ABSTRACT

In spite of extensive literature on indentured history (Mishra, 2012), the subject has scarcely been investigated from a psychological perspective. One originating from the psychologically traumatic effects of the departure from one’s loved ones, wider community and  country, to the conditions on board, the anxiety about entering an unfamiliar culture and environment, all overseen and condoned by British colonialism. Such experiences impinged not just on the Indian immigrants’ psyche, but upon the formation of a collective psyche borne out of a shared history to the formation of a new identity while retaining an awareness of the cultural heritage. From this unique intermingling of factors emerged a unique society in the nineteenth century, formed under traumatic and psychic pressures.