ABSTRACT
Contextual Background Approximately 147,592 East Indian indentured labourers were brought to Trinidad from 1845 to 1917. More than 80 per cent of the immigrants were Hindus while the remainder were Muslims and other ethnic groups.1 For Hindus and Muslims, the Ramayana and the Koran (‘the infallible word of Allah [God] were the main source of inspiration across the Atlantic journey – the Kala Pani or ‘dark waters’. In the jahaji ships from Calcutta to the Caribbean, they sang Hanuman Chalisa (devotion song to Lord Hanuman) and recited verses believed to have been revealed by Prophet Muhammad.2 Many of them brought their sacred texts. e religious ambience which
2 Between 1845 and 1892, 93,569 labourers came, channelled through two main Indian ports, Calcutta in the north and Madras in the south. However, the great majority came from Calcutta and aer 1872 there were no more arrivals from Madras (Brereton, 2005). Jahaji is the term meaning ‘ship traveller’.
