ON May 5th, 1838, two ships– the Whitby and the Hesperus– arrived in British Guiana with 396 Indian indentured workers from Calcutta, India to fill a so-called large shortage following the abolition of slavery. The arrival of these workers was one segment of a larger movement to use Indians to replace the loss of slave labour in Mauritius, South Africa, and the Caribbean islands such as Trinidad, Suriname, and Jamaica. The indentured workers were recruited primarily from north and south India and were mainly from the low caste of Indian Hindu society. They spoke many languages including Hindi and Urdu. Women made up about 25 per cent of the workers.

The indentured workers signed labour contracts to escape the impact of colonialism and socio-economic oppression, to avoid natural disasters and civil unrest as well as to seek employment. Some were adventurous, looking for an alternative to village life. Many chose indenture on their own “free will” but an unknown number of them were duped and kidnapped into signing labour contracts by the wiles of recruiters to then British Guiana, known as Demra. After they were considered “fit and willing” to serve indenture by a medical doctor and a magistrate, they were taken to a depot, which was a world of its own, consisting of intended indentures from different caste, religion, language, and gender. From the depot, they were taken aboard the ships to be taken to British Guiana, a journey lasting about 90 days. Their sea voyage experience was dreadful: disease, death, rape, anxiety, and fear were common. The journey was like living in a floating prison and was a grim introduction to the plantation experience in British Guiana. Upon arrival in British Guiana, they were inspected and then distributed to various estates which ex-slaves had departed.

The indentured contracts stated that Indians were required to provide labour on a particular estate and subject to a host of arduous ordinances that trapped them in labour regimen for five years. In exchange, the plantocracy provided the indentured workers with fixed wages, basic housing, food, and marginal fringe benefits such as medical care. Upon completion of their five-year contract, they had the option to re-indenture, settle or return home. An estimated 239, 909 came to British Guiana while an estimated 75, 000 returned to India during the period of indentureship. An estimated 6,000 of them returned to British Guiana for the second time. The last ship, the Insurgent, left British Guiana in 1955 with 255 Indians.

To cope with plantation life, they relied on their own cultural resilience, especially ganw-ke-rishta (village relations), Dipwa-Bhai and Dipwa-Bahin (depot brothers and sisters) and Jahaja Bhai and Jahaja Bahin (ship brothers and sisters), which were associations of close social ties that cut across caste and religion. In so doing, they created a semblance of lost India through religious observances, festivals, and feasts and were able to maintain the main aspects of their religions, namely, Hinduism and Islam. Their caste system, however, broke down in the face of pressure from a Western-oriented plantation system that did not recognise caste principles. The door on this social structure of Indians in British Guiana is effectively closed. There have been no recognised attempts to revive or reconstruct a caste system in British Guiana. By the 1900s, the indenture system had become unpopular, mainly because of planter exploitation, continuous pressure and criticism in India, Britain, and the Caribbean that resulted in, first, the stoppage of any further influx of indentured workers in 1917 and then the abolition of the indenture system in 1920.

After indentureship, the settled Indians used their savings to buy vacant land and utilised their agricultural skills to cultivate sugarcane, rice and raise cattle. By the 1940s, Indians had made an indelible mark on the agriculture sector in British Guiana. From their agricultural base, they did not only expand their farming activities but also began to penetrate the economic and political spheres of British Guiana. Howbeit, they did not totally give up their ancestral customs, although they did make necessary adjustments to their new Westernised homeland. These once migrant workers turned settlers started to combine their old traditional ways with new ones amid population growth, equalisation of gender and the reliance on spiritualism (Hinduism and Islam) as a means of survival. This remarkable social transformation gave way to economic materialism in which the focus on material well-being in the lives of Indians inspired them to stake claims beyond their broad agricultural base.

By the Second World War, Indians had come to form the majority population in British Guiana They started to display qualities of dynamism and depth through land ownership, cultural persistence, cultural assimilation, and political participation, business engagement, access to education (medicine and law), and strong connections with India and the Caribbean. Indians are well integrated in Guyana amid ethnic tensions. Nevertheless, they have progressed remarkably well economically; it was primarily economic incentives that drove them to indenture themselves to British Guiana. Through hard work, thrifty habits, and investment, Indians have been able to dominate the agricultural and business sectors of British Guiana. Indians also have made significant strides in maintaining and developing their institutional culture, which sprung primarily from resistance to western norms and values. The loss of and lust for ancestral homeland as well as their deep desire for literacy and learning propelled them to reconstruct and re-create their customs whenever possible.

There is a general sense of cultural awareness, assertiveness, and pride based on Hinduism, Islam, Indian weddings, music, dance, festivals, and religious and cultural centres across Guyana. It would be myopic to think that all is well and dandy with Indians in Guyana. Sections of Indians communities are still poor, trapped in a cycle of poverty. Indian communities have been experiencing high rates of suicide, mass migration, domestic abuse, and wealth disparity. They rely on remittances from Indians in the North American and European diaspora. Moreover, it is no secret that Indians and Africans continue to be at odds with each other based on racial and ethnic tensions as well as the competition for political power. Despite these challenges, Indians have contributed significantly to the building of a better Guyana.