Bhojpuri folk songs of Indians in Fiji

Abstract

The export of Indian indentured labour to British oversea colonies containing sugar, cotton and indigo plantations began around mid-nineteenth century. One of the destinations was Fiji, the British island colony in the Pacific, to which the Indian labourers, men and women, mainly went from East UP and West Bihar where Bhojpuri was spoken. While archival documents can help us trace the fortunes of individuals, their own feelings and sentiments are best preserved in their songs orally carried from one mouth to another for decades. The earlier songs contain mournful dirges over separation, the misery of those whom they left behind and their own afflictions in Fiji’s harsh white-owned plantations. As the migrations ceased, the Fiji–Indian people’s interest shifted to restoring their connection with Hinduism and its customs, and this has become more prominent in later folk songs. The gender problem (women outnumbered by men) was severe earlier but has now eased as with the passage of generations, the sex ratio has normalised.