Write a short notes on totaram
Answers
Totaram Sanadhya (1876–1947) 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. After completing his indenture he established himself as a small farmer and a Hindu priest but spent most of his time trying to assist the less fortunate still under the bondage of indenture. He sought the help of Indian freedom fighters and missionaries and encouraged the migration to Fiji of Indian teachers and lawyers who, he believed, could improve the plight of Indians in Fiji. After living in Fiji for twenty-one years, he returned to India, in 1914, and wrote about his experience in the book, "My Twenty-One Years in the Fiji Islands" (Hindi).One day he was recruited from the local market with the promise an easy job with good pay. He was told to lie to the magistrate who registered him as an indentured labourer. Although a Brahmin, Sanadhya was registered as a Thakur to increase his chances of being recruited. He was taken to a depot in Calcutta, where he changed his mind about going to Fiji but was locked up until he accepted his fate. Sanadhya, together with 500 others, arrived in Fiji on 28 May 1893 abroad the Jumna. At the quarantine station on Nukulau Island, he again protested about his treatment but was thrown into a boat and taken to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company’s Nausori Plantation. Life on the plantation was tough for Sanadhya, who found that due to the hard work that he was doing, the weekly ration he was supplied with was exhausted in only four days. For the other three days he had to go hungry or ask free Indians for food. In his writings, he has not been ashamed to admit that he resorted to faking ill-health to avoid a full task and use his power of persuasion to get extra rations. Although he suffered abuse from overseers like the other labourers, he was not afraid to fight back and on at least one occasion assaulted an overseer. This book was used as the main source of information in the campaign to end the Indian indenture system. Sanadhya was born in Hirangaon in the district of Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1876. In 1887, his father died and soon his father’s assets were taken over by unscrupulous money lenders. His elder brother left home to earn money to support his brothers and mother. The family lived in poverty and Sanadhya saw himself as a burden to his mother so in 1893 he left home to look for work.
Totaram was born in 1876 and was deceived into indentured labor and was sent to Fiji in 1893.
Though he was a labor but he was always fighting for his rights.
Post completion of his bondage he continued fighting for the rights of indentured laborers.
He promoted educated Indian to migrate to Fiji to aid into the struggle for betterment of the Indian people in Fiji.
He returned to India after 21 year and wrote a book about his life n Fiji titles, “My Twenty-One Years in the Fiji Islands”. This book served as an inspiration for ending the Indian Indenture System.