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Hinduism in Mauritius

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Hinduism in Mauritius
Durga Mata in Ganga Talao
Total population
630,500 (2011)
(48.5% of total population)
Religions
Hinduism
Majority
Sanātana Dharma
Minority
Arya Samaj and Others
Languages

Hinduism came to Mauritius when Indians were brought as indentured labourers to colonial French and later in much larger numbers to British plantations in Mauritius and neighboring islands of the Indian Ocean.[1][2][3] These immigrants came primarily from what are now known as the Indian States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh; with later on another influx of free immigrants from the Indian States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and lastly from the Sindh Province of Pakistan, following the Partition of India.[1]

Hinduism is the largest religion in Mauritius, with Hindus representing approximately 48.5% of the population in 2011.[4][5] Mauritius is the only country in Africa where Hinduism is the most practiced religion and percentage wise it is ranked on third place in the world after Nepal on first place and India on second one.

Demographics

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Year Percent Increase
1871 51.97%
1881 55.99% +4.02%
1891 56.10% +0.11%
1901 55.62% -0.48%
1911 54.26% -1.36%
1921 52.70% -1.56%
1931 50.37% -2.33%
1941 47.26% -3.11%
1951 46.97% -0.29%
1961 47.55% +0.58%
1971 49.56% +2.01%
1981 50.65% +1.09%
1991 50.63% -0.02%
2001 49.64% -0.99%
2011 48.54%

-1.10%

History

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Historical population
YearPop.±%
1871 132,652—    
1881 202,281+52.5%
1891 209,079+3.4%
1901 206,131−1.4%
1911 202,716−1.7%
1921 201,895−0.4%
1931 202,192+0.1%
1944 203,709+0.8%
1952 241,660+18.6%
1962 332,851+37.7%
1972 421,707+26.7%
1983 506,486+20.1%
1990 535,028+5.6%
2000 585,210+9.4%
2011 600,327+2.6%

The European colonial powers banned slave capture and trading in the first half of the 19th century, with the British Empire banning it in the early decades. However, the demand kept rising for low cost, high intensity labor in colonial plantations of sugarcane, cotton, tobacco and other cash crops. The British Empire substituted the slave labour supplies from Africa with indentured labour supplies from India.[6][7]

The indentured people brought from India included primarily Hindus, but also included Muslims and Christians. They were subject to indenture, a long-established form of contract which bound them to forced labour for a fixed term; apart from the fixed term of servitude, this resembled slavery.[8] The first ships carrying indentured labourers from India left in 1836.[9] Sugarcane, a crop that is native to India, does not grow in the cold latitudes such as those found in Europe, but grows in tropical latitudes, were grown in large colonial tropical plantations to meet the growing European and American demand. It is these sugarcane and other tropical cash crop plantations that brought the indentured Hindus and other migrants from India to Mauritius, and other tropical countries such as Fiji, Jamaica, Trinidad, Martinique, Suriname and others.[9]

The Hindus, and non-Hindus, who accepted indentured labour contracts and were brought to Mauritius, faced difficult conditions in India. Poverty in colonial India, starvation, epidemics and severe periodic famines in British Raj were rampant during the colonial rule.[10][11] Millions of Indians died from mass starvation during the 19th-century British India.[12] The extreme circumstances broke families, villages and triggered migrations. By 1839, Mauritius already had 25,000 Indians working in slave-like conditions in its colonial plantations, but these were predominantly males since colonial labour laws prevented women and children from accompanying the males. In the 1840s a severe shortage of cheap labour in British plantation colonies led to systematic shipment of large number of Indian indentured labourers to Mauritius, both men and women, particularly from the ports of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. According to Michael Mann – a professor of sociology, the Hindus and non-Hindus of India who arrived in Mauritius were a small percentage of the over 30 million indentured Indian workers shipped around the colonial world between the 18th and early 20th century (many of whom returned after serving for years as plantation labour).[13]

By the time Mauritius gained independence from the British Empire, a majority of its population were from Indian heritage. According to Patrick Eisenlohr, about 70% of Mauritius' total population is of Indian origin. Those who identify themselves as Hindus constitute about 48% of the total population, or about 69% of those of Indian origin.[14]

Languages

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The major languages spoken by Hindus in Mauritius, at home and in commerce, are Mauritian Creole, Mauritian Bhojpuri, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.[15] The politically active Hindus, states Eisenholr, have attempted to preserve Hindi by calling it their mother tongue and ancestral language, as well as an assurance against the colonial discrimination they faced, but most Hindus mainly use Mauritian Creole in their daily lives – a syncretic language of Indians and Africans that has developed on the island.[16]

The island nation carries many Bhojpuri-language television programs on Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, the channel controlled by the Mauritius government.[17] Hindus in Mauritius that widely use Bhojpuri include the rural south and north-central region near La Nicolière. These settlements are of Hindus primarily hailing from the Gangetic plain regions of western Bihar State and eastern Uttar Pradesh State of India, and their language is a modified form – a koiné in linguistic studies – of the original Bhojpuri spoken in India.[18]

Social stratification and Caste System

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According to some scholars, such as Oddvar Hollup, the first Hindus that settled in Mauritius did not observe caste system and inter-caste restrictions have been unimportant in Mauritius.[19] Most scholars, states Hollup, observe that this may be because "the economic and political conditions in the host societies where Indian indentured labourers were introduced had conditions that were not conducive to the maintenance of caste", and that caste was not a principle of social organization as all Indian labourers (Coolies) were "doing the same kind of work and sharing the same living conditions".[20]

However, casteism has become an integral part of Mauritian politics as major political parties which are involved in general elections propose Hindu candidates on the basis of their castes in order to match the caste demographics of voters in each constituency and district. Otherwise, electoral defeat becomes imminent.[21] In 2007 Atma Doolooa, an author and political activist, published a book Castes in Mauritius, the future of Indians and Hinduism in which he explained how casteism is a major consideration by politicians who strictly respect this system although they publicly deny its existence in Mauritius.[22] What is now knows as the Vaish caste in Mauritius is a relatively recent invention which did not exist when Coolies arrived on the island after 1835. In Mauritius the term Vaish nowadays collectively refers to the sub castes Ahir, Koyri, Kurmi and Nonya.

Another relatively modern form of stratification emerged in 1983 when the MMM attempted to isolate the Hindi-speaking Hindus by inventing a new group called TTM which abbreviates "Tamil, Telegu, Marathi". The MMM also attempted to separate the Ravived and Rajput castes from the Vaish group for political gains during the 1983 elections, but these divisive methods failed as the MMM lost these elections after being in power for less than a year.[23]

Major Hindu festivals

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The Hindus in Mauritius observe major festivals, such as Divali in Port Louis above.

  • Mahashivratri ("The Great Night of Shiva") is one of the biggest Hindu festivals occurring on a public holiday celebrated in Mauritius mainly by Bihari Hindus and also other Hindu communities. During this annual Hindu celebration, which takes place in the months of February and March, seven to sometimes forty days of fasting and ongoing preparations for pilgrimage finally lead up to an overnight vigil of Lord Shiva's worship.

Other important Hindu festivals in Mauritius include:[24]

  • Thaipusam Cavadee, honoring Lord Murugan/Kartikeya. It is particularly observed by Tamil Hindus, hence is attributed to them as a public holiday.[25]
  • Ganesh Chaturthi, a festival occurring on a public holiday assigned to the extensive Marathi-speaking community, celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha.
  • Durga Puja/Navratri celebrated in honour of the titular Goddess Durga over nine days and nine nights venerating her nine different forms. This festival comes twice in a year, during March to April months and October to November months.
  • Divali ("The Festival of Lights"), also known as Deepawali. This Hindu festival is a national public holiday in Mauritius. It is widely popular, cuts across ethnic barriers, with Mauritian Christians observing it as well.
  • Ugadi/Gudi Padwa, Hindu New Year particularly observed by Telugus and Marathis respectively.
  • Holi ("The Festival of Colors") is also widely popular and cuts across ethnic barriers where everyone celebrate it together.
  • Pongal/Makar Sankranti, a harvest festival particularly observed by Tamil and Bihari Hindus respectively.

Temples in Mauritius

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The International Society for Krishna Consciousness maintains several temples in Mauritius.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Paul Younger (2009). New Homelands: Hindu Communities in Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Fiji, and East Africa. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–8, 30–31, 53–54. ISBN 978-0-19-974192-2.
  2. ^ Meenakshi Thapan (2005). Transnational Migration and the Politics of Identity. SAGE Publications. pp. 65–67. ISBN 978-0-7619-3425-7.
  3. ^ Malik, Rajiv (2003). "The Hindus of Mauritius". Hinduism Today. Himalayan Academy. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
  4. ^ "Africa: Mauritius". CIA The World Factbook. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Resident population by religion and sex" (PDF). Statistics Mauritius. p. 68. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  6. ^ Paul Younger (2009). New Homelands: Hindu Communities in Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Fiji, and East Africa. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-19-974192-2.
  7. ^ Steven Vertovik (Robin Cohen, ed.) (1995). The Cambridge survey of world migration. pp. 57–68. ISBN 978-0-521-44405-7.
  8. ^ Tinker, Hugh (1993). New System of Slavery. Hansib Publishing, London. ISBN 978-1-870518-18-5.
  9. ^ a b "Forced Labour". The National Archives, Government of the United Kingdom. 2010.
  10. ^ David Northrup (1995). Indentured Labor in the Age of Imperialism, 1834-1922. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–67. ISBN 978-0-521-48047-5.
  11. ^ Pieter C. Emmer (1986). "Chapter 9: The meek Hindu, the recruitment of Indian indentured labourers for service overseas". Colonialism and Migration; Indentured Labour Before and After Slavery. Springer. pp. 194–199, for context see 187–199. ISBN 978-94-009-4354-4.
  12. ^ Mike Davis (2002). Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World. Verso Books. pp. 6–11, 54–59, 167–173. ISBN 978-1-78168-061-2.
  13. ^ Michael Mann (2016). "Chapter 16: Circulation and Migration". In John Marriott (ed.). The Ashgate Research Companion to Modern Imperial Histories. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-04251-8.
  14. ^ Patrick Eisenlohr (2006). Little India: Diaspora, Time, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius. University of California Press. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-520-24879-3.
  15. ^ Patrick Eisenlohr (2006). Little India: Diaspora, Time, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius. University of California Press. pp. 51–55. ISBN 978-0-520-24879-3.
  16. ^ Patrick Eisenlohr (2006). Little India: Diaspora, Time, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius. University of California Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-520-24879-3.
  17. ^ Patrick Eisenlohr (2006). Little India: Diaspora, Time, and Ethnolinguistic Belonging in Hindu Mauritius. University of California Press. pp. 67–69, 207–208. ISBN 978-0-520-24879-3.
  18. ^ Hollup, Oddvar (1994). "The Disintegration of Caste and Changing Concepts of Indian Ethnic Identity in Mauritius". Ethnology. 33 (4): 297–316. doi:10.2307/3773901.
  19. ^ Grieco, Elizabeth M. (1998). "The Effects of Migration on the Establishment of Networks: Caste Disintegration and Reformation among the Indians of Fiji". International Migration Review. 32 (3): 704. doi:10.2307/2547769.
  20. ^ Jayawardena, Chandra (1968). "Migration and Social Change: A Survey of Indian Communities Overseas". Geographical Review. 58 (3): 426. doi:10.2307/212565.
  21. ^ G., R. "The fallacy of the caste system in Mauritius". L'Express. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  22. ^ "Portrait: Atma Doolooa, un chamar fier de l'être". Le Mauricien. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  23. ^ "Kurmi, Ahir, Blanc, Kurmi, Ahir, re-Ahir…". L'Express. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
  24. ^ Jan Dodd (2004). Mauritius, Réunion & Seychelles. pp. 93, 134. ISBN 978-1-74059-301-4.
  25. ^ Xygalatas, D.; Mitkidis, P.; Fischer, R.; et al. (2013). "Extreme Rituals Promote Prosociality" (PDF). Psychological Science. 24 (8): 1602–1605. doi:10.1177/0956797612472910. PMID 23740550.
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