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Hinduism in Fiji has a following primarily among the Indo-Fijians, who are descendants of indentured workers brought to Fiji by the British, as cheap labor for colonial sugarcane plantations.〔Susanna Trnka (2008), State of Suffering: Political Violence and Community Survival in Fiji, Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0801474989, pp. 7〕 Hindus, along with Indian Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, started arriving in Fiji starting with 1879 through 1920 when slavery-like indenture system was abolished by Britain. Some Indo-Fijians came to the island nation in the 1920s and 1930s. Fiji identifies people as Indo-Fijians if they can trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent, but not necessarily India. Most of the Hindus in Fiji, however, are of Indian descent. According to 1976 Census of Fiji, 40% of its population professed to be Hindus.〔 From late 1980s through early 2000s, Fiji witnessed several coups and communal unrests, where Hindus faced persecution in Fiji. Many Hindus of Fiji emigrated to other countries.〔〔 A 2004 estimate suggests about 261,000 Fijians were Hindus (33% of its 775,000 population). The Hindu community in Fiji has built many temples, schools and community centers over time. Diwali is their primary festival of the year.〔 ==History== Fiji became part of the British colonial empire in 1874.〔John Kelly (1992), A Politics of Virtue: Hinduism, Sexuality, and Countercolonial Discourse in Fiji, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226430300, pp. 1-39〕 Few years later, in 1879, the British government brought the first Indians on coolie ships, as indentured laborers to work in the sugarcane plantations of Fiji owned by British colonial officials.〔James Lochtefeld, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, ISBN 0-8239-2287-1, pp. 228〕〔 By 1919, about 60,000 Indians had been brought to Fiji, with job advertisements and work contracts that promised Indians right to return or right to stay, own land and live freely in Fiji after the 5 year work contract period was over. These contracts were called ''grimit'' (phonetically derived from the English word "agreement").〔 Nearly 85% of Indian origin people brought to Fiji as indentured laborers were Hindus (others were Indian Muslims, Indian Christians and Indian Sikhs). The indentured laborers were poor, escaping famines and poverty during the British colonial rule of India, and brought to Fiji as part of a wave that saw human migration as cheap labor from India, China and southeast Asian countries to plantations and mining operations in the Pacific Islands, Africa, Caribbean and South American nations.〔Cumpston, I. M. (1956), A survey of Indian immigration to British tropical colonies to 1910, Population Studies, 10(2), pp. 158-165〕 About a fourth of the immigrants came from South India primarily Tamil Nadu, while the remaining 75% are from northern states primarily Uttar Pradesh, but also from Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and Punjab - each group bringing their own version of Hinduism.〔〔 Many indentured Hindu laborers in Fiji preferred to return to India after their indentured labor contract was over. Estimates suggest 40% had returned by 1940, with higher return rates in early years.〔Grieco, Elizabeth (1998), The effects of migration on the establishment of networks: Caste disintegration and reformation among the Indians of Fiji, International Migration Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 704-736〕 In 1920, after non-violent civil protests led by Gandhi against indenture system in British colonies around the world, Britain abolished the system.〔 This stopped the inflow of new Indian labor into Fiji plantations, while Indians continued to leave Fiji plantations. The departure of productive, low cost Indian labor became a serious labor shortage problem for the British plantations.〔〔 In 1929, the British colonial government granted Indo-Fijian Hindus electoral and some civil rights, in most part to stabilize exports and profits from its Fijian sugar plantations and to prevent Indian laborers from leaving from the labor-intensive plantations. But the electoral rights granted were limited, not proportional but racial quota based, and the government segregated Indo-Fijians in a manner similar to South Africa, that is on communal and racial basis from Europeans and native Fijians.〔〔 This system was resisted by the Hindus, and in an act of peaceful protest, Hindus refused to accept the segregated council. However, within years, the Hindu community split along the lines of majority Sanatan Dharma group and a minority Arya Samaj group, a situation that delayed further development of Indo-Fijian political rights.〔 A colleague of Gandhi, A. D. Patel led independence initiative in Fiji, demanding civil rights for all Fijians.〔 However, the political segregation and unequal human rights for Hindus (and other Indo-Fijians) was retained in Fiji's first Constitution as the British empire granted independence to its colony Fiji in 1970.〔〔 According to 1976 Census of Fiji, 295,000 people (or 50 percent of Fiji's population) were of Indo-Fijian origins, of which 80% were Hindus. In other words, 40 percent of Fiji's population were Hindus.〔 After a period of persistent persecution from 1980s and several coups, which included burning of Hindu homes, arson of temples and rape, Fiji witnessed a wave of emigration of Hindus and other Indo-Fijians to Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and India. About 50,000 of them emigrated after the 1987 coups, between 1987 and 1992 alone.〔Dean Starnes and Nana Luckham (2009), Fiji, ISBN 978-1741047936, 8th Edition, pp 37〕 The percentage population of Hindus in Fiji has declined since then, both in total and in percentage terms.〔Sussana Trnka (2002), (Foreigners at Home: Discourses of Difference, Fiji Indians and the Looting of May 19 ), Pacific Studies, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 69-90〕〔Boydell, S. (2000), 'Coups, Constitutions and Confusion in Fiji', in Land Tenure Center Newsletter 80 (Fall 2000):1-10〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hinduism in Fiji」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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