ABSTRACT
The Republic of Fiji in the western South Pacific consists of approximately 320 islands, one-third of which are inhabited. About 350,000 descendants of indentured immigrants who arrived from India mostly between 1879 and 1919 now make up 46 percent of the population. About two-thirds of the immigrants arrived through Calcutta, coming primarily from the Gangetic plain; others, mostly Tamil- and Telugu-speakers, departed from Madras; a few were Gujarati merchants and Sikhs. About 11 percent of the present-day community are Muslims, and some are Christians, but most are Hindus. Fiji Hindi, a cluster of linguistic varieties most closely related to Bhojpuri (of eastern Uttar Pradesh), is the most widely spoken and sung language in the community.
