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Harpreet Singh FROM GURU NANAK TO NEW ZEALAND: Mobility in the Sikh Tradition and the History of the Sikh Community in New Zealand to 1947 Harpreet Singh A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, The University of Otago, 2016. Abstract Currently the research on Sikhs in New Zealand has been defined by W. H. McLeod’s Punjabis in New Zealand (published in the 1980s). The studies in this book revealed Sikh history in New Zealand through the lens of oral history by focussing on the memory of the original settlers and their descendants. However, the advancement of technology has facilitated access to digitised historical documents including newspapers and archives. This dissertation uses these extensive databases of digitised material (combined with non-digital sources) to recover an extensive, if fragmentary, history of South Asians and Sikhs in New Zealand. This dissertation seeks to reconstruct mobility within Sikhism by analysing migration to New Zealand against the backdrop of the early period of Sikh history. Covering the period of the Sikh Gurus, the eighteenth century, the period of the Sikh Kingdom and the colonial era, the research establishes a pattern of mobility leading to migration to New Zealand. The pattern is established by utilising evidence from various aspects of the Sikh faith including Sikh institutions, scripture, literature, and other historical sources of each period to show how mobility was indigenous to the Sikh tradition. It also explores the relationship of Sikhs with the British, which was integral to the absorption of Sikhs into the Empire and continuity of mobile traditions that ultimately led them to New Zealand. In New Zealand, the research begins with an analysis of the early South Asian history in the country. The analysis provides a context for the arrival of the Sikhs and also reveals new evidence of a non-Sikh Indian community previously unknown to scholars. This has placed South Asian settlement decades earlier than documented in the current research. The research also uncovers new evidence showing an earlier arrival date of the Sikhs in the 1880s, a wider geographic dispersal, the presence of greater numbers, and extensive integration into local society before the twentieth century. iii Research on the first half of the twentieth century brings forth new evidence on Sikh life in New Zealand. The information provides a detailed account of life in the public sphere including religious and cultural life, interactions with colonial institutions, political activities, and a multitude of connections in local communities. It also highlights Sikh contributions to local communities in areas such as military service, sports and entertainment. The information details the shifting attitudes and perspectives about the Sikhs and also Sikh perspectives towards greater New Zealand society as they sought to define themselves and their position in local society. Ultimately, the research in this dissertation provides new evidence on the Sikh community in New Zealand, reshaping our understanding of Sikh history in the country. Though Sikhs were a community of small numbers, but they were a distinct and significant part of New Zealand’s history iv Acknowledgments This thesis is the culmination of 11 years of work beginning on the sunny shores of California and ending in Dunedin. It has been a journey which has taken me from the sciences into the humanities and ultimately required both to achieve it. In the process, a list of people must be thanked for supporting and enabling me to make this thesis. To Tony Ballantyne, thank you for taking me in as a Ph.D. student and supporting me right through this thesis. If it were not for your skills, knowledge and support, I would not have achieved this. Thank you for your tolerance of me in Dunedin and from a distance. My respect for you is second to none, and I am honoured to have done this thesis under your supervision. To Vanessa Ward, thank you for the immense help you gave me in bringing my thesis to its conclusion. I know it was a challenge and I would not have finished it without your help. To Gurinder Singh Mann, thank you for the knowledge, the support and the guidance to transition me into the humanities. I came from a distant place, the bottom of the earth, with nothing more than an engineering degree, and you instilled in me the fire and motivation to study Sikh history and set me on the path to this work. To William Hew McLeod (late), thank you for placing me on the road to this thesis 11 years ago. To the National Library of New Zealand and to those who are digitising documents worldwide, do not stop, your work is rewriting history. Without the relentless work of archivists, and those developing digital archives this thesis would not have reached this standard. v To my family, my mother, Gurbaksh, you have supported this entire endeavour through your motivation and endless support. I am humbled and forever grateful, without you I would not have achieved all that I have achieved, thank you, mum. To my father, brother and sister, it’s over, thanks for putting up with it all. I love you all. To my wife Liza, you have seen me through this thesis, through the ups and down – when I was about to give up you dragged me back to the desk. We even got married in the middle of it all. You are my rock and my strength, thank you for your support and sticking with me through it all. To the Guru Panth, may this seva serve to inspire you in the search for knowledge. vi Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Mobility in the Early Sikh Tradition ................................................................................ 17 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 17 Guru Nanak: Foundation of Mobility ................................................................................... 19 Institutionalisation of Mobility ............................................................................................. 24 Geographical Spread of the Sikh during the Guru Period .................................................... 33 Mobility in the Eighteenth Century ...................................................................................... 35 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 41 2 The British Relationship with the Sikhs from the Confederacies to the Colonial Era . 43 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 43 First Perspectives on Sikhs in Punjab................................................................................... 44 The Sikh Kingdom and the British East India Company ..................................................... 47 Fall of the Sikh Kingdom ..................................................................................................... 48 Colonial Punjab under the British East India Company ....................................................... 50 The Mutiny and the Changing Sikh Relationship ................................................................ 53 Security Deployments and Integration into the Empire ....................................................... 54 Punjab as a State in the Empire ............................................................................................ 57 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 63 3 From the Lascars to the Sikhs: The Early Indians in New Zealand 1795-1900 ............ 65 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 65 The Early Lascar Presence ................................................................................................... 66 The Indian Community in the South Island from 1850-1880 .............................................. 69 The Indian Community in Auckland and Wellington from 1850-1880 ............................... 72 The Indian Community from 1890-1900 ............................................................................. 78 The Indian Community in Auckland from 1890 to 1900 ..................................................... 79 The Indian Community Outside of Auckland from 1890 to 1900 ....................................... 81 The Early Sikhs .................................................................................................................... 86 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 97 4 The Sikh New Zealanders: Integration and Expansion 1900 to 1920 ............................ 99 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 99 vii The Indian Contingent ........................................................................................................ 101 Entertainment and Sports ................................................................................................... 105 Interactions with the Justice System .................................................................................
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