The Sikhs of Fiji (Journey from Punjab To Fiji)
The homeland of the Sikhs is the State of Punjab (India), Punjab is essentially an alluvial plain which rises on the North to the foothills of the outer Himalayas. The majority of the Sikhs in Fiji came directly from the rural and densely populated areas of the Punjab, especially from Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Ferozepur.
Whatever reasons may be given for the migration of the Sikhs from their homeland, it cannot be denied that most of them migrated because of some discontent at home. It was either poverty, indebtedness, insufficient land, or other hardships that led them to search for "greener" pastures. Fiji offered a natural outlet for these disatisfied elements of the Sikh Community. The news regarding Fiji and its labor needs reached Sikhs in the Punjab through their relatives who were either in the army or had already migrated to other lands.
The table below shows the number of people who came as indentured laborers from the Punjab during 1879 to 1900, however except for a few who came as indentured laborers, most Sikhs paid their passage to Fiji and were almost all from the congested rural districts of the Punjab.
Recruitment of indentured labor for Fiji did not take place in the Punjab, but some people who stated their home province as being Punjab were recruited from other parts of India and boarded ships to Fiji from Calcutta. Between 1879 and 1900, out of 21,368 migrants
from Calcutta only 369 were from Punjab.
The very first vessel bringing Sikhs from India to Fiji was named "Leonidas", which brought 3 migrants from home province of Punjab and arrived in Fiji on May 15th, 1879. Many more followed over the years as shown on this table above.
In 1904 the first free immigrants arrived in Fiji from the Punjab via Noumea. Someone in India who received a commission from a shipping company had induced them to immigrate to New Caledonia, assuring them that high wages were available there. When they found it to be untrue, they moved on to Fiji, where they were again disappointed at the level of wages.
After 1905 many more Sikhs came from Punjab when the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand began a regular three monthly service from Calcutta to Auckland, with a connecting service to Suva.
In the late 1920s free immigration from Punjab to Fiji became considerable, stimulated by the example of those who returned with good savings. Most of the immigrants were young male cultivators and herdsmen.
In Fiji the new Sikh immigrants were assisted either by their relatives already domiciled in the country or by other Suva based Sikhs who willingly billeted as many as they could at their homes until the new immigrants were able to make their own arrangements.
In 1922 the Gurudwara of Samabula came into being and provided one of the most felt needs of the new Sikh immigrants. Not only the Sikhs but any human being can have free accomodation and food at the Gurudwara. The Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee took responsibility for the new Sikh immigrants during their initial stages of arriving in Fiji.