Mapping Migration, Gender, Culture and Politics in the Indian Diaspora: Commemorating Indian Arrival in Trinidad Author(s): Kalpana Kannabiran Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 44 (Oct. 31 - Nov. 6, 1998), pp. WS53- WS57 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4407325 Accessed: 04-09-2017 06:51 UTC

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This content downloaded from 59.90.31.67 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:51:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Mapping Migration, Gender, Culture and Politics in the Indian Diaspora Commemorating Indian Arrival in Trinidad

Kalpana Kannabiran

Literature suggests that Indianl womnenl came to Trinidad as already iindepetndent wometi who made a conscious decisioni to move out of the tliffictult social situations which confronted them in India. These included deserted womien, practisiing prostiturtes an0d brahmltiin widows. BuLt soot enough they were constrained to accept the androcentric ideal of Indiannlless which was cotermiinus with subordination. The image of the Trinidadianl Hindlu woman is therefore far froml empowering. The renewal of Hindul energy in specific forms and in specific contexts has not only meanlt grcappliing with the erosion of political space in a racially polarised polity and reclail?ing it but also co nfronzting the derogatory images of the commlunity that are based on the inzstitutionalised derogation1 of wviomene's rights wvithiin the commnunity.

THIS paper began as a reflection on what There has been in the past decade a spate A cursory look at the contemporary the terms comlnunalism and religious funda- of writing on religious fundamentalism. experience of these two communities is mentalism mean; what are the contextu- more specifically on very similar despite these critical differ- ally specific ways in which 'communalism' both in India and the diaspora. There are ences in historical experience. The Vishwa gets played out; would a radical difference groups in the United Kingdom, the US and Hindu Parishad has a flourishing network in context pale into insignificance against elsewhere particularly fighting the that embraces both realities. The cry of the weight of manifestations of a cultural polarisation of Sikhs, and Mus- Hindu nationalism is getting increasingly ethos that are similar, comparable or con- lims in the wakeofOperation Bluestar, Babri strident across these regions and some- tinuous on the surface? Or, is it on the other masjid and the increasing violence against where along the way the difference fades hand necessary to go beyond surface simi- miinorities and in India. There are away. As one takes a closer look, how- larities and attempt to understand realities also groups of immigrants in these coun- ever, the difference takes sliape yet again. and correspondences without losing sight tries who support and host events featur- From the standpoint of popular conscious- of historical specificities'?These questions ing the BJP-RSS, or pro-Khalistan groups. ness in India, immigrant communities in arose in the course of a six-week visit to Clearly therefore, there is a live link bet- the UK. the US and Canada are tied to images Trinidad to dialogue with East Indian ween the mainland and the diaspora, both of affluence, of achievement and have a groups on the issue of domestic violence. in the arenas of fundamentalist politics high recall in the minds of the middle and It is necessary to clarify at the outset and democratic resistance to this politics. upper classes across communities in India. however, that my own location in the work And resistance has been integrally multi- Trinidad and countries with similar his- that I did in Trinidad was complex. As also cultural and anti-racist. not stopping at tories especially of indentureship on the my interaction with Hindu/Indian com- being anti fundamentalist/anti communal other hand do not evoke this recall. The munities there. The complexity had largely [Grover 1996]. reasons for this are to be sought not just to do with the ways in which Hindu re- However, the UK and the US have very in the fact that migration took place more ligious belief and practice intersected with dlifferent diasporic histories than for in- than a century ago, but also, and more impor- everydlay life, and the forms which the stance, Fiji, Surinam, Trinidad, Guyana or tantly, because the migrants belonged discourse on the mainland [India] took. South Africa. The latter have a history of primarily to the lower castes/classes and The difficult moment of that complexity giving birth in a sense, to the Indian marginalised sections. I n Trinidad on the that I found myself trying to negotiate diaspora. Unlike theUKand the US, whose other hand, imagining India seems to cons- constantly was the way in which I, a Hindu history begins post Partitiion, these coun- titute the core oflndo [Hindu] Trinidadian Indian woman froml India was 'placed' in tries have a history that dates back 150 consciousness. The relationship between relation to the larger historical relationship years to the period of British colonialism. diasporas and 'the mainland' therefore are of the people with the mainland/mother- T'his stark difference in historical location, uneven and unequal to begin with. land. Yet another twist to this complexity it appears, accounts for the very different CONTEXTUALISING INDIAN ARRIVAL was the fact that I was in Trinidad at the terms in which racism is experienced by invitation ot a women's group that con- difterent groups. One living in/fighting The experience of the English speaking sisted primarily of women of African racism in the 1970s, another inheriting Caribbeana has been shaped by histories origin, with the stated purpose of further- history of indentureship to white planta- of slavery and indentureship. ing an inter ethnic dialogue on women's tion owners, having replaced peoples of they came in ships. rights, especially on the problem of do- African origin on the plantations at the end From across the seas, they came. mestic violence in the Indian community. of slavery, thus inheriting a racial Britain, colonising India, transporting her chains To problemnalise the issue of in polarisation on both sides. Again unlike from Chhotanagpur and the Ganges Plain. the course of this work was far from easy Britain where the Indian family is barely Some came with dreams ofmi Ik-and-honey and most times not accepted. The other 20 years old [Grover 1996] the Indian riches, contentious issue that is foregrounded in family in Trinidad is 150 years old. There fleeing famine and death; this entire discourse on the identity of the are written histories of indentureship, and dancing girls, diaspora is that of cultural citizenship. of the East Indian community in Trinidad. Rajput soldiers, determined, tall,

Economiic and Political Weekly October 31. 1998 WS-53

This content downloaded from 59.90.31.67 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:51:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms escaping penalty of pride. tious issue as several Muslims still iden- Ch: so we are sailing, we are sailing, Stolen wives, afraid and despondent, tify with India both in terms of self de- Aboard the Fatel Rozack [Raviji 1995]. Crossing black waters, scription and collaboration. Presbyterians Having left India unable to cope with , Chaminar, alike, define themselves as representing a resis- oppressive conditions of colonialism, hearts brimful of hope [Espinet 1990]. tance to Hindu orthodoxy, the primary Indian migrants set out in search of a better Having come to Trinidad, however, a tension between them and Hindus being life, only to be confronted with a similar significant proportion of the Indian popu- on the issue of conversion. Hindus have oppressive reality in the new land, where lation chose to remain in Trinidad after a nostalgic affinity to India, both their they were situated at the bottom of the indentureship rather than be repatriated to ancestral homeland and the religious centre hierarchy. "They had consolation, how- India. Between 1870 and 1900, the Indian of . While there is a distancing ever, in the story of Lord as he community in Trinidad was transformed both culturally and politically and a rec- journeyed into the wilderness and sur- from a group of immigrants into a com- ognition of a radically different location, vived those tremendous hardships. They munity. This process involved the shift of yet India shapes Trinidadian East Indian were making the same journey with the Indians from immigrant wage labour into [more specifically Trinidadian Hindu] and other songs as their only line peasant proprietorship, from estates into consciousness in significant ways.3 of communication to Him...Life was very villages and a reordering of social relation- Within Trinidad, there appears to be a difficult when they arrived...the Ramayan ships in ways that were congruent with gradual shift in Hindu self perception from and Koran provided a source of spiritual this shift. Mohammed (1975) argues that a religious group within a larger ethnic sustenance as they chanted the various ethnicity and gender identity were inter- community, to a religio-ethnic community, verses under the flambeaux ol tin lights locked in the affirmation of this emerging race and religion being key determinants within their rooms" [Boodoosingh 1993]. Indian community. The fear of fragment- in this shift. One of the ways in which this Workers were divided into groups on ing identities and the concern over the shift is being consolidated is through the arrival depending on strength and ability. need for ethnic purity inevitably took the training of popular culture into specific modes. "In most territories in the West Indies, fotrm of prescriptive norms for marriage, This paper will examine the reconstruc- work started at about 4.30 am...Very often which again depended on a policing of tion of the history of the East Indian Hindu planters used men and women for plough- women's sexuality. Mohammed suggests community at a particular moment, and ing and hauling loads, work that could that while patriarchal systems governed present the texture of the reconstruction have been performed by draught animals. each of the three racial groupings - the as also its context: 1995, the year that It is argued that the Indians remained the white, creole and Indian, these systems marked the 150th anniversary of Indian all-purpose animal." While, as Brereton were constantly contending with one Arrival in Trinidad, and the Pichakaree [a argues, "The indenture system itselfcontri- another for economic, political and social musical event] organised on Phagwa by buted to the unfavourable image of the dominance, "the contest was for a defi- the Hindu Prachar Kendra to commemo- coolie", it has also been argued that the nition of masculinity between men ofrate Indian Arrival in 1995. religion, the alien dress, language, un- different races" IMohammed 1990:35-36]. familiar food habits, and the ill understood Indian men who had been demeaned INDIAN ARRIVAL: COLLECTIVE MEMORY ceremonies of the Hindu religion were AS HISTORY during indentureship and dispossessed largely responsible for the marginalisation of the power that classic patriarchy Dein- itilaas dev say, started in Bharat, of the Indian in Trinidad and Tobago vested in them, sought to retrieve their Coolie jaaji handal on de Fatel Razack, [Narayansingh 1995]. masculine pride through a consolidation Ramayan Koran jhandee for new teerath The Fatel Rozack, the ship that carried of the traditional Indian patriarchal system [Maharaj 1995]. the first contingent of labourers from India that formed the basis of theircultural capital. History begins with the migration of has over the years become a symbol of However, given the shortage of Indian la.bour-the working classes -to unknown Trinidadian Indian cultural identity. The women in Trinidad and the fact of women destinations in search of survival. History jahaaji or the one who journeyed has come being wage earners, Indian women were begins with a pilgrimage. History belongs to epitomise the Indian. Both Fatel Razack in a position of relative strength, and to the working classes. Memory at this and the jahaaji, however, are not just resisted emerging interpretations of patri- particularmoment is history. Undoubtedly, symbols of a past or reminders/remnants archy, or the restrictions that sprang from economic hardship as well as personal of history. "[I]n those early days, more this newly reconstituted ideology.2 troubles caused thousands of Indians in than a century ago, the first beginnings of The East Indian community in Trinidad the villages to leave. The key players thein sense of family and kinship emerged is not an internally homogeneous one. the indentureship system were the recruit- on the three-month long voyages aboard Presbyterians, Muslims and Hindus con- ers or 'arkatias' who convinced, duped and the ships themselves. The word jahaaji stitute the dominant religious groups, each kidnapped people who eventually found refers to the relationship among those who with very different perceptions of their themselves on the ship to Trinidad [Gosine shared the experience aboard a particular own locations in Trinidadian society and 1995]. 'Jahaaji'. by Mukesh Babooram ship. In many cases, this relationship in the larger south Asian diaspora. It has recaptures the experience of the jahaaji: was further sealed by marriages of the been suggested that after Partition some In India where I was born, life was hard. children ofjahaajis. and in many cases, An arkatia came and told me, come to Muslims traced their origins to the newly the bond of the jahaaji was handed down Trinidad. formed Pakistan. Hindus in Trinidad also several generations" [Raviji 1995]. All the people here were told, that the contend that Musli ms today distance them- The early jahaajis came to Trinidad not streets were paved with gold selves from their Indian past and link and once we reached over there our as illiterates but representatives of a cross themselves increasingly to Pan Islamic problems will disappear. section of the Indian community and of a trends in central Asia, the illustration being Now that we are all on this ship, and culture we that was centuries old [Boodoo- cited of the absence of any commemora- sailing out to sea, singh 1993]. They are far more impor- tion of Indian Arrival during the Eid cele- The arkatia come and tell me: we are all tantly signifiers of a conduit to the main- brations in 1995. Clearly this is a conten- bong coolies. land that has never snapped, but has re-

WS-54 Economic and Political Weekly October 31, 1998

This content downloaded from 59.90.31.67 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:51:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms mained one that enabled a live contact So take the torch of freedom and climb The point at which this precipitated into with India and provided substance to the to higher planes...5 a contestation of citizenship, of national- claim of cultural distinctiveness. The claim to India is spiritual, a religio- ity is an interesting one. The debates that Rice. beans. medicinal plants, vegetables cultural citizenship, that coexists with were a generated in the popular press about and pigeon peas were grown in India political in citizenship in Trinidad and To- whether or not Indian Arrival Day should Vedic times. Many of these plants came bago. In the words of Surendranath Capi Ideo, be declared a national holiday or not, to Trinidad with the indentured workers, "...Thousands of miles away [from India] raised several questions which had to do who hid seeds and even cuttings in their across the 'kala pani' in a tiny Caribbean with comparative histories of oppression, few belongings...[O]ur vegetation, ourIsland another seed of India [has been] agriculture, our life bears the indelible of authenticity, of centrality in the politico- planted, germinated and taken root and stamp of India. Trinidad and Tobago must cultural space of Trinidad and Tobago. hold in reverence our ancient links, which [has borne] the marvellous fruit of Tulsi The main arguments in favour of declar- every child sees every day, not only in the Das and the Ramcharitramanas. And you ing May 30, Arrival Day, a public holiday, and I in the like manner as our forefathers faces of their parents but also in the trees centred on the need to celebrate the arrival and shrubs and cultivated plants which shall with our children and their children's of Indians. According to this argument, soften the harshness of the landscape, while chi Idren together eat of that fruit and enrich "The Indian Arrival Day is fundamentally giving lood. medicine and shade [Sanatan the life of this nation" [Capildeo 1995]. differentIt to the African Emancipation day, Mahasabha 1995]. is in a sense this dual citizenship and itswhich marks the official end of slavery. The sugarcane plant, which binds the i mplications both forIndo-Trinidadians and The indentured Indian pioneers came from Trinidadian Indian to India, is believed by Indians that I will return to from time to India under indentureship contracts, to them to originate in Vedic times, with the time. This religio-cultural citizenship has work and live for a period of time in these fortunes of peoples and civilisations: several strands, that link, labour, land, the parts. They came as wage earners and builders After the emancipation of slaves in the motherland and spirituality, specifically aof a society. There is nothing shameful British Caribbean in 1834, Indians were H-indu spirituality based on a syncretism imported to save the sugar industry from about it" [Rampersad 1993]. Further, tlat weaves together vedic traditions, epics, collapse...The Hindus came not only to "[a]nother aspect of the Indian psyche that save the sugar industry, which they were Saivism, popular cultural traditions, and conditions Indians to approaching Indian the first to invent. but also to bring to the liberal Hindu revivalism represented by Arrival Day on a positive note includes west the fathomless depths of Indian and . the concept of which was strongly Hindu culture. It is all wrapped up in the A century and fifty years ago espoused by the early Indians who were history of one plant - cane. The saga of Siva said to , to T'dad let's go.predominantly Hindus...It is karma that cane is the saga of Indian Pioneers from 'That's my wish also you should know determines where one takes birth and so Vedic times...We should see the hand of In the hearts of Indians to T' dad we'll row' the Indians would have viewed their birth fate in all these migrations of plant and In the hearts of Indians, to T'dad you came here as one that they had themselves deter- man, which have added to the richness of Jai Siva Sambhu Hara Hara Mahadeo mined."The argumentforthe official comme- our world and our culture, even as we To bless our land and dharma to proclaim moration of Indian Arrival Day was often remember the anguish and trials which Jai Siva Sambhu Hara Hara Mahadeo have united us. Indians, Africans, pitted against the existing commemora- Nani and Nana liked dhal and rice and bhajition of Emancipation Day to mark the end Amerindians and Europeans on this island, sattvic food that kept mind and body our home, our Janma Bhoomi.4 of slavery. Black scholars and activists healthy. contended that Emancipation was not It could be argued, after Romila Thapar, In purity and simplicity they were happy that the tendency to essentialise Vedic Like Parvati and Siva they blessed their merely an issue "in a little pond, dividing culture and exaggerate its virtues is part family. Indians and Africans", but one that sig- of a search f)or a distant Edenic World, Glory a be to you Hara Hara Mahadeo. nified the fundamental transformation of Utopia, in an attempt to cope with disturb- They lived with morality and plenty dignity. the entire society, and "at the broad human ing and cataclysmic changes in socio- They never faltered in workship and duty level, it was a celebration of the triumph of political environments [Thapar 1979]. Like Kailash in Himalaya was their 'Kutti' auniversal spirit of humanity" [Taitt 1995]. Jai Siva Sambhu Hara Hara Mahadeo.6 Arrival Day was an occasion to remem- The struggle to get official recognition Alongside the tracing of genealogies to ber the pitris - ancestors - and reassert for Arrival Day, for many Indians epito- their values of hard work, thrift, the thirst Vedic India, there is recognition of the fact mised the disparity in representations of that the practice of Hinduism in Trinidad to progress and a god-fearing life. African and Indian experience in Trinidad If by magic it can happen, or pitris comeis very different from that in India, and a and Tobago: "I can tell the stories of again consciousness of the fact that migration African slavery - learned lrom the history Aja and ajee will be happy, for their Dharma and an insular ethnicity have pushed issues lessons of high school and university. I we maintain. of caste to the background, while religious know nothing but the dates and numbers They will see schools and mandirs groups that are not necessarily divisive of Indian indentureship...[Indian Arrival Better than days of yore (Muslim, Presbyterian and Hindu Trinida- Day] is the symbol which allows me to Nana and Nanee happy, seeing jhandees dians, and among the Hindus, Sanatanists, as before be Indian in a society that tells me that They will see our many pandits officiating Panthis and Arya Samajists) still in Carnival is my national culture... Or that all around existence [Narayansingh 1995]. Also the Carnival coincides with the annual They will see Nagar compound, 103 - and question of cultural identity and the ex- Shivratri festival, a time of austerity and rise of Indian song [Raviji 1995]. perience of the loss of language as acultural penance forHindus" [Bridgemohan 1995]. Ortoputit in the wordsofPavitraJaimungal, loss/impoverishment was debated exten- Phagwa, apart from providing an oppor- Oh children of the jahaaj, arise the time sively in the late 1920s and early 1930s. tunity for cultural assertion, also provided has come The East Indian Weekly in 1931 declared an occasion for Indians to stake their claim Honour the ancestors lor the work they have "This is the land that we have made our done to 'national' culture. Geeta Ramsingh's The vision they leave behind, go beyond home; let us therefore put Hindi and Urdu rendition of chowtal song 'Letter to their gains aside just a little" [Narayansingh 1995]. Chalkdust' echoed the Indian contestation

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This content downloaded from 59.90.31.67 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:51:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms of claims of cultural authenticity in organisations like the Sanatan Dharma lives. The image of the Trinidadian Hindu Trinidad and Tobago: Maha Sabha and more recently the Hindu woman therefore is far from empowering. How come calypso is national culture? Prachar Kendra, that attempt to offer a The steady rise in wife murder and vio- Degradin' de Indian new empowering alternative to a spiritu- lence in the 1990s has led to widespread You know who is de champion ally devalued people by reclaiming/resur- resistance by Indian women to insti- Degradin' we women recting rituals, religious practices and tutionalised domestic violence and a re- And soca is de champion heroes. This is a process constantly revita- sistance to cultures of subordination. One hundred and fifty years lised by visits to India, notably to Benaras, The renewal of Hindu energy in specific On this anniversary forms in specific contexts, therefore has Not one calypso to celebrate we history to study religion.8 Part ofthe effort to revita- meant not merely working through the So how come calypso is national culture? lise Hinduism has consisted of guarding [Phagwca. March 19, 1995]. the religion from attack/degradation. As erosion of political space in a racially The writing also reflected a newly early as 1965, Simbhoonath Capildeo then polarised polity and reclaiming it, but emerging definition of nation and nation- a Member of Parliament and a Sanatanist working through derogatory images of the hood in the East Indian community that opposed the proposal to portray Hindu community that are based on the tied together images of post colonial India Gods in Carnival. The following year, institutionalised derogation of women's - 'Jai Girmitiyaa Jai He. Jai He, Jai He' Bhadase Sagan Maharaj, the first Presi- rights within the community. The guard- - with the history of indentureship and a dent General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha ing of religion has inevitably meant more syncretic Hindu culture. So, while there Sabha influenced the inclusion of a section strictly defined norms of sexual behaviour, is an acknowledgment of the contribution of the Carnival Act making the portrayal especially for women, along with a resis- tance to institutionalised cultures of sub- of other religious groups to the growth of ol a deity of any religion acriminal act. The ordination and violence. the East Indian community, the dominant efforts of these different people to keep Further, the construction of a homo- public discourse has a heavy Hindu slant Hinduism alive indifferentways, according that rejects at overt and covert levels any to their specific locations in the Trinidadian geneous, monolithic Hinduism based on assertion of a secular India. India, is re- polity, has been given offical recognition Vedic/Sanskritic traditions necessitates an elimination of 'lesser' traditions. In a multi imagined as the land of the Hindus, a claim by the Hindu community by conferring on to nationhood made by a socially, cultur- them the status of Caribbean heroes: caste society like India. both the elimina- tion of non-Sanskritic traditions as well ally and politically oppressed people. This You graced sons of Nana and Nani with excellence disjuncture between the basis of the right as the imposition of Sanskritic traditions Bhadase Maharaj started with Hindu wing indian claim to Hindu nationhood have been consistently contested by lower Renaissance caste people, often at great risk. This has and the claim of the ex-indentured diaspora The Capildco's laboured for Hindu is critical. Yet there are collaborations and had to do with the strength ot anti caste prominence mobilisation under leadership. In alliances that bridge this disjuncture. The Siew Dass reflected the Hindu Trinidad. on the other hand, while histori- celebration of Phagwa in 1995 provided conscience an opportunity for a reassertion ol Indian Glory be to you Hara Hara Mahadeo cal evidence points to the predominance pride, a collective nostalgia about the [Ramlakhan 1995]. of people from lower castes among the first generation migrants, caste identity is journey from India to distant lands and an Thirty years later, in 1995. Hindus in uncertain future. and the concern for the Trinidad were protesting the use of images increasingly being replaced by a larger ethnic/religious identity, although it still preservation and rejuvenation of the Indian of Natraj in the Carnival,9 linking continues to determine social intercourse. heritage. spiritual, cultural and religious. the protest to the cultural assertion of In the move towards cultural and reli- Hlindu culture and the larger contestation This superimposition of a religious iden- gious consolidation. socio-cultural prac- of 'national' culture.10 tity is again a conscious political decision tices were reassessed from the standpoint by the new liberal Hindu leadership which CONCLUSION sees the consolidation of Hinduiva as being of their propriety. and their potential to undermine the practice of pure Hinduism Reddock suggests that many of the Eastpossible only by opening up the faith, from within. Chutney and Soca,7 forms of Indian women "came to the region, notagainst the orthodox position of the Sana- Indo Trinidadian folk dances had their as dependent wives, but as already inde- tanists. It also represents the rise of a non- origins in the ritual women's dance during pendent women who had made a con- brahmin leadership, that will not be ac- the maticore and laawa ceremonies )of the scious decision to leave their difficult social cepted within the framework ot the brahmin dominated Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha. . These dances were sexu- and economic situations in India. These The result of this is that while caste ally explicit and possibly one of the few included women deserted by their hus- diminishes in significance, social practice spaces available to HIindu women that are bands, already practising prostitutes, and that is originally circumscribed by caste, free of male aulthority and control. Chutney Brahmin widows, who could not remarry took these dances out of the private space in India. i I Very soon thereafter they werenow acquires a broader base. Socio-reli- that was exclusively female into the hetero- constrained by an acceptance of docility, gious practices of the lower castes in this context have the potential of becoming the social public space [Baksh-Soodeen 1996]. passivity and dependence - the glorifica- norm and the defining characteristic of Ramsingh's chowtal raises various ques- tion of motherhood and an acceptance of tions related not just to a claim to 'na- tlhe androcentric ideal of Indianness being Trinidadian Hinduism. The possibility that exists therefore is that of a re-centred tional' culture, but also questions related coterminus with subordination [Reddock]. Hinduism. However, the newly emergent to claims ol- the 'authentic' Indian voice. This has meant a tacit acceptance of Indian The reassertion of Indian identity and men's violence towards Indian women, monolithic global Hinduism, known by the more popular name Hindutva, will not the shaping of Indian cultural practice has largely characterised by the use of the tended to hinge on the creation of a cutlass. This threat/actual use of violence allow this re-centering. Hinduism must monolithic Hindu tradition, and the con- was a direct response to attempts by women assert its claim to purity through genealogy solidation of that tradition through to retain a degree of autonomy over their of Vedic Hinduism at the cost of cultural

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This content downloaded from 59.90.31.67 on Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:51:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms creativity and renewal which are the hall- marginalised sections like brahmin widows as a child is the daughter of a deserted woi,ian and prostitutes. Rhoda E Reddock, Women. from Madras Presidency. A fairy tale account mark of the 'lesser traditions'. The picha- Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: of her life published in a local newspaper as karee that eftectively charts out new creative A History, Zed Books, London and New Jersey, part of Indian Arrival spoke of her mother's terrains for the telling of history invested 1994, p 31. accidental reunion with her father in Trinidad. in the consolidation of a monolithic tradi- 2 See Rhoda E Reddock, Womene, Labour and 12 "India is to the Hindus what Mecca is to the Politics in Trinidald and Tobago: A History. Muslims", said a Trinidadian woman, who tion. The 150-yearold brotherhood ofjahajis, and Patricia Mohammed, Writing Gender into is areligious leader, in an interiview. Similarly. with its historydiversity and multicultural- History. This contestation of terrains, of power in an interview foranewspaper, afterquestions isnl is now being bombarded with the and the consolidation of cultural capital - about why Indian women were so wary about inmages and rlhetoric of the 'Global Brother- both patriarchal and religious - is inextricably pressing for the Uniform Civil Code. the tied to a history of migration. interviewer, a Hindu woman said, "Boy! It hood of Saffron'. lThis now is the strongest 3 This observation is based on conversations must be difficult for you Indians with all those link to the mainland.12 And gender is with a cross section of the Hindu population Muslims sitting on top of you [a reference critical to the construction of the fraternity, in Trinidad in March 1995. to Pakistan and Bangladesh]. 4 'They Came on the Call of Sugar', Express, as well as to the mapping of its genealogy. References March 11. 1995. This optimism is reiterated Finally. this move to iron out internal in several voices that call for the celebration Baksh-Soodeen. Rawwida (1996): 'Women's differences and present a unified faith of Arrival Day. The blurring in the use of Liberation or Cultural Degradation?'. where Siva. Rama, , Jahaaji and Hindu and Indian in this narrative is something Coinmunalisnm Combat. October, p 23. coexist in peaceful harmony. is a that is becoming increasingly 'normal' in the Boodoosingh, (1993): 'Arrival and contemporary Hindu writing in Trinidad. Emergence 1845-1991'. Aagtto,anl: The cultural assertion that is political by deti- 5 'Jai Girmitiyaa'. Plhawa, March 19, 1995. Coinmmemorattion Commlittee on Indian nition. The overt and underlying claim Girnitiyaa, like Jahaaji is a term for the Arrival, May. being staked is one for control over and indentured labourer, and has its origin in the Bridgemohan, (1995): 'Of Holidays and agreement or 'girmit' that the labourers had power in the political space which is only Heritage'. Sutltdav Gua(rdlian, January 15. to sign. Capildeo, Surendranath (1995): 'The Relevance achieved through internal 'stability'. And 6 Sookraj Ramlakhan, 'Blessed Pioneers' and Reality of the Hindu and the this stability has to do with virility and Phafgwa, March 19,1995. In Jai Ginnitiya, Pavitm in 21st Century Trinidad'. Lecture delivered culture: it hinges on the re-gendering of Jaimungal sings a similar pichakaree drawing at the Sanatan Dharlma Maha Sabha, 150th from a different popular mythic tradition: Anniversary Series of Yajanas, Guatrdian. the public/political space, as this poem by Every morning and evening they blessed February 17. Indrani Rampersad. dedicated to 'the this motherland Espinet, Ramabai (ed) (1990): Creation Fire. A Hindus of the Caribbean whose ancestry With mantras, deeyaa and lotaa they puje CAFRA Anlthology of Cartibbetan Wonmen's is linked to the sugarcane fields of the the land Poetry. CAFRA, Trinidad and Tobago, p 187. Rainayan they chanted and showed ah Caribbean'. illustrates: Gosine, V Ramsamooj (1995): 'Jahaaji: The hero's stand Arkatias', Guardian, February 14 Will you grow tall Like fought bravely for justice Gosine, V Ramsamnooj ( 1995): 'Jahaaji: 24 Hours and stately as the sugarcane? in this land... on the Job...', Guardian. March 16 To flower in majesty There is of course an acknowledgement of Maharaj, Indeera (1995): 'Ancestral Legacy'. cf In the wind of chlange? the presence and contribution of Indian Ravi Ji, 'Pichakaree: Harvesting Images for Or will each hlarvest Muslims, for instance Haji Rukmudeen an a Popular Literature'. Slndtla Gtuardian, March 12. Successively breed indentured labourer who went on to play a critical role in the early development of Islam Mohammed. Patricia (1995): 'Writing Gender Decreasingly stunted ratoons in Trinidad and Tobago. Interestingly, of two into History: The Negotiation of Gender Of a virility lost people who went abroad to attain an Islamic Relations among Indian Men and Womene in Of a culture lost education, one went to India and the other Post-Indenture Trinidad Society, 1917-1947' Of a Will lost to India and Egypt. And yet, the dominant in Verene Shepherd, Bridget Brereton, Barbara In a horizoln painted Hopeless? discourse on Indian Arrival is within frame- Bailey (eds),Engendering Histor.y: Ctaribbean [Rampersad 1995] works of Hinduism. It could ofcourse be argued Women in Historical Perspective. James that this has to do essentially with numlbers, Currey Publishers and lan Randall Publishers. Notes Muslims not constituting a significant propor- London and Kingston, p 34. [I was introduced to Trinidad in 1992-93 by tion of the population, an argunment that will Naraynsingh, Vijay (1995): '150 Years of Rhoda Reddock, and the ideas presented in this be picked up at a later point in the paper. Evolution', Sunday Express, January 15. paper took shape through numerous discussions 7 Referred to by Geeta Ramsingh in 'Letter to - (1995): 'Yaatra: Beyond the Kala Pani. Sundayt, with her both during that year as well as in 1995, Chalkdust' reproduced above. Express, January 22. when I was a guest of Women Working for Social 8 There are also a large number of people who - (1995a): 'Yaatra: Facing the Challenges of a come to India from Trinidad and Tobago to Progress in Trinidad. Needless to say, this paper New Society', Express. January 29. would not have been possible without working enhance their formal educational qualifica- Ramlakhan, Sookraj (1995): 'Blessed Pioneers', tions. as well as training in the performing women. Drafts of this paper were presented at Phagwa, March 19. the International Interdisciplinary Seminar on arts. A young woman, active in the Hindu Rampersad, Indrani ( 993): 'Why Observe Indian Identity. Locality and Globalisation, Sariska. Women's Organisation, in a sense settled this Arrival Day',A aganltlan: Tile Cont,Ilemoration issue when she said in an interview, on condi- February 1998. a;nd the VIII National Conference Comnmittee on Indialn Arrival. May. of Women's Studies. Pune. May-June, 1998.] tion of anonymity, that most young Indians Rampersad, Indrani, 'The People of the Sugarcane' have two positions on the Carnival. One, a in Ramabai Espinet (ed), Creation Fire, p 225. I A lmajority of those who iiigrated to Trinidad public/political stance and the other a private/ under the indentureship system for instance, Ramsaroop, Ropnarine (1995): cf Ravi Ji, emlotional stance, both diametrically opposed. 'Pichakaree: Harvesting Iimages for a Popular belonged to impoverished agricultural castes, 9 Witness the similar uproar over Hussain's Literature', Suncdal Gtuardicanl March 12. the lower caste, in general and untouchables. The figures of emiigrants froml Calcutta in depiction of Goddess in India last Ravi Ji (1995): 'A Tiie to Share'. Suntlday 1877-7X arc illustlrative. year. Guardian,i January 15. I () A young woman, active in the Hindu Women's Total number of emigrants: 18,488 - (1995): 'Pichakaaree: Harvesting Images for Wolnen: 6.()44 Organisation, in a sense settled this issue a Popular Literature', Sunday Guarditan, when she said in an interview, on condition Men: 12.444 March 12. and other high castes: 2.223 of anonymity. that most young Indians have Sanatan Dharmla Maha Sabha (1995): 'Sowing Agriculturists: 4,438 two positions on the Carnival. One, a public/ Seeds from the Motherland'. Express, Artisans: 763 political stance and the other a private/ March 25. Low castes: 8,807 emotional stance, both diametrically opposed. Taitt, Ria(1995): 'Black Groups Reject 'Heritage Muslims: 2,25() I Rhoda E Reddock, Women, Labour (and Day' Idea'. Express, February 10. Christians: 7 Politics in Trinidad and T obao: A History. Thapar, Romila (1979): Ancient Indian Social Fulrther., most In 1995. women there was a living testimony who to this History:migrated Some Interplretations, were Orient either froml the lower classses/castes, or suggestion. Nagammah, who came to Trinidad Longmans, Delhi.

Economic andt Political Weekly October 31. 1998 WS-57

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