Arya Samaj (Fiji)
Encyclopedia
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 10 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya...
was the first religious, cultural and educational Fiji Indian organisation established in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. From its inception, in 1904, it attracted the young, educated and progressive Hindus into its fold. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, it was the sole voice of the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n community in Fiji, and as Fiji Indians won political rights, it was not surprising that first Indian members of the Legislative Council
Legislative Council (Fiji)
The Fijian Legislative Council was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.-The first Legislative Council:...
were all Arya Samajis. The influence of Arya Samaj over the Indians in Fiji gradually waned as other organisations representing Indians were established but it remained the dominant force in politics until 1959. The modern day Arya Samaj in Fiji still speaks out on issues affecting its members and its activities are visible through the numerous educational institutions that it manages.
History of Arya Samaj in Fiji
As far back as 1893, learning centres had been established by small groups of people who had organised themselves into Samajs. With the arrival of Shiu Datt Sharma from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, in 1902, a temple was established in Samabula, near Suva, which also acted as a school attended by about 60 boys and girls.
A person who had a profound influence on the establishment of Arya Samaj in Fiji was a 22-year-old man from Punjab, Behari Lal, who while on his way to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
via Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, stopped over in Fiji. He found employment at the Navua Sugar Mill, but visited Suva regularly where people interesed in the teachings of Swami Dayanand Saraswati
Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was an important Hindu religious scholar, reformer, and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya – "India for Indians" – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak...
gathered at the residence of Mangal Singh. Lal had a copy of the Satyarth Prakash
Satyarth Prakash
The Satyarth Prakash is a 1875 book written by Swami Dayanand, the founder of Arya Samaj, and is considered its central text.-Overview:...
in the Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
language from which he read read and explained portions to the congregation every Sunday.
It was this small group of Fiji Indians who included Mangal Singh, Gaji Pratap Singh, Nanku Sonar, Bihari Lal, Shiu Datt Sharma, Basdeo Rai, Inayat Hussein, Indra Narayan and Tikaram Verma, who met in Samabula on 25 December 1904 to form the Arya Samaj of Fiji. This was due to their desire to maintain their heritage and provide a platform for lifting their living standard and the insipiration they received from the teaching of Swami Dayanand Saraswati
Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was an important Hindu religious scholar, reformer, and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya – "India for Indians" – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak...
, the founder of Arya Samaj.
Early activities of Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj’s work in Fiji received a boost with the arrival of Arya Samaj Missionary from India, Swami Ram Manoharanand Saraswati , who arrived in Fiji from Burma in 1913. Totaram SanadhyaTotaram Sanadhya
Totaram Sanadhya was deceitfully recruited as an indentured labourer from India and brought to Fiji in 1893. He spent five years working as a bonded labourer but was never afraid to fight for his rights...
, although himself a Sanatani
Sanatani
Sanātani is a term used within Hinduism to describe denominations that adhere to what is sometimes known as Orthodox Hinduism...
, has written about the early contribution of Arya Samaj to providing education and religious education in Fiji and asked for them to send more educators to Fiji.
An Arya Samaji gentleman by the name of Ram Manoharanand Sarasvati went and he preached there, therefore these words of thanks. There is a very great need for this sort of religious instructor there, who knows Vedic principles and knows English as well.... We know that Arya Samaj is doing a lot of work, but aren't these givers of aid to the world, the Arya Samaj, able to send one more religious instructor to Fiji, for the benefit of our foreign-dwelling brothers?
The Arya Samaj appealed to those who wanted to build a revitalised Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
in Fiji suitable to the local conditions. Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj was an Indo-Fijian farmer, politician, and philanthropist. He was the first Indian member of the Legislative Council serving for two periods between 1916 to 1923 and 1926 to 1929 as a nominated member but he was not a popular choice for Fiji Indians, who preferred the lawyer, Manilal...
, who built the first school for Indians in Fiji in 1898 was an Arya Samaji and so was the first Indian Lawyer to arrive in Fiji, Manilal Doctor
Manilal Doctor
Manilal Maganlal Doctor was an Indian-born, London educated lawyer and politician, who travelled to numerous countries of the British Empire, including Fiji, Mauritius and Aden, providing legal assistance to the local ethnic Indian population...
, who had been involved in Arya Samaj in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and believed that Arya Samaj was the best sect for the individualized Indians in Fiji. The first school was built by Arya Samaj in Fiji was the Gurukul Primary School
Gurkul Primary School (Fiji)
Gurkul Primary School was the first substantive school for Fiji Indians established in Fiji in 1918. Its establishment, coincided with the formation of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji, the Arya Samaj organisation that manages the school...
in Saweni, Lautoka
Lautoka
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji and the second largest in the South Pacific. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar...
in 1918.
Educational and Religious Activities
Following the establishment of this school a great renaissance took place amongst Indo-Fijians to educate their children. This was supported by the arrival from India of a number of teachers, some of whom were Ami ChandraAmi Chandra
Pandit Ami Chandra Vidyalankar came to Fiji, from India in 1927 at the behest of the Arya Samaj, which wanted to improve the education standard of Fiji Indian students and promote Arya Samaj in Fiji. He led a busy life in Fiji, being an educationist, Arya Samaj preacher, labour leader, football...
, Kundan Singh Kush
Kundan Singh Kush
Thakur Kundan Pal Singh Kush was an Arya Samaj missionary and teacher who arrived in Fiji, from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1928. He first taught at the Dharamshala School in Nausori where he later became the founding Head Teacher of Vunimono Arya School in 1929...
and Kunwar Bachint Singh
K. B. Singh
Kunwar Bachint Singh OBE arrived in Fiji in 1927 as a teacher for the Arya Samaj but his association with Vishnu Deo led him to play an active role in aggressively promoting the Arya Samaj and finally into politics...
. Between 1926 and 1929 more than 100 Indo-Fijian boys and girls were sent to India to study at various Arya Samaj institutions. In the early thirties, Arya Samaj was the best organised of any Indo-Fijian organisation. It also had as its leader, Vishnu Deo
Vishnu Deo
Pandit Vishnu Deo OBE was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Fiji Indians. From 1929, when he was first elected to the Legislative Council, until his retirement in 1959, he remained the most powerful Fiji Indian political leader in Fiji...
and the only Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
language newspaper in Fiji, Fiji Samachar
Fiji Samachar
Fiji Samachar was a Hindi language newspaper published in Fiji from 1924 to 1974. It was published in Suva by the Indian Printing and Publishing Company and its first editor was Babu Ram Singh. It started as a bi-lingual Hindi and English Monthly newspaper but from 1935 became a weekly Hindi...
. The Arya Samaj aggressively promoted its teaching and openly attempted to gain converts from Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. Arya Samaj activities in Fiji reached a peak with the arrival of another missionary, Shri Krishna Sharma
Shri Krishna Sharma
Pandit Shri Krishna Sharma was an Arya Samaj preacher who came to Fiji in 1926 from Rajkot, India. He was a gifted public speaker and singer of religious songs. He provided impetus to the Arya Samaj movement in Fiji. Under his influence Arya Samaj schools and temples were established in Fiji...
from India. Conflict soon developed with Indian Christian
Christianity in India
Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to...
s, Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
s, South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
ns and even Sanatanis who had initially supported the Arya Samaj through Hindu Sangsthans. There were debates on religious issues, but when Vishnu Deo was convicted and fined for an article in the Fiji Samachar, things quietened down.
Educational and Political Leadership in Fiji
The Arya Samaj, henceforth, concentrated on its educational activities and built numerous educational institutions. Arya Samajis continued to provide leadership to the Indo-Fijians and until the 1960s most Indo-Fijian leaders were either Arya Samajis or those with close links to the Arya Samaj in Fiji. Some who served on the Legislative CouncilLegislative Council (Fiji)
The Fijian Legislative Council was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.-The first Legislative Council:...
were Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj was an Indo-Fijian farmer, politician, and philanthropist. He was the first Indian member of the Legislative Council serving for two periods between 1916 to 1923 and 1926 to 1929 as a nominated member but he was not a popular choice for Fiji Indians, who preferred the lawyer, Manilal...
, Vishnu Deo
Vishnu Deo
Pandit Vishnu Deo OBE was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Fiji Indians. From 1929, when he was first elected to the Legislative Council, until his retirement in 1959, he remained the most powerful Fiji Indian political leader in Fiji...
, Parmanand Singh
Parmanand Singh
Parmanand Singh was one of the three Fiji Indians elected to the Legislative Council of Fiji in October 1929 when Indians in Fiji were given the first opportunity to elect their own representatives. The other two were Vishnu Deo and James Ramchandar Rao...
, Chattur Singh
Chattur Singh
Chandersen Chattur Singh caused a major sensation in early Fiji Indian politics, when against all odds he defeated A.D. Patel, a well known lawyer and political ally of Vishnu Deo, in the 1937 Legislative Council Election.- Early Political Activities :...
, Ayodhya Prasad
Ayodhya Prasad
Ayodhya Prasad Sharma was an Indo-Fijian farmers’ leader and politician, who formed the most successful farmers’ union in Fiji and forced the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to make concessions to farmers after 60 years of complete control over Fiji’s economy...
, Ami Chandra
Ami Chandra
Pandit Ami Chandra Vidyalankar came to Fiji, from India in 1927 at the behest of the Arya Samaj, which wanted to improve the education standard of Fiji Indian students and promote Arya Samaj in Fiji. He led a busy life in Fiji, being an educationist, Arya Samaj preacher, labour leader, football...
, K.B. Singh and Vijay R. Singh
Vijay R. Singh
Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh, KBE was an Indo-Fijian lawyer and politician who held Cabinet office in the 1960s and 1970s. Vijay Singh served in Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's government in a variety of positions, including Attorney-General, and was President of the Indian Alliance, a...
. Some Arya Samaji members of Parliament since independence have been Vijay R. Singh, Kamlesh Kumar Arya
Kamlesh Kumar Arya
Kamlesh Kumar Arya is the president of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji, which is a national organization uniting all the Arya Samajs in Fiji. Initially, he chose teaching as a career and was active within the Fiji Teachers Union...
, Surendra Prasad, Anand Singh
Anand Singh
Anand Kumar Singh is a Fijian lawyer and politician of Indian descent. He was born on 8 August 1948 in Bombay, when his family had temporarily moved to India. The family returned from India in 1951 to live at the birthplace of his father, Parmanand Singh, in Yalalevu, Ba...
and Davendra Singh
Davendra Singh
Davendra Singh was a Fiji Indian small businessman and politician who came into prominence when he challenged and defeated the official National Federation Party candidate in a by-election in March 1985....
.
Arya Samaj of Fiji spreads Overseas
As Indo-Fijians have migrated overseas, they have taken their religion and culture with them Consequently, Arya Samajs have been established in a number of countries by former Indo-Fijians. The following are links to the Web Sites of some of these:- Auckland Arya Samaj
- Arya Samaj of Australia
- Victoria Arya Samaj (Australia)
- Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji