TeodoroGalvan6 at 05:22, 24 February 2026

2026-02-24T05:22:35Z

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{{Short description|Indentured laborers from British India}}
{{Expand Bengali}}

'''Girmitiyas''', ([[Kaithi]]: {{Script |Kthi|𑂏𑂱𑂩𑂧𑂱𑂗𑂱𑂨𑂰}}, {{ipa|hi|ɡɪɾmɪʈɪjaː|ipa}}) also known as '''Jahazis''' ([[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: {{lang|hi|जहाज़ी}}, {{ipa|hi|dʒəɦaːziː|ipa}}) or '''Jahajis''' ({{ipa|hi|dʒəɦaːdʒiː|ipa}}), were indentured labourers from [[British Raj|British India]] transported to work on [[plantation]]s in [[Colony of Fiji|Fiji]], [[British South Africa|South Africa]], [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]], and the [[Caribbean]] (namely [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[British Guiana]], [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Suriname]] and [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]]) as part of the [[Indian indenture system]].<ref name="Ghosh2014"/><ref name="KellyKaplan2001"/>

== Etymology ==
[[File:Suriname Bhojpuri.jpg|thumb|[[Caribbean Hindustani#Sarnami Hindustani|Sarnami Hindustani]] (Roman script) plaque at Suriname Memorial, [[Garden Reach]], [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]]]
The word ''girmit'' represented an Indian pronunciation of the [[English language|English]] word "agreement" - from the [[indenture]] "agreement" of the [[British Empire|British]] Government with labourers from the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref name=":0">
{{Cite web|title=Girmit History|url=http://www.fijigirmit.org/history.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914023617/http://www.fijigirmit.org/history.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 14, 2012|access-date=2020-11-10|website=www.fijigirmit.org}}
</ref> The agreements specified the workers' length of stay in foreign parts and the conditions attached to their return to [[British India]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Article 2|url=http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_girmit_an_introduction.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040610052325/http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_girmit_an_introduction.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 10, 2004|access-date=2020-11-10|website=www.fijigirmit.org}}</ref> In [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic (Indo-Aryan) languages]] such as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], the word ''Jahāz'' ({{lang|hi|जहाज़}}), which is sometimes pronounced as ''Jahāj'' in certain languages such as [[Maithili language|Maithili]], means 'ship' (from the Arabic/Persian ''Jahāz/'' جهاز), with ''Jahazi'' implying 'people of ship' or 'people coming via ship'.<ref name="Ghosh2014">{{cite book |last1=Ghosh |first1=Papiya |title=Partition and the South Asian Diaspora: Extending the Subcontinent |date=21 March 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-80965-4 |language=en |quote=... even as he writes about the bonds of ''jahazi bhais'' (ship brothers) being strong among the descendants of the ''girmitiyas'' (Mishra 2001b: 327).}}</ref><ref name="KellyKaplan2001">{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=John D. |last2=Kaplan |first2=Martha |title=Represented Communities: Fiji and World Decolonization |date=September 2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-42990-8 |page=87 |language=en |quote=''Jahazi bhais'', ship brothers and sisters, had social relationships persisting long after ''girmit'' itself.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lal|first=Brij V.|date=|title=Chalo Jahaji – on a journey through indenture in Fiji|url=http://girmitiya.girmit.org/new/index.php/articles/dr-brij-lal/chalo-jahaji/|access-date=2021-01-15|website=New Girmit.org|language=en-US}}</ref> These Indian-origin labourers referred to one another as जहाज़ी भाई ''jahāzī bhai'' (ship brother) or जहाज़ी बेहेन ''jahāzī behen'' (ship sister), reflecting the brotherly and sisterly bonds made on their voyage from India to the West.<ref name="RoyPereira2017">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Shefali |last2=Pereira |first2=Matilda |title=Challenging Patriarchy: A Humanist Perspective |date=2017 |publisher=Synergy Books |isbn=978-93-82059-62-2 |page=75 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sanadhya |first1=Totaram |title=My Twenty-one Years in the Fiji Islands; And, The Story of the Haunted Line |date=1991 |publisher=Fiji Museum |isbn=978-982-208-003-2 |page=162 |language=en |quote=...jahazi bhais, 'brotherly' relationships formed on the ships}}</ref>

Many Girmitiyas—indentured labourers taken from British India came from marginalised and lower-caste backgrounds, including a significant number from the [[Chamar]] caste. Facing entrenched discrimination, poverty, and limited opportunities in India, they were often drawn by misleading promises of better livelihoods abroad. As a result, they formed an important yet frequently overlooked segment of the indentured workforce in regions such as Fiji, Mauritius, and the Caribbean.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Origins of Girmityas |url=https://press.anu.edu.au//downloads/press/p212781/pdf/5.-Origins-of-the-Girmitiyas.pdf |access-date=4 January 2026}}</ref>

In Fiji, [[Governor of Fiji|Governor]] [[Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore|Arthur Hamilton-Gordon]] discouraged [[Melanesians|Melanesian]] [[Indigenous Fijians|Fijians]] from working on the plantations in an attempt to preserve their culture.<ref name=":0" /> Activist [[Shaneel Lal]] argues that Girmitiya were deceitfully enslaved by the British.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shaneel Lal: The Royal Family stole my ancestors |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/shaneel-lal-queens-death-black-brown-and-indigenous-communities-are-mourning-their-ancestors-and-culture/JVUO5BWKSUPPDN26VEYFA5YKSQ/ |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|India}}
* [[Coolie]]
* [[Indian indenture system]]
* [[Indo-Caribbean people]]
* [[Indo-Fijians]]
* [[Fiji Hindi]]
* [[Global Girmit Museum]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Gillion|first=Kenneth|title=Fiji's Indian migrants : a history of the end of indenture in 1920|year=1962|publisher=Oxford U.P.|location=Melbourne}}
* {{cite book|last=|first=|url=https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-pacific-islands-an-encyclopedia/|title=The Pacific Islands : an encyclopedia|year=2000|publisher=[[University of Hawai'i Press]]|location=Honolulu|isbn=082482265X|pages=110–111|edition=[Repr.].|editor=[[Brij Lal (historian)|Brij V. Lal]] and Kate Fortune|chapter=Girmitiya}}
* {{cite book|last=Lal|first=Brij V.|authorlink=Brij Lal (historian)|title=Girmitiyas : the origins of the Fiji Indians|year=2004|publisher=Fiji Institute of Applied Studies|location=Lautoka, Fiji|pages=|isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1}}
* Gaiutra Bahadur (2014). ''[[Coolie Woman]]: The Odyssey of Indenture''. The University of Chicago. {{ISBN|978-0-226-21138-1}}
*{{cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Marina|url=https://anthempress.com/coolitude-pb|title=Coolitude : an anthology of the Indian labour diaspora|last2=Torabully|first2=Khal|date=2002|publisher=Anthem|isbn=1843310031|location=London|pages=}}
*Praveen Kumar Jha (2019). ''[https://www.vaniprakashan.in/details.php?prod_id=8762 Coolie Lines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118100317/http://www.vaniprakashan.in/details.php?prod_id=8762 |date=2022-01-18 }}''. New Delhi: Vani Prakashan. {{ISBN|978-93-88684-04-0|}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.patreon.com/sail_oar South Asian Indentured Labor – Online Archive of Research and Resources] – an online archive and living syllabus of text-based resources related to Indian indentureship, with country-specific resources and material related to global Indian indenture diasporas
* [http://www.flp.org.fj/interview-by-mahendra-chaudhry-nfu-general-secretary-on-girmit-divas-celebration/ Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618162506/http://www.flp.org.fj/interview-by-mahendra-chaudhry-nfu-general-secretary-on-girmit-divas-celebration/ |date=2022-06-18 }} of [[Mahendra Chaudhry]] about Girmitiyas in Fiji

[[Category:Fijian people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Indentured servitude]]

Girmitiyas - Revision history

TeodoroGalvan6 at 05:22, 24 February 2026