Guyana.org Guyana News and Information Discussion Forums Genealogy - Family History Forum Indian Arrival in Guyana, in Pictures
Guyana News and Information Discussion Forums Genealogy - Family History Forum Indian Arrival in Guyana, in Pictures|
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| <BK>
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Posted
Jansher,
well it has been said that there were more deaths, especially infants (due to drinking contaminated water) on ships leaving Calcutta than on those ships that sailed from Madras. |
| <BK>
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Posted
On the Salsette over 50% of the infants, and 30% of the children died during the three or more months voyage.
Check out the children having breakfast at sea. PS. I don't know why some "historians" continue to affix SS infront the Hesperus and Whitby! http://www.hansib-books.com/root/icn3.pdf Check out the man on the top left hand corner - Castro look alike  and check out the picture on page 4. |
| <Jansher>
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Posted
BK, can you explain those name: ****eram; ****eram
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| <BK>
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Posted
bai jaan, that's a bastardization of the name Faakeah or Feekea, I had to laugh when I saw that spelling.
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| <BK>
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Posted
that is the way the British listed the name in the journal -- which is exactly the way it is in the table.
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Member Registered:: February 10, 2005
Posts: 6114
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Posted
keep it coming guys....I am getting quite an education on my "roots" from this thread.
Not sure if anyone has ever posted this link, but i find it interesting....the articles and the many many pics..... http://www.indocaribbeanheritage.com/ browse through guys, you may findit of interest too. |
| <BK>
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Posted
It look like I will have to give you a crash course in how to read simple EXCEL worksheets.
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| <BK>
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Posted
check you email, I gave you a detailed rundown. if that fail then I will have to send you FIVE different attachments.
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| <Jansher>
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Posted
Aha, i see it at the bottom of the spread sheet, there is a menu there. muslim hesp. muslim whitby.. Well Thanks.
Rass i drove u nuts. Sarry |
| <BK>
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Posted
you lucky I didn't cuss your rass out for all this back and forth mailing.
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| <Jansher>
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Posted
Look at my resquest below, its our duty to correct these spellings. |
| <BK>
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Posted
Those corrections should be in a separate comment box.
BTW --- Said is correct, and it can be spelt as Syeid or Sayad. |
| <BK>
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Posted
you have to click on the respective correct sheet then search for the name...they are ALL there.
Isaac is not muslim he was one of the Superintendent (and a Christian). |
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Active Member Location: wherever there is good food
Registered:: February 15, 2007
Posts: 10564
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Posted
Can't remember where I read it, but someone did a good article showing that some of the mosques were built by afghans...
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| <Jansher>
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BK, am working on this...
Summary of Indian Indentureship to British Guyana 1838-1916 R. Chickerie Aurangzeb, son of Emperor Shahjehan became ambitious and took the Peacock Throne in a violent rage, and in the process killed his brothers and imprisoned his father, Shah Jehan. It was the beginning of the end of the Mughal Empire after more than 500 years. The British East India Company was eager to have the Crown colonize a fractionalized India. Indian nationalism was not yet born. They were Hindustanis, Gujaratis, Punjabis, Sindis, Bengalis, or Mahratis, but not yet Indians. At the same time, in the Colony of British Guiana, slavery had just ended. The abolition of slavery in British Guyana in 1834 led to economic decline in the colony, and quickly a new source of labour was found. India became a lucrative source of endless indentured labourers for Guyana’s many sugar plantations. Indians fill the labor void that Africans once provided. In 1838 Hindustanis began arriving in the British Guiana on five-year contracts because of poverty, diseases, castism, tyranny of the zamindari system, and other social factors. Entrepreneurship and adventure lured many to Guyana as well. Also, the British/Afghan Wars and the Meerut uprising of 1857 let to the banishment of Sepoy and Afghan militants to Guyana. Before the immigrants arrived in British Guiana their biographical data was recorded, kept and sent with them as well. Indians however, were mostly ignorant of the terms and conditions of the five year contract. An exotic collection of people from India were part of this great migration. Standing there in front of translators at New Garden, Calcutta, the angrez (foreigners) recorded the worker’s biographical information such as name, caste, height, religion, colour, and village, etc. In the early period of indentureship tremendous errors were made during this process. Names were bastardized beyond recognition. Twenty percent of the immigrants were Muslims and like their Hindu countrymen were predominantly from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal and from districts such as, Lucknow, Agra, Bairaich, Fyzabad, Ghazipur, Bareilly, Gaya, Kanpur, Gorakpur, Mirzapur, Basti and Sultanpur. Small batches also came from Karachi in Sind, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi in the Punjab, Hyderabad, in the Deccan, Srinagar in Kashmir, and Peshawar, Mardan in the Northwest Frontier (Afghan areas), and Baluchistan bordering Iran. Many spoke Urdu and a handful Farsi and Pashto, among other North Indian languages. Passenger’s biographical data indicates that about 75% of Hindus were from schedule castes such as Ahirs, kurmis, dobis, telis, chammar, and baniyas, among many others. There were births and deaths during voyages. Under caste Muslims were identified as Musulman, Sheik, fakirs, ghosis, hajams, Julahas, Mahomedaan, Syeds, Mughuls, and Pathans. They migrated from distant places like Peshawar and Mardhan. The majority of Muslim women bore names like Nasimun, Ameerun, Rashidan, Kariman or Aseeman which became corrupted after many generations, and today due to the lost of their Urdu language, these names among many others have become-Nasimoon, Karimoon, Ameeroon, Rashimoon, Aseemoon, or Nazmoon The immigrants were mostly Hindus (80%), while the rest were Muslims. Many of these Hindus came from Brinda Ban, Matura and Ayodhia Hinduism’s most sacred cities. A comprehensive study of immigration records by the author rebukes the myth of mass conversion to Islam or Christianity prior to arrival in Guyana. Our ancestors did not lie about their caste and religion. Some women ran away from abuses, eloped. Pregnancy out of wedlock made some women easy prey to recruiters. Some Hindu women took Muslim husbands at the depot converted to Islam. Marriages, separation and infidelity took place in the Calcutta depot. Originating from Afghanistan, the Pathan clan settled in Northern India during the 500 years of Muslim rule. The Durand Line sliced part of Afghanistan into India and what is now Pakistan. Immigration Certificates reveal that Pathans migrated from the Northwest Frontier and North India. Most of the Pathans bear the last name Khan. One of Guyana's oldest Mosques, the Queenstown Jama Masjid, was founded by the Afghan community, which had apparently arrived in this country via India. Afghan and Indian Muslims living in this area laid the foundation for the Masjid. One Imam reported that there were two hafizul Qur'an who were `residing in Clonbrook, East Coast Damerara, bearing the last name Khan. The ring leasers of the Rosehall Estate uprising, Berbice involved many Pathans during the eighteen century, and eventually they were scattered around Guyana. There were many factors that pushed Indians to leave India for Guyana. The blessing and the curse of the monsoon thundering upon Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal left many penny and homeless; it brought diseases in a region already pregnant of castism, poverty, illiteracy and religious conflicts. This was and is India’s poverty and conflict zone. These wretched souls were vulnerable to cheats who lured them to Guyana. Before their arrival in Guyana, immigrants spend up to three months in the Calcutta Depot, and it was here, and during the three month voyage that castism and religious schism vanished. The total number of indentured workers who went to Guyana from 1838 to 1917 is roughly 239, 000. Guaranteed return passage was part of the contract. This money was kept in an escrow account and since over fifty percent did not return to India this exorbitant sum was use to build Guyana’s Cultural Centre. Approximately one third returned to India and many died within the first five year of arrival. To get an inside look into the indentureship system its necessary to make references to the only published memoirs of Munshi Rahman Khan, and indenture immigrant who at age 23 in the year 1895 left Hamipur, Uttar Pradesh, India for Suriname memoirs enable us to experience indentureship. According Munshi Rahman Khan, at the Calcutta Depot all symbols of caste vanished after upper castes Hindus took their last bath in the Bhagirathi River. They shed their Brahmin wear and had no problem wearing the yellow kurtas and dothis that the rest wore. Even their sacred janau (thread) and the tilak on the forehead were gone. “All Hindus had become sudras. “The Sudras were a thousand times more god-fearing as evident from their manners and their way of life than these hypocrites.” (81) (Autobiography of Munshi Rahman Khan: New Delhi, 2005). There was no differentiation between Brahmins, Kshtriyas, Vaishyas or Sudras, but the Muslims with their beards and topi could be singled out. They offered namaz on their beds or under the nearby mango tree.” Strangely the Brahmins did not complain about sitting next to a Muslim, or a chammar. They did not protest sharing plates or food being served by someone wearing shoes. The Upper castes did not bring their wives, and quickly kept company with women of lower castes. At the holding depot were immigrants from all parts of India and they were kept there until enough were assembled to make a full ship load. There were recruiting agencies across North India. Tamil workers mainly departed from Madras. According to Surinamese scholar, Dr. Mohan Gautham, the Indians who came to Guyana and Suriname were neither from a single homogeneous cultural background, nor from a single region or from a single language group or speech locality. Like Surinamese Hindustanis, Indians who came to Guyana spoke mainly Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundeli, Chatisgarhi, Pahari, Avadhi, Braj and Khari Boli. “There were also the people who came from the tribal belt of Chota Nagpur, Nepal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bengal, Assam, Orissa, and even from South India (Andhra Pradesh). They spoke speak their mother tongues and regional languages and even caste dialects (like Kaithi, the script of the Kayastha and business community and Telugu).” They also communicated in Bazari Hindi, Hindustani, and Urdu, which were spoken as the trading languages in the cities of North India. According to Gautham, after spending long periods at the holding centre at Garden Reach Depot, a lingua franca emerged, Hindi. Also, it was from this depot that many illiterate Hindustanis became eager to read the Ramayana. It was here that life-time friendships were cemented and many seek tutoring which continued on the sugar plantations when they arrived in the Caribbean. (http://www.saxakali.com/indocarib/sojourner7a.htm). The voyage from Calcutta to Guyana took about three months, and Indian staples such as rice, rotis, tamarind chutney, mutton curry, biscuits and dhal were on board. With a tin plate, a tin lota, two blankets, two dhotis and three shirts, the Indians left Calcutta for Guyana. Many quickly became sea sick and vomited. The sick were cared for and doctors examined passengers frequently. New clothing and good food were served. It was better than what they had in the Calcutta Depot. Frequently, the ship docked on the Island of St. Helena for water and food. Passengers were also allowed to disembark. In their saris, dothis, salwar kameez, and topis they came with their Ramayan, Quran, dolak, harmonium, and dhantal. They sang, and played lively music to prevent boredom, and during evenings some young ladies were selectively allowed on deck. It was here that the gora sahib (whites) preyed on them. This was the beginning of our izzat (honour) descending into the kala pani. Many of our aurat (women) were violated. There is a well documented case of a young lady, Mohandaya, a twenty- year, who died after being gang-raped on board the SS Allenshaw which arrived in Guyana in 1885 from Calcutta. It was on board this said ship that Kishen was physically abused when his head was slammed into the floor of the deck. Mortality and cases of abuse during voyages and on plantations were high in the early period of indentureship. Eventually, due to tremendous outcry the system came to a stop. It resumed in the 1840’s, but there were still cases of rape and physical abuse in the high seas and on the plantations. Doctors were now part of the voyages and mortality dropped and abuses were seldom. At the turn of the 20th century, improved technology cut the journey to two months. They tried their best to adjust to this alien land, and quickly trappings of Indian culture were replanted in British Guiana. Subah (morning) to Sham (evening) the Indians toiled the zameen (earth) and at night under the bright chand (moon), they recited the Ramayana and the Quran. They were introduced to sharab (alcohol) to quickly get over their nostalgia for their Hindustani. In the mornings the azan thundered over the plantations despite how discreet the Musalman tried to keep it, while the blowing of conch shells by Bengali Hindus echoed throughout the plantation invoking Lord Rama, Vishnu or Brahma. The Hindus and Muslims quickly built masjids and mandirs and called each other jahaji bhais. They thought that their stay in Guyana would be temporary and resisted assimilation. There was no rush to learn English, to attend school or to get politically evolved. But quickly reality sunk, and they decided to push their children to school. Christian Missionaries worked very hard on plantations and to this day are still working convert Hindus and Muslims. The Presbyterian Church was instrumental in the conversion process after they successfully brought under their wings a few Indian elites who were then instrumental in evangelization. They conceded that the Muslims were more resistant to convert. The system was made in such a way that to move up the social ladder, one had to be a Christian, and some Indians did just that. Also, Hindus and Muslims were considered as pagans, and their marriages were not recognized. These immigrants were perceived as “strange, docile and weird.” The shortage of women led to cultural and moral decadence. Only a handful of women came in the early period of indentureship. There was a shortage of women in the colony. “The disproportion of Indian females to Indian males in Guyana was higher among indentured Indians on the estates than among free Indians. “The total female to male ratio went from 11 Indian women for every 100 Indian men in 1851, to 40 women for every 100 men in 1914” (Seenarine: http://www.saxakali.com/Saxakali-Publications/recastgwa.htm) . This was yet another dark chapter in our history. Without enough women, the bedrock of society, the family began to crumble. Morals, values and traditions were challenged. Rapes were on the rise and infidelity led to many men murdering their wives. Being uprooted from the mother country took a toll on the values, traditions and mental well being of the Indians. Many turned to daiwai (alcohol). And as they lost their mother tongue, they forgot the meaning of the term, Izzat (Honour/Dignity). Indian women in the colony were abused by their countrymen, and this evil continues to this day. Seenarine refutes the myth that the shortage of Indian women on colonial plantations during the early period of indenture resulted in an improved status and mobility for the majority of South Asian women, relative to that in India. According to him, this view ignores women’s subjection to control under various forms of male domination and oppression during the early period, including violence and abuse. He further demonstrates that the process of male control intensified during the later indenture period. “In both periods, the triple burdens of wage work, childcare, and housework were excessive for most women who had to work harder to fashion a new life for themselves and their families in colonial Guyana” (Seenarine: http://www.saxakali.com/Saxakali-Publications/recastgwa.htm ). The “White Man’s Burden”, an outcry by pro -colonialists to civilize the “heathens” became state sponsored policy of the British government. Indians marriages; Hindu and Muslim were not recognized. These marriages were not legal and offspring’s were considered illegitimate. Indians could not hold government jobs nor could teach in school unless they converted to Christianity. Furthermore, the British left the education of Indian in the hands of over zealots evangelists. With little choices Indians reluctantly sent their children to Christian’s schools and churches. Eventually, Hindus and Muslim evening schools began to rise. The majority of the Indians eventually were not interested in the “White Man Burden” when they discovered that only English and Christianity were taught. There were many appeals to fund Hindi and Urdu schools but those recommended fell on deaf ears. Eventually, the Indian lost their mother languages. There was even greater pressure to assimilate by their own brethrens who were educated in England and Georgetown, the capital. The trappings of Indian culture were looked at as backward and uncivilized. It was no longer fashionable for Indians to assert their “coolieness.” The country “coolies” were suddenly booed and jeered by the new “city Indians.” To move up the social ladder one had to hide their “coolieness,” and many leaders in the community became Christians and spoke English. By 1966, Hindi was dead in Guyana, many of the upper class Hindus and Muslims of Georgetown, the capital were Christians, and Indian developed a complex that still lingers today. Hinduism is a dying religion in Guyana today because of the radical evangelism in Guyana and the failure of the lack of Hindu leadership. |
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Moderator Location: USA
Registered:: September 22, 2004
Posts: 18250
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Posted
 BaiJan: |
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Moderator Location: USA
Registered:: September 22, 2004
Posts: 18250
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Posted
 Dhall Baat: |
| <Jansher>
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Posted
Thanks baiya this looks good. I just had me a sweet Kackree.
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| <BK>
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Posted
Jansher, Who is making this claim? |
| <BK>
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Posted
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