THE term is “Madrasi” and not “Mandraji” as some have perceived for decades in Fiji. South Indians came to Fiji well before 1903 as part of the indenture system. However, on record the first ship from Madras named Elbe III reached Fiji on May 22, 1903. They are known for their spicy and delicious delicacies such as the famous “payasam” in their wedding ceremonies.
In Fiji, the Sangam has contributed a lot to the Fijian society especially in the education sector. Speaking at the 2013 Annual Sangam Convention Jai Ram Reddy said: “Today Sangam runs 21 primary schools, five secondary schools and one tertiary institution, namely the nursing school in Labasa. Some 10,000 children attend Sangam schools which are open to students of all races without any discrimination whatsoever. Today you will find people educated in Sangam schools in all walks of life, in all profession and occupations.
“Many have made useful and significant contribution to our national life.”
This year makes it 90 years since the inception of the Then India Sanmarga Ikya Sangam (TISI) which was formed on May 24, 1926 in Nadi. The Vision of TISI is: “To be a dynamic socio-economic, cultural and educational organisation developing its members to achieve Sangam aspirations through constant interactions and education” (Sangam Fiji, 2015).
Sadly there has been limited success in the interaction with its members in terms of promoting the languages namely Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and its culture to some extent which will be discussed in the later part of this article. The promotion of culture and language is not to be restricted to Sagnam schools only as not every South Indian in Fiji attends its schools because of various reasons, location being one of them and personal choices could also be one of the factors. Furthermore, this phrase of the mission is rather arguable in terms of its achievability over decades “To educate and inspire Sangam members to recognise their identity and contribute to the development of a dynamic society in its cultural heritage….” The reason for this is that individuals as well families have yet to recognise the importance of their heritage.
Often humoured about the culture and their accent, South Indians in Fiji suffer because of an imbalance in understanding their own culture and how to respond to the mockery. Could this be the fault of Sangam for not creating more awareness or the parents for not imparting knowledge learnt from their ancestors?
A South Indian student came to me last trimester while preparing for her oral presentation. Her topic for presentation dealt with the South Indian culture, it was because of her peers making fun of her name in primary and secondary school that she decided to do research on this topic. At first she was disappointed, unsure of how to address this issue but as I started giving ideas to work on, this eventually gave her confidence in being a proud South Indian and she presented exceptionally well in her unit.
Young people like her exist in our society and the appropriate guidance is necessary to instil confidence in them if we wish to maintain our culture.
It is also pivotal to mention here that in Fiji, writings in the newspapers are inclined towards one particular faith more than any other. If one analyses the writings in dailies, in the last three years no significant articles have been published on Hinduism continually. On the contrary, a certain faith writer seems to have the blessings of the media and his articles find its way in the mainstream media for publication each week.
This could imply a few key things. Firstly, is it that we do not have capable writers to discuss on Hinduism or South Indian culture? Secondly, is it that the local media places emphasis on one religious denomination even though Fiji is a secular state?
If the TISI is determined to maintain its vision and mission as highlighted earlier in the article then it needs to show its media presence and have constant interaction with its members. Having media presence is also a significant way of promoting multiculturalism in a pluralistic Fiji.
Language and cultural preservation was one of the key reasons for the TISI to be established. South Indian languages have existed in Fiji since the arrival of Girmitya, however; this is dying a slow death. The 2005 Annual Report (Clause 6.5) of TISI states, “Considerable difficulty is being experienced in this area (Language Development). Whilst our schools, especially primary schools, provide teaching of Tamil and Telegu in their school curriculum however, there has been a general apathy from our members towards teaching of these languages”. Further, the report attributes the difficulties encountered to the interest of parents and qualified educators.
“This lack of interest from parents and children alike have led some school management to downgrade the importance of teaching these languages in schools managed by them. There are very few qualified teachers employed to teach Tamil and Telegu. Those teachers employed are paid very low salary”. (79th Sangam Convention, 2005)
In 2005, it was revealed that in the 20 primary schools managed by TISI, out of the 4940 students, 1765 took Tamil classes and there were only 489 learning Telegu. The TISI needs to update its website to give recent statistics in order to analyse figures to show improvements or deterioration in language maintenance.
In the South Indian community in Fiji, there is a famous folk dance called “Ti-ri-ku-tu” which means stories from the religious books told through dance and song (Goundar, 2015). The art form is significant in Sangam temples during annual firewalking ceremonies, as well as in weddings and even funerals.
However, its essence of imparting knowledge from epics such as Mahabharata, Ramayana has evolved into a form of creating humour for entertainment purposes only. The present performers lack clear pronunciation, speech delivery and tend to concentrate more on Bollywood songs and satirical humour. Since the veterans who were masters in such art migrated to other countries, the folk dance is dying a slow death presently (Goundar, 2015).
Suggestions
So far the article has highlighted issues concerning the maintenance of the South Indian culture, language and heritage. Here are a few suggestions the TISI and Sangam members can take into consideration in order to facilitate cultural maintenance.
Firstly, there needs to be a delegation of specific tasks in the TISI, this could be to have the Then India Valibar Sangam (TIV Sangam) create more awareness of the languages. This could be made possible by involving and seeking assistance from the Indian High Commission to provide qualified Tamil and Telegu teachers to educate not only the students in primary school but also facilitate courses for the public.
If something is available for free then people value it less, therefore Sangam should design short courses in conversational Tamil/Telegu for a reasonable cost with certificates being awarded after the completion of the program. The short courses need to be non-examinable however, if it is developed further then it can be an examinable course with proper certification upon successful completion. The examinable courses can comprise of both language and cultural concepts. Again, TISI has members of high calibre who can volunteer their services in order to design a curriculum for the short courses.
There needs to be more encouragement to share the South Indian literature which can be made possible by working with the local media. Another suggestion would be to have competitions on the radio on poetry recitals that give the oral language a boost or provide an opportunity for individuals to share orature. Collaborative efforts need to be made between Sangam and the print media to increase writing of short stories particularly with an emphasis of recreating the history of South Indian families or mention the cultural knowledge imparted from their ancestors. Further, TISI should provide incentive to the winners of the competition and secure sponsors for this by involving the TIV Sangam as well as the Mathar Sangam executives.
In its 90 years of existence, the TIS) should also reflect on why issues of language maintenance is taking a considerable amount of time to be addressed as well as work on effective strategies to maintain our culture and heritage. The suggestions provided here could be a good start in its 91st year since establishment. Therefore, instead of upgrading its magnificent temple which is already a landmark, the Sangam executives can finally divert their goals towards preservation of its unique language and culture before it is lost at the hands of ignorance.
* Prashneel Goundar is a lecturer in language at the Fiji National University. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.
