Vers une Entite Mauricienne

I am perfectly aware of the gravity as well as the complexity of the problem I am about to discuss. And it is precisely because of this that I wish to make it clear, at the very outset, that I am here this afternoon not as an accredited representative of the Hindu community but as a mere student of the Mauritian affairs who is attempting to interpret and explain what the Hindu community thinks of Mauritius and its problems. The views I will be expressing in a short while are my own: I can assure you that I am convinced of their validity and their relevance to the burning problems of the day. If, however, my views happen to offend any section of the population or if they happen to hurt the feelings of any individual or group inside or outside this hall, I beseech you to condemn my humble self and not to heap the blame on my community.

Again, I would like to make it plain that I am prepared to call a spade a spade. In so doing I'll have to consider the various forces at work in our society objectively: I want to look at them from a distance, so to speak, and try to assess them as well as their actions and interactions. But if by so doing I happen to shock some people I'll ask them to believe that my primary motive is not to offend but to face the facts of the situation squarely and to deal with them to the best of my ability and with as much sincerity of purpose as I can command.

To follow the pattern set by the previous speakers, I have divided my speech into three distinct sections. First, the history of the Hindu community in Mauritius; secondly, what I think its conception of une entite mauricienne is and finally, what it can contribute towards the realisation of that entite mauricienne.

After the abolition of slavery in the early 1830s when the manumitted slaves refused to work on the sugar plantations of the early French settlers and when utter disaster stared Mauritius in the face, identured labour was imported from India. Out of 400,000 indentured Indian labourers who came to the Island over 200,000 stayed: they decided to adopt Mauritius as their home. The descendants of those indentured labourers generally constitute the Hindu community of today.

The history of my community is a harrowing tale of misfortune and suffering. The forbears of the Hindu community were in no way better off than the slaves they had come to supersede. They were called coolies and had to work for a mere pittance. They were les engages of their masters and in the absence of decent industrial laws, they were at the mercy of their employers. They were just like some human cogs in the vast industrial machine. In those days political rights were a far cry and they lead an almost sub-human life. They were hardly educated and their life was a monotonous drudgery. Their only friends and acquaintances were their hoe and sickle and the large fields under their feet and the blue Mauritian sky high above their heads.

When they came to Mauritius, the Island could hardly claim to be an industrial country. Our sugar industry practically did not exist but their arrival in Mauritius ushered in an era of tremendous agricultural development. I am sure that one will bear me a grudge if I aver that the Hindu community had contributed and is contributing to a very large extent to the prosperity of this Island. Only the other day no less a man than Mr. Fernand Leclezio reminded us that when the surra had destroyed all the cart-hoses, Indian coolies replaced them. I am not overstating the fact if I allow myself to say that for such a contribution to the economic welfare of the country as a whole those Indian coolies deserve our thanks, our gratitude, our respect and perhaps even our admiration.

Every dog is supposed to have his day and those Indian coolies too had theirs. With the spread of education coupled with the advent of democracy, they began asking themselves whether there would be no amelioration in their fate. In one way or another they agitated and gradually their grievances began to be taken into consideration. A Royal Commission came in 1872 and exposed the inhuman treatment meted out to the Indian labourers. But the Royal Commission could only state the facts and make recommendations. There was very little change in their situation.

In the early years of this country they again agitated but at that time they benefitted from the leadership and inspiration of Manilall Doctor. A second Royal Commission was appointed n 1909. Sweeping changes followed and their position was greatly improved. It was a turning point in their history.

Until then they had no political rights and our system of Government was indeed an iniquitous one. The small man whether he was Creole or Indian has no say whatsover in the management of public affairs. But a time came, it was 1926, when for the first time in the annals of Mauritius, two Hindus were elected under a very liberal constitution. Lest I forget, let me state that during the period 1920-48 a large number of Hindus became professionals and began making their influence and abilities felt in various spheres of activity. This is, in short, a brief but avowedly imperfect history of the Indian community of Mauritius from the early beginning up to the generation to which I belong.

The history of Mauritius can be summed up in a few words. The French came and took possession of the Island. They brought in a handful of Indian artisans to build the harbour and the first roads and imported slaves from Madagascar and Africa to work on the plantations. Later, as I have said just now, Indian immigrants came along. Finally, the Chinese came thus completing the mosaic of races which is Mauritian society.

The French who came here were cultured people. From very reliable authority I can aver that the French who came here belonged to the French aristocracy of those days. As proof, I can only point to the difference between the French which is spoken here and that which is spoken in certain part of Canada. The slaves of course had a primitive religion and culture. The Indians though they were illiterate and most of their religious beliefs were shrouded in malpractices, had a certain amount of culture. They had brought with them copies of the Gita and the Ramayana which gave them solace and soothed their soul whenever they found themselves as the mercy of economic circumstances. The descendants of the slaves, for reasons which I need not unravel, adopted Christianity as their religion and as Christianity is so closely connected with Western culture, the Creole community adopted Western culture.

So we have it. In our society which is composed of the descendants of slaves and immigrants and those of the French colonists and Chinese traders, four of the greatest religions of the world are represented. They are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. But it will be untrue to say that we have four different cultures in Mauritius. I think that generally there are two cultures or to be more precise, only two cultural tendencies in Mauritius: they are Eastern culture and Western culture.

Now, what is the relation between the two cultures? How do Mauritian Westerners look at Mauritius Easterners? Or vice versa? I regret to have to say that in Mauritius we tend to think that one culture is inferior to another. We tend to believe in the supremacy of culture and religion; we are still thinking that cultures and religions are material units which have dimensions and which can be compared or haggled about as auctioneers do in their trade. And it is a pity indeed for me to have to say that here everything Indian seems to be inferior in the eyes of many who believe in Western culture. The impression that I have got out of actual experience is that Mauritian Westerners generally believe that anything coming from the West is perfect and that the East has nothing to offer.

But I do not blame those Mauritian Westerners who thing on such lines. I understand them; I feel sorry for them. I understand them because the attitude now prevalent among them was at a great premium in Europe a few decades ago. There was a time when Europeans thought that they had the monopoly of intelligence and power and that the East was and would eternally remain a hanger-on to the West. The Europeans obviously were devoid of any sense of history. But the great cataclysms touched off by the second world war exposed in a very glaring manner their shortsightedness and narrowness of mind. They were brought to accept the inevitable fact that apart from human goodness there is nothing lasting in this world. They realised that empires and monopolies are not eternal.

I wish to see a similar awakening among Mauritian Westerners. I want them to understand that they cannot afford to write off Indian culture and Eastern values as insignificant. I ask them to draw as much as possible from those values. I desperately ask them to realise this, at least for one thing. How can I like Western culture if I am constantly reminded by the protagonists of Western culture that my culture is insignificant and that I am an inferior human being? To my friends who belong to the Western way of life I say: the Hindu community is prepared to stretch out its hand in friendship to the other communities of the Island but it will do so only on terms of equality.

I would like to assure all my friends who belong to the other communities of the Island that we do not want to swamp them or to obliterate their culture and religion. My community belongs to that only nation which since time immemorial has given shelter to all religions and peoples. My religious background is permeated with a deep sense of respect and tolerance for all systems of thought. I do not believe in supremacy in any field of human activity. I believe that humanity is one and if you happen to be a Christian and I a Hindu, it's simply due basically to geographical divisions. After all, are we not all, whether Hindu or Christian, striving for the same end, i.e. perfection? Why then should we compel all the pilgrims to the city of God to follow the same path? I am convinced that in our vertical march towards a better humanity we must avoid traffic congestions!

There was a time, ladies and gentlemen, when humanity was broken up into tiny fragments, when the nations of the world were cut off from each other by mountains and oceans. But today the world is much smaller. We have been brought much closer together. We are making for one world in which there will be no Indian or European culture but a world culture, a human culture. Why then should we, in this small Island which is but a dot on the map, fight each other over trivial things? Can't we here work for a synthesis between Western and Eastern culture? In Mauritius we have the privilege of drawing from all the great cultures of the world. And you know only too well that a culture which opens its doors to new ideals becomes richer.

I am a Hindu and I want to remain Hindu. I try to live according to the ideals of Eastern culture. But I am no enemy of Western culture. I am alive to the beauties of the Vedas and the Upanishads but I cannot ignore the sublime message of love and brotherhood of Christ. Will I be less Hindu if I admire and respect Christianity? Will my other friends be less Christian if they admire and respect Hinduism? My conception of une entite mauricienne is therefore this: I visualize a Mauritian society where all religions, all languages and all cultures will flourish side by side, where there will be mutual respect and understanding and where there will be no room for supremacy. I want a society where instead of accentuating our points of difference, we shall explore what we have in common. I want a society where there will be a free flow of ideas and ideals. May I add that our salvation lies not in the obliteration of Indian culture or Western culture but in a fusion of them both?

Personally, I think that my community can contribute much towards the realisation of a Mauritian entity.For the moment I cannot pinpoint in what particular fields it is going to make its greatest contribution but I should like to state that it is still in the throes of evolution and in time to come it is going  to prove its worth in all fields of Mauritian life. Hindus have no desire to dominate any other community. They do not want any special treatment but they want to learn from others and share the joys and sorrows of the country as a whole. They consider Mauritius as their home and they think they have got as much right as anybody else and they expect their feelings to be reciprocated.

Before resuming my seat I have two observations to make.

First, I wish to point out that I have deliberately confined myself to the cultural and social aspects of the problem we are discussing this afternoon. I have avoided politics for obvious reasons. I have done so because I am certain that if really want to meet on common ground we should seek to avoid issues which are more likely to divide than to unite us. But I am convince that a time will come when we shall be able to thrash out all our problems without fear of disintegrating our society. We have only to pave the way for such a situation.

Secondly, I would not like to create the impression that on this platform I am like the philosopher of the jungle. Perhaps, I should tell you something about the philosopher of the jungle. Once upon a time there was a centipede which was suffering from gout; it painfully walked miles to consult the philosopher of the jungle, that is the monkey. Having considered the complaints of the centipede, the philosopher offered this solution: "if you become a mouse and have only four legs, you will be twenty-five times better off". The centipede then replied: "That's a wonderful idea. How do I get to be a mouse?" The monkey shook his head and said: "I can't tell you that. I only make policy".

So, ladies and gentlemen, I have not come here merely to tell you that I want to find such and such society in Mauritius without at least attempting to suggest how I think we can bring about une entite mauricienne. Therefore I suggest five points.

• We must realise that all communities have equal rights in Mauritius.
• We must concede that no culture is inferior to the other and no religion is undeserving of respect. We may not like a particular religion but we must respect it. Mark my words, I say: we must respect it.
• We must not allow politics to degenerate into communal strife and what is more important still, we must prevent politics from dominating our conception of this or that community or its culture and ideals.
• We should try to learn each other's culture, religion and language. As long as we remain apart suspiciously looking at each other from a distance, une entite mauricienne will remain an empty expression.
• The leaders of all communities, the priests, the press as well as the radio should muster their energies to bring home all Mauritians that we can and must achieve unity in diversity.

As a last word, ladies and gentlemen. I reiterate my conviction that Mauritius is not and should not be the preserve of any community. The traditions and values of France, Great Britain, Pakistan, China and India have got the right to live here. If we live wisely we'll lead a really rich life. Whether it was by a mere freak of history or a conspiracy of fate that we, people of different cultures and traditions, have been cast together on this small Island I do not know. But I am sure that we have to live side by side. We have to evolve the kind of society Prof. Radhakrishnan contemplates when he asks: "May we not strive for a philosophy which will combine the best of European humanism and Asiatic religion, a philosophy profounder and more living than either and endowed with greater spiritual and ethical force, which will conquer the hearts of men and compel peoples to acknowledge its sway?"

If we fail in this we will prove our unworthiness of being called an educated people.

Speech at a public forum at the Salles de Fetes, Town Hall of Rose Hill, 5th May 1958.

Copyright Succession Keharsingh Jagatsingh.