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CONTENTS
OF THIS SECTION
05/08/09
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Fijian version of Thirukural
Released 24 February 2009
"Former Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi says he
remains hopeful people can reach out and build bridges
despite these difficult political times. At the launch
of the book the Tirikural a Fijian version of
ancient Tamil book Ratu Joni said the publication of
the book at this time is a mark of faith and confidence
in the people of Fiji. In sharing his sentiments about
the need for cultural integration, Ratu Joni said there
is a reluctance amongst the Fijian Community to read
anything of another religion given their Christian
sensibilities, but the Thirukkurali is being made
available in Fijian not for religious reasons, but
because it has useful ideas about living our daily
lives. The translation was inspired by YP Reddy and the
late NK Naidu. It was put together by Kanti Jinna and
Dr. Paul Geraghty who retraced an old translation of
the book by late Sam Berwick |
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| Murugan Worship in Fiji,
Dr.Ponnu S. Gounder "..Indians were brought
to Fiji by the British to work on sugarcane
plantations. The first batch of Indians from North
India arrived on the ship Leonidas in 1879. The first
batch of three Indians from South India arrived on ship
Elba in 1903. With the arrival of South Indians, Lord
Murukan too arrived to the shores of Fiji Islands. The
distance between India and Fiji is about 15,000 km as
the crow files. But our forefathers left India not
knowing where Fiji was. It took the ships some three to
six months to sail to Fiji, passing Indonesia, Papua
New Guinea and Australia. Those days ship sailing was
left to the mercy of the winds, for there were no steam
powered ships. One such sailing boat was wrecked on a
reef in the night, and all the Indian labourers met
with their end no one to cry for them..." |
| South Indians in
Fiji |
Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple,
Fiji "School children officially had the day
off-and everyone else seemed to take it anyway-as most
of the Hindus of Nadi and the surrounding towns
gathered at the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami temple on
Friday, July 15th 1994 to witness the Maha
Kumbhabhishekam of their new national temple. The high
point came at 8:30am as a helicopter first slowly
circled the temple, then showered flowers upon the
temple, priests and devotees while the sacred water was
poured over the very top of the three-story main
sanctum by chief guest Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
and temple priest Sadasivan Gurukkal. A few minutes
later the exquisite life-size deity of Lord Muruga
(Kartikkeya) as a sannyasin monk (Dandayutapaniswami,
as enshrined at Palani Hills temple in Tamil Nadu) was
brought to life with more sanctified water. Shouts of
"Haro Hara" and "Vel Vel, Shakti Vel" rose from the
assembled devotees. The entire event was broadcast live
on all-Fiji radio.
This US$1.2 million temple, Fiji's largest, represents
a decided resurgence of Hinduism in Fiji, and a
regaining of confidence in the island's future by the
Hindus. That confidence was shaken by the coups of a
few years ago, the imposition of a constitution
guaranteeing Fijian dominance in the political system,
arson attacks against five Hindu temples and the
beating of a priest. Native Fijians (who are
Christians) and the ethnic Indians are approximately
equal in population at 350,000 each.
Five priests and a nagasvaram troupe were flown from
India. Jayalukshimy Kandiah's Natanalaya dance troupe
of eight were brought from Australia. The head priest
of the dedication, 72-year-old Sivachariya Thiyagaraj
of Tirukalikundram [see sidebar], told Hinduism Today
that this was his 1,118th kumbhabhishekam! It is an
indication of the worldwide enlivening of Hinduism that
this last year has been his busiest, with a total of 60
temple dedications in India, Malaysia, Fiji and other
countries.
The original Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple of Nadi
was founded by Ramaswami Pillai in 1913 on land leased
from the native Fijians. That lease expired recently,
and it was decided to move the temple to a more secure
location at the other end of town on leased government
land. After 20 years of on-again, off-again efforts,
ground was broken on September 12th, 1991.
The renowned architect, V. Ganapati Sthapati of Madras,
India, was commissioned to create the largest Hindu
temple not only in Fiji, but in the southern
hemisphere. It is also the largest between India and
Texas. Ganapati has designed many temples in the USA,
Canada, England, Australia and India. In 1992 he sent
Sri Palaniswami to be resident architect and to
supervise seven Indian silpis (traditional temple
craftsmen) and one painter working on the concrete and
mortar building. The temple follows all of the
traditional agamic scriptures of South India, one of a
handful of orthodox temples outside of India to do
so.
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Tamils - a
Nation without a State
Fiji - பிஜி
From Ethnologue Report for Fiji -
Republic of Fiji. National or official languages:
Fijian, Fijian Hindustani, English. 796,000 (1998
UN), including 46.2% ethnic Fijian, 48.6% Indian,
5.2% Chinese and European. 325 islands, 100
inhabited. Land area 7,000 square miles. Literacy
rate 80% to 90%. Also includes Gujarati, Malayalam,
Eastern Panjabi, Pitcairn-Norfolk, Samoan 300,
Tamil, Telugu, Tongan 300, Tuvaluan 357, Urdu,
Wallisian, Chinese 5,500. Information mainly from
A.J. Schütz 1972; S. Wurm and S. Hattori 1981;
P. Geraghty 1983. Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh.
Blind population 392. Deaf population 46,321. Data
accuracy estimate: B. The number of languages
listed for Fiji is 10. Of those, all are living
languages. Diversity index 0.60.
[see also
Language Planning And Policy
in the Pacific: Fiji, the Philippines, and
Vanuatu (Language Planning and Policy)
(Hardcover) by Richard B.
Baldauf (Editor),
Robert B. Kaplan (Editor)]
From: R.Sri Hari (@
modem55.bayrac3.eureka.lk) on: Tue Mar 9 08:05:55
EST 2004 in Forum Hub
Discussion List
Dear Readers,
Mr Avinesh G. Mudaliar has opened a 'thread'
titled "South Indians in Fiji" in this same Forum
Hub - which provides some useful informations on
the Tamils in Fiji.
I am re-producing same under this thread where it
is more appropriate, for the interest of others
who wish to know of same.
South Indians in Fiji
Topic started by Avinesh G. Mudaliar (@
adsl-63-207-103-102.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net) on
Tue Jun 4 00:08:20 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
Namaste/Vanakum
I'm the present generation of South Indian in
Fiji who does not know the full entirety of the
my own native language that is Tamil let alone
sometimes get very confused as to whether we are
Indians or some sort of race that was lost and
brought to Fiji by mistake..infact if any Hindi
speakers here we are labeled as "Ravan ki Logh"
or sometimes called as "Madrasi's" but we have
the following people with Last/Surname. Here are
the list.
Pillai, Mudaliar , Padayachi , Naicker , Gounder
, Achari , Sami, Reddy, Naidu
The present generation does not want to equate
with any South Indian culture thus Fiji Baht/Fiji
Talk with Hindi as a base is widely used for
daily conversation. The only representation of us
been South Indian is our surnames. We are all
referred in Fiji as Hamara sab kuch Hindustani ki
Logh.. What is this suppose to be when we don't
even look anyway close to Uttar Logh. Can someone
please explain to us, so that we can know where
we stand as far as a race and the people of
origin. Our forefathers had taken this long and
treacherous journey without realising that Fiji
is way out in South Pacific, and yet South
Indians are only known by names in this island
nation. Please can anyone gave us some feedback
about our lost touch from our roots. It will be a
great asset from fellow South Indians in this
board who can give us something to hang on
to.
From: (@
adsl-63-202-187-196.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net) on:
Tue Aug 20 14:01:01
Namaste/Vanakum
...Though our links to South Indian origin are
still intact in our surnames, but .. Tamil,
Telegu, Malayalam languages are dead and there is
no hope of revival in the island nation of Fiji
at least to best of my knowledge. I don't think
this has nothing do with ignorance, but just
plain survival strategies in this impoverished
island nation.
FYI..Vanua Levu (Big Island) has a good
composition of South Indians around a town call
Labasa pronounced as Lambasa, and Viti Levu(Fiji
Island) where all the hustles and bustles takes
place particularly on the western side of this
island you will see the infamous South Indian
mandir/temple outside of Nadi.
Nadi in Veti Levu pronounced as Nandi where the
airport sits as well Lautoka, Raki Raki and
Sigatoka and Suva the island capital has a
sizeable South Indian population who had
intermarried with North Indians and come to
realities and conclusions that is simply the way
of life in Fiji. ...
From: Poopathi Manickam
<[email protected]>, 27 May 2000
in mailing list [email protected]
What Thiru Poopathi says is cent percent true.
Tamils in Fiji are in name only, they have
almost completly lost their identity. Tamil Nadu
govt. should also take responsibility for that
pathetic status.
Ethnologue site says only 6,000 out of a
possible 100,000 (1/5 of the total Indian
population ?) declared Tamil as their mother
tongue, the rest might even speak Tamil but did
not want to acknowledge it.
The problems in Fiji is all because of non
resident Gujaratis and Marwaris who completely
dominate the economic scene using the Indians who
went there to work as "coolies" as cover. Those
Indians who are born and bred there are actually
poor working class people and get along well with
the natives.
For some reason many people of Tamil decent have
Goundar or Goundan as a last name in Fiji. I was
not aware that the Goundars ever migrated during
the British period because after all they
were/are a land owning class ?
It is intriguing. May be it is like most Lankan
Tamils claiming Vellala origin because after all
there is no one to question this assumed "higher"
identity in Lanka. I would like to confess that
in Lanka many Vadukar, that is Naidus from Tamil
Nadu also have assumed Vellala identity along
with many Malayalee castes. So the Vellala
identity was a free for all, anyone could assume
it as long as they had the power (including
Goonda power) and the money to shut the nosy
neighbours mouth:-)
Also Vaduge, Manawadu and Kurrupu are also common
Sinhala names showing that Telugus and Malaylees
also assimilated as Sinhalas.
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