Malbars

Malbars
Total population
180,000
Regions with significant populations
Saint-André, Saint-Denis
Languages
French, Réunion Creole
Religion
Hinduism, syncretic religion, Indic religions, Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Indo-Réunionnais, Creoles, Indo-Mauritians, Girmitiyas, Tamils, Telugus, Biharis, Bhojpuris, Awadhis

Malbars or Malabars are an ethnic group of Indian origin (mainly from a Tamil background) in Réunion, a French island in the Southwest Indian Ocean, The Malbars constitute 25% of the population of Réunion and are estimated to be around 180,000.

There have been people of South Indian origin on the island since the 17th century, and those were mostly from Pondicherry. Most were originally brought in as indentured labourers in the second half of the 19th century and were mostly South Indian Tamils. Since then, the Malbars have developed some patterns of behaviour that are not quite those of their ancestors from Tamil Nadu nor those of the other inhabitants of Réunion.

Etymology

Malbars is derived from the word Malabar, a term which was used often by the French and other Westerners to refer to all Southern Indians, including the Tamils, Malayalees, Telugus and Kannadigas. This term is based on the Malabar region of the present state of Kerala in India. This term, applied by the French to Tamil labourers coming to Réunion, has been kept by the latter and others on the island to label their own identity.

History

Indian workers came to Réunion from Southern India, mostly from the current-day Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh (the first indentured workers who came to Réunion were Télingas), and to a lesser extent from the lower Gangetic Plains in Northern India (current-day Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar), the latter ones being known as the "Calcutta". These migrants where recruited and boarded through the French settlements of Pondicherry (Pondichéry), Karaikal (Karikal) and Yanam (Yanaon), but as well from the British ports of Madras and Calcutta. While most of these immigrants belonged to ritually lower castes, diversity across caste, ethnic, and religious lines also existed. Hard living conditions at home were the main reason behind their departure to La Réunion. The immigration of indentured workers from South India started in 1827 but it was only after 1848 that indentured immigration began on a big scale.

Proportion of adults with a name of Indian origin in Réunion in 1960

Acculturation

During the Kingdom era, the French government enforced the Christianization of the early Malbars, though for many, this conversion remained only nominally. Hindu traditions and rituals, particularly in the form of folk Hinduism, survived well and were historically observed by all Malbars, while undergoing syncretism with Catholicism and other spiritual traditions on the island. Freedom of worship and community gathering were granted by estate landowners, as was often stipulated in indentured contracts under a secular French Republic. Consequently, many temples, known locally as Chapelles malbars, were established within plantation areas and in cities. Nonetheless, local pressure to prohibit Malbar practices, often equated with witchcraft, persisted due to the enduring influence of the Church in Réunion.

Tamil and other Indian languages were lost to language shift. As with nearly all native inhabitants of Reunion Island, the mother tongue of the Malbars is Reunionese Creole.

Recent developments

The Malbars desire to learn their ancestors' culture, and started studying their language and religions especially from Tamil Nadu. Recently many Malbars, particularly those of upper and middle classes, have started to become completely Hindu rather than nominally Christian.

Genetics

A genetic study has shown that the majority of the Indian origins of Malbars lie in the South-east of India. A significantly larger proportion comes from Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. The study also showed that 15-20% of the origins of Malbars come from elsewhere than India. Less than 1% comes from Europe.

Notable Malbars

Tamil temples

A Hindu temple (temple tamoul) in the commune of Saint-André, Réunion.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Archived 2010-08-21 at the Wayback Machine (page 8)
  2. ↑ "Réunion" (PDF). The Indian Diaspora. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-21.
  3. ↑ de Garine, Valerie (2001). Drinking: anthropological approaches Volume 4 of Anthropology of food and nutrition. Berghahn Books. p. 225. ISBN 9781571818096. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  4. ↑ "The Indian Diaspora". indiandiaspora.nic.in. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  5. ↑ "Indentured immigration and social accommodation in La Reunion". berkeley.edu.
  6. 1 2 3 Marimoutou-Oberlé, Michèle (2008). "Les Indiens à La Réunion, une présence ancienne". Hommes & Migrations (in French). 1275 (1): 130–137. doi:10.3406/homig.2008.5122.
  7. 1 2 Ghasarian, Christian (1997). "We Have the Best Gods! The Encounter Between Hinduism and Christianity in La Réunion". African and Asian Studies. 32 (3): 286–295. doi:10.1163/156852197X00079.
  8. 1 2 3 Dupon, Jean-François (1967). "Les immigrants indiens de la Réunion. Evolution et assimilation d'une population". Les Cahiers d'Outre-Mer (in French). 20 (77). Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux: 49–88. doi:10.3406/caoum.1967.2432.
  9. ↑ Ghasarian, Christian. 1990. "Indianit La Réunion: gestion d'une double identit", Vibre au pluriel. Production sociale des identits l'le Maurice et l'le de La Réunion, J.L. Albert (ed.), Université de La Réunion/URA 1041 du CNRS.
  10. ↑ N. Nandhivarman (2009), "The Tamils of Réunion and their hybrid culture", New Indian Express, archived from the original on 2011-07-21, retrieved 2009-12-11: "Réunion is a typical example of outsourcing by the French East India Company, and its history reveals how an hybrid culture emanated amidst Tamil settlers there, who are Tamils but could not speak Tamil, their mother tongue lost in the interregnum of 5 generations of separation from their homeland ..."
  11. ↑ Medea, Laurent (2002). "Creolisation and Globalisation in a Neo-Colonial Context: the Case of Réunion". Social Identities. 8 (1): 125–141. doi:10.1080/13504630220132053. S2CID 145370724.
  12. 1 2 Dubut V, Murail P, Pech N, Thionville MD, Cartault F.; Murail; Pech; Thionville; Cartault (May 2009). "Inter- and extra-Indian admixture and genetic diversity in Réunion island revealed by analysis of mitochondrial DNA". Annals of Human Genetics. 73 (Pt 3): 314–34. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00519.x. PMID 19397558. S2CID 205598437.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)