , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1977, 131-

68 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

material in Mauritius.1 In other words, cement is a migrated material in Mauritius.

Thus, Mala connected the material trade of cement with the indenture labour trade. Moreover, 2in the 1980s Mauritians were replacing their thatched houses and shops withRamkinkar concrete. Baij, Cement the renowned turned people’s sculptor material of India. for Her the motivation construction of ofthinking the buildings through in thematerial 1980s. for Mala making reflected the memorial upon her trainingmonument in the in TagoreanPhooliyar school came specificallyfrom her teacher under Ramkinkar Baj. Baij’s sculptures3, such as Santhal family Coolie mother 44) and Mill call (1938), (1943- practice and temporal(1956) present were her with reference Phooliyar. points. Moreover, His processing Baij’s critical of the materialintervention like throughcement andthe concreteartistic practice was an onaesthetic the issues turn offor the Mala displacement to reflect upon of the her community entangled (santhal) through her feeling, and knowledge production. She altered the technique she learned in the name of development, labour and land was a trigger for Mala to think created stony effect on the surface of the monument. Hence the monument was not in her graduate days. Since stone was much a desired material by the committee, she of their descendants and of materiality. only the memorialisation of the journey of the indentured labourer but also a journey

Sarita Boodhoo, one of the active members of the organising committee and the chairperson of the Bhojpuri speaking union at the Old Prison building in Port- Louis brought the offer to Mala. She apprised of Mala’s struggle during those days togethernessfinancially as followingwell as conceptually years.4 However, to carve it washer identitythe time in Mala Mauritius turned after to the returning archive offrom The India. Folk museum This project of Indian brought immigration them closer and andIndian they immigration shared an Archives extraordinary in the

1 http://www.mauritiustimes.com/mt/anil-gujadhur-108/, https://www.cemnet.com/content/gcr/intros/144.pdf

Accessed on 14 September 2019 2 concernThe 1980s of economicthe country. boom See, facilitated World Bank. the Mauritius-Urban Mauritians to repair Rehabilitation or construct and their Development buildings Project,with durable materials as the recurring damagesh due to the cyclones were one of the major , Washington, DC, World Bank. 1980. ttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/691501468279953238/Mauritius-Urban-Rehabilitation-and-Development-Project accessed on 6 October 2019. Sauer, Jonathan D, “Effects of recent tropical cyclones on the coastal vegetation of Mauritius,” Journal of Ecology,The Vol.50, British N0.2, Journal July for 1962, the History282-283, of ScienceMohany, Martin, “The ‘gene of the storm’: cyclonichttps://www.noulakaz.net/2017/02/07/ reasoning and the spaces of weather the-12-strongest-cyclones-in-mauritius/observation in the southern Indian ocean, 1851-1925”, Mala mentioned,Vol.51, No.4, that December the workers 2018,621-630 from the sugar factory, whom she hired as her

3 assistants for the project had basic experience in handling cement asRamkinkar they themselves Baij, a retrospectivewere constructing (1906-1980) their houses on those days part by part Siva, Kumar, R. “An art of protest, abstraction and mythical reality,” 4 , KS Radhakrishnan, curator New Delhi, National Gallery of Modern Art & Delhi Art Gallery, 2012, 233 -256, Interview, June 2018 and email correspondence, 15-31 May 2019

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Mahatma Gandhi institute to trace about her migrant forefather. Simultaneously she sat beside her mother and listened her memories and the stories of her great- grandfather Chumum who came to Mauritius on 4th June 1859. Her old mother and the grown-up daughter’s conversations encouraged the daughter (Mala) to find out more about him in the houses. She found her great-grandfather’s wooden trunk as abandoned in a broken condition from the scrap store of her ancestor’s house. He came with the trunk from India. She repaired it. She mentioned about her dexterous hands in woodcarving; touching, rubbing, and nailing are part of woodcarving. However, doing those to repair the box was an entirely different feeling, as if she was touching the mark of a dried wound that appeared on the body with a roughness beside the softer skin, thickening black beside tender brown. However, once she repaired it, the Thus,discarded the commission box became ofan the ancestral monument property. not only made Mala commute every day from It went to her mother’s brother; hence another journey of the trunk began. her house in Port Louis to Phooliyar, but also down memory lane with her mother, siblings, and kin. It opened up ways to live and deal with difficult and fragmented insteadfamily histories. of any student It also fromdirected the herFine practice Arts department and contribution in MGI. Malain the informed institution that (MGI) she hadin the to followingtrain them years. to assist She her, hired as theytwo didlabourers not have from any theskill sugar and knowledge estate as assistants, of casting 1 and moulding sculpture. She linked them with labour. Mala’s deliberation was to establish a connection with the present sugar estate workers, and make them one of the stakeholders of the heritage memorial which was a part of the nation building sureproject. their Thus, names it was appeared not only along to establish with her the at representativethe foot of the monument.relation with Mala the past,used butthe also to build a thread of the formation of the republican government in 1992. She made

Kraussmaking arguedof the monument for the materiality as ‘medium’ of toartistic re-imagine practice the as ‘imagined medium. community’ Rosalind Krauss of the past and following years in her country. Here, I suggest ‘medium’ the way Rosalind generative of a set of convention, some of which, in assuming the medium itself as writes “in order to sustain artistic practice, a medium must be a supporting structure, necessity”.2 their subject,Here I will also be refere wholly to ‘specific’the idea toof it,Benedict thus producing Anderson’s as experience“imagined community”of their own daries of modern nation. The formation of imagined community occurred in conver where he argued that the imagined community morphed to set the political boun language gradually, unselfconsciously and pragmatic way. Thus, it gave rise to lin gence with capitalism and print culture that embraced and mobilised the vernacular

1 When I asked her how much she charged for making the monument. She answered that she was interested in counting herself for the country, not counting the coins. She returned a question, which was “do you know how much Kinkarda (Ramkinkar) spent to make the

2 Krauss, Rosalind, A voyage on the northern sea, art in the age of the post-medium condition, ‘Santhal family’ and ‘Mill Call’ sculptures?”

New York, Thames and Hudson, 1999, 26

70 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

guistic nationalism.1 Here, I depart. I try to argue that the vernacular aural and oral

the print market. The level of literacy amongst the indentured migrants was low.2 cultureSimultaneously was responsible the pattern of of forming surveillance the ‘imagined left limited community’ options for in the Mauritius dissemination rather and the circulation of the vernacular prints in the island.3 On the other hand, the locus of baitka

was orality and auditory that gradually formed and mobilised the collective theconsciousness. imagination It of became the new the community space for educational (girmitya training the following generation. reportHere, I statedalso suggest that that the sonic culture of the migrant labourers had empowered ). For example, in 1943, the official - derstand what the crowd were shouting. Interpreters were necessary. The se- The police officers could not speak directlybaitka to the crowd. They did not un

niorthey policewere unfamiliar officers hardly with theknew language, what a religion was. and They customs could of notpeople be certain whom theywhether wished the peopleto persuade assembled, and perhaps or some coerce. of them,4 were praying or not. In short, The word “girmitya” itself is a construct of sonic derivation and distortion of the “agreement” (indenture). What I argue is that aural distortion opened up a way to imagine a new community through the name “girmitiya” that fought to form the

government in 1968. The indenture labour document was just angirmit object”. and picture to them as very few could decipher the agreement. Nevertheless, it was perceived through the pronunciation of the word ‘agreement’ that created “ 1 Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, 2 slapped, scolded London, at home Verso, if they 1983, did 54-56 any mischief in studies in their childhood. Later they understoodMany Mauritians that the at their education age of was 60s onlyand 70sway informed to alter the me option that they of the would profession be beaten as theup,

vernacular texts, such as Shigrabodh, Rampatal, Allaha Khand indentured labourer. Brij Lal pointed out that though there was a handful copies of the rience,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies were available and ‘literate peoplealso pointed were outfew thatin number a “vast anyway.’majority Lal,of north Brij, IndianUnderstanding immigrant the ancestors Indian indenture of present expe day , Vol. XXI,Little 1998, India: 233. Diaspora, Patrick EisenlohrTime, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius, Hindus in Mauritius was illiterate.” See Eisenlohr, Patrick, 3 Inquiry, Vol. Harrington-Watt,Berkley, University Kathleen, of California “Still Press, we live 2006, on”- 52-69. The Transfiguration of Colonial Indentured Mirzoeff, Nicholas, “he Right to look,” Critical 37, No. 3, Spring 2011, 475-479, 2016, 130, 160-162. 4 Labour Photographs in Mauritius, PhD thesis, Christchurch, University of Canterbury,

“Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Disturbances Which Occurred in the North of Mauritius in 1943,” London, published on behalf of the GovernmentAfrican ofAffairs Mauritius, Vol. 76,by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1944 cited in Tinker, Hugh, "Between Africa, Asia and Europe: Mauritius: Cultural Marginalism and Political Control,” No. 304, July 1977, 327.

71 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

A weeklong cultural program, events, and fair on the site was organised on the occasion of the inauguration of the memorial on 2nd

September 1984 (Fig. 4, 5, 6 &7). inIt includeddressed uptree costume, plantation jewellery and recreation and make-up of the ‘rememberedand enacted the and activities imagined such village as life of indentured labours in Mauritius as well as in India’. The people performed, cultivation of paddy, rearing and milking cows, making of huts, villages sports (kabaddi Telugu,kite flying) Marathi, and marriageUrdu, Bhojpuri ceremony. and HindiIn the as evening, well as therelocal Creole were additional saga singers. cultural The events performed by the different the linguistic groups such those speaking Tamil, ofcultural the events troupes told from me Senegalthat it was and like Mozambique India’s village also fairperformed., which does Bullock not cartshappen were in Mauritius.arranged to However, take the anpeople acharya around from to the popularise Mauritius the sanatan site. People dharma who temple were federationobservers was invited to chant during the time of ceremony. It indicated the site for the Hindu pilgrims and connected with all the associations of Hindu activists in Mauritius. Thus, 1 The workers of one of those associations installed the orange jhandas the maintenance of the site becomes an agenda of those associations. that fly almost at the same height of Mauritius and Indian flag today (Fig. 1).

1 For example, on 22nd nd October 2019, The Veer ekta association cleaned up the site in celebration of Apravasi divas on 2 November. https://www.facebook.com/pg/VeerEktaFauj/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10178 activism55811673949 network in Mauritius. Armoogum Parsuraman, minister of education and art and Accessed on 23rd September 2019. Thus, the Phooliyar was activated as a site of Hindu teaching ancestral cultural value. See Parsuraman, Armoogum, From ancestral cultures toculture national from culture: 1984 to Mauritius. 1995 advocated the promotion of ancestral religious tradition and Little India, The Journal of Imperial Moka, and Mahatma Commonwealth Gandhi History Institute,1988. Eisenlohr, Patrick, 2006. Sutton, Deborah, “The Political Consecration of Community in Mauritius, 1948-68,” , Vol. 35, No. 2, June 2007.

72 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

Fig. 4 - The Inauguration ceremony, 2nd September 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun

Fig. 5 - Gathering on the inauguration day, 2nd September 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun

73 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

Fig. 6 - A dance performance in the evening celebration, 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun Fig. 7 - A circular of Mahatama Gandhi Institute, Celebration continued, 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun However, the place was popularly known as Antoinette sugar estate in Riviere de Rempart. But after the installation of the monument and the celebration, the name

74 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

onPhooliyar the Antoinette name was sugar marked estate as in a 2016. site and Though sight Phooliyar of the nation village in1984. does notIt perpetuated exist. Many fromthe Aapravasi the old camp ghat trustof the to sugar include estate its namesettled when opposite they toput the up Royal the information road. The village board council had named the new settlement as Phooliyar nagar, shortly after the event.1 Phooliyar is the distorted sonic version of Pillayar in the Bhojpuri idiolect. It means Ganesh (a God) in Tamil language. When they started calling the camp as “Phooliyar” 2 narrated what their ancestors had told them. Pillayar would appear in their Tamil cohorts’ conversation, nobody could narrate that. A few Bhojpuri speaking Mauritians Pillayar, which was heard as Phooliyar was one of those. I suggest that Phooliyar may which they barelyPulayas understood; (Puller they could grasp the word that appeared frequently. along with others in 1830s.3 However, the Tamil migrants either used to address the templebe a derivative as Pillayar of (in the name of), Ganesh Tamil indentured) or called themselves labourer who Pulayas came. The to Mauritius Bhojpuri workers preferred to use in their idiolects instead of those used on the Antoinette sugar estates. Thus, today’s Phooliyar is an aural and tongue twisted version of either Pillayar /Pulayas. It was constructed as voice and claim of the descendent indentured

estatelabourers is today of Mauritius kept at the to entrance such an of extent the Tamil that temple they stampedin Petite Julie the Antoinetteon request of sugar the Tamilestate community.by the monument4 as Phooliyar. Furthermore, the bell of the Antoinette sugar a stamp of time, sound and schedule of the workers in the estate.5 The community appropriated it in the Here temple the bell like is “a not trophy only of the war”. property6 of the sugar estate but also

1 2 Their relatives and ancestors worked in the sugar estates of Riviere de rempart. 3 Informed by the present inhabitants of the Phooliyar nagar. June 2017.

“Mauritian immigration registers reveal that indentured labourersPalin from and the Pulaya South castes. India reached the island during the late 1830s included individuals of ‘slave’ caste status.” MGI: PE 1. The individuals in question were membersSlavery & of Abolition the 330,Cited 342. in Allen, Pullers Richard (Pulayas B.,“Slaves,) were usually Convicts, sold Abolitionism with the land and they the worked, Global they Origins were of also the frequentlyPost-Emancipation sold independently Indentured Labourof the landSystem,” in question… such as Vyavry,, Vol. 35, aged No. 2,twenty- 2014, European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean, 1500–1850, Athens, Ohio University Press, 2014, On Pulayaseight and a Puller by caste, who reached Mauritius in 1838. Allen, Richard B., development of caste in post-classical Tamil society,” International Journal of Jaina Studies, see Palaniappan, Sudalaimuthu, “On the unintended influence of Jainism on the th century), Proceedings of the India History Congress, 4 Vol.Jankee, 4, No. Kiran 2, 2008, Chuttoo, 1-65. “Oral Thomas, History K.T Project,” Slaves as2016, integral 18. part of the production system in 5 MalabarI was told (19 the stories and anecdotes connected with the smoke Vol. of chimney60, 1999, and 600-610. sound

soundof bell. was The reconstituted most striking historically part of those in everydaystories was life. how they compared and distinguish 6 the sound of the bell of the sugar factory, church and temple. The memory of smoke and

I borrow this phrase from Richard Davis’s discussion where he argues that the appro priation of property by the winner appears as an objective correlated to the victory, hence an establishment of new hierarchical order and assertion of dominance. Moreover,

75 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

Thinking through “indenture as process” notch and connotes “writing”.1 In other words, the indenture is a writing that contains The indenture is derived from Endenter, a French word that means to jag or a contract. It also suggests two copies that are written side-by-side on the same paper authenticityand later, are of cut the off document. from each2 other In the in part toothed of the or jaggedVade, Mecum line. Each Sammuel party gets Richarson a piece of the agreement. The jagged edges of the paper that fit together are the proof of practice.suggests However, it as much the more indentures than material are the evidencetext and signature of the relationship and also an between evidence two of theparties relationship and almost that like extended moral guide, and explored though he further hardly to writes materialise about itsand concept mechanise and 3 Furthermore, “stamping” is another way of authentication the indenture.4 indenture labour. called godna. It appears with names of the persons and crimes and dates of the verdictsThe on thepenal foreheads tattooing of practiced the convicts from5. Moreover,1749 to 1849 the inpractice Bengal of and drawing Madras godna was /godhana 6 However, Clare Andersons argued that on godna the body on thewas convicts widespread foreheads among provided the communities the idea inof Indiastamping for various on the social purposes, such marriage, childbirth, health care.

a worthy recipient.” Interestingly Davis wrote the local narrative of the “Vatapi Ganesh” ininstalling Thiruchengattangudi the opponent’s. property in the temple is like “bestowing the acquisitions on

Narashimhavarman I, the Pallava king brought after seizing SeeChalukyan Davis, Richard capital, VatapiH., Lives in of642 Indian CE. He Images further explained that the past exists as incarnated 61-85.and reincarnated in memories, texts, objects and our ongoing collective reconstruction. 1 Fysh, Stephanie, The Work(s) of Samuel Richardson, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999,

2 Arnold, Thomas Kerchever, Spelling turned etymology,, Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1997,Rivington, 44. 1844, 61. 3 Fysh, Stephanie, 44. Part II, London, Francis & John 4 The Laws Relating to the Poor, Vol. II, 6th edition, London,

5 Bott, Edmund & John Tidd Pratt, Century”,A. Strahan, Slavery 1827, and390-396. Abolition 6 PracticeAnderson, of Clare, drawing “Convicts godna/godha and Coolies: is widespread Rethinking acrossIndentured different Labour communities in the Nineteenth across South Asia. Godna indicates as mark, Vol. 30, of entryNo. 1, and March identity 2009, of 97. different realm. For instance,

after marriage a godna was drawn on bride’s hand to godna mark andone suggestcannot enterher bountiful heaven. However,entry that the would image bring of godna wealth in the house. Some time it was drawn to stop the entry of evil spirit. Somewhere it is believed that without design enterprise, such as godnais caste mithila and genderpainting. specific Bhanu, that B.V is et practiced al., eds. Peopleand performed of India: Maharashtrathrough rites and rituals. It has also been explored further in various artistic practice and

Mauritius,” South, Part3, Asia Mumbai,Multidisciplinary Anthropological Academic SurveyJournal , ofMay India 2015, & Anderson, Popular Prakashan, C, “Godna: 2004, 871. Claveyrolas, Mathieu, “The ‘Land of the Vaish’? Caste Structure and Ideology in

76 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

1Arthur Payne’s

foreheads of the immigrant labouerers as an identification mark. report reveals that after the final inspection the foreheads of the selected migrant were tostamped Mauritius. ‘with2 Anderson figure which pointed is not out easily that imitated.’the record It keepingwas verified system next of daythe shipto ensure later the fool proof selection of the migrant labour before they embark upon their journey indent, and indenture through stamping or impressing and splitting or joining.3 replacedApart ‘stamping from onstamping the fore on head’. the Sheforehead, draws andan interesting godna connection between ID photograph was another visual indent that was introduced in 1864. Kathleen , the Indenture Labour 4 Harrington-Watt wrote that these photographs were used as visual verification documents to control the mobility of the migrants in Mauritius. The migrants, both treatedold and asnew counter were systematicallyvisual indent to photographed stamp the immigration from 1864 ticket. to 1914.5 The The migrants photographs had to were compulsory to be attached to the immigration tickets. The photograph was their side. Here, I add that the image and impression in various visual forms such as stampinggive thumb on impression the forehead, in thegodna agreement, which acted like notch of the validity from

also treated as indenture where , visualand labour mark id on photograph their forehead are treated and Id as Photograph indenture for the migrants from their recruitment to retirement or death. The bodies were photographs as the visual indenture to prove their indenture descent more than tracingappropriated their kin as instamping. India. Later, the descendants also use the Indenture Labour ID I further argue that the installation process and period of the Phooliyar godna, girmitiya and formation of the government are the counter part of each other. These monument from 1983 to 2016 are part of the counter indenting process. Their

are historical indentations embedded in the history of nation building, reformation visualand distribution and textual of element land in in the the island site today since is 1968. the indents Thus, construction to appropriate of thethe historicity Phooliyar site is like stamping the landscape to make it indentured entity of the nation. Each

of the process of the indenture labour system. Let me return to the site from where I began this article. the site Theof the photograph monument. ofThe the artist monument also aligned with the chimney cylindrical behind form fromof the themonument artist’s personal album (Fig. 8) shows that the chimney of the sugar factory was visible from record. Thus, she deployed the indenture as a process that involves splitting, joining with the chimney. The photograph was placed in her personal album as a visual

and stamping as well by legitimising the visible. First, she replicated the form from Written on the Body: the tattoo in European and American History, Caplan, J. (ed.), Reaktion, 2000, 102-117. 1 Ibid.inscribing Indian convicts in the nineteenth century,” 2 Ibid., 3 Ibid.,, 98. 4 Harrington-Watt, 97. Kathleen, “Still we live on,” 2016, 13-18. 5 Ibid., 98.16, 45, 111.

77 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

photograph.her drawings Her of desirethe chimney; was to createthen she an impressioncomposed itof in-between the chimney the of thepetal sugar forms factory and create an illusion of a blooming floral sculpture; after that it visually jagged through photonot only as throughwell as her the academicmonument, training but also at throughthe art schools. the photographs. Mala explored the visual reasoning of photography that she learned from the history of indenture labour

Fig. 8 - Phooliyar Monument with the view of the chimney of Antoinette sugar estate 1983

Courtesy Mala Chummun

78 GHOSH Baishali, Le site de Phooliyar à Maurice : l’empreinte de la mémoire des migrations

Today, the chimney has been overshadowed by the changing landscape; hence appearsit is no longer in the visible site (Fig. from 2). the It site appears of Phooliyar to endorse monument. the visual Interestingly indenture another of Phooliyar image of the chimney of the Antoinette sugar mill in the picture of the information board sugar mill and memorial plaque (Fig. 2) in 2016 almost after two decades of the memorial. The Aapravasi Ghat Trust installed the information board on Antoinette

aroundinstallation the plaqueof the sculpture.encourages It onehas wonderbeen put why up atit needsthe same fenced height protection of the sculpture. and from The memorial plaque is next to the sculpture, but not of the same height. The fencing

whom. The text in the plaque starts with a figure of a ship inscribed on it (Fig. 9). The process of inscribing on the stone is like tattooing on the stone. The names of the datesmigrants, and andthe purposetheir arrival of their information presence inin cursivethat site letters is in capital appear letters. below These the image are not of the ship; but the rest of the text, such as the names of the Government officials, the of Antoinette sugar estate as Phooliyar. just designs, but decisions as well. The decisions were laid to mark and stamp the site

Fig. 9 - Impression of the ship Atlas, Commemorative Plaque, 2018

Courtesy author

79 Carnets de Recherches de l’océan Indien N°4

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