Totaram Sanadhya
| Totaram Sanadhya | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1876 Hirangaon, United Provinces, British Raj |
| Died | 1947 Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat, India |
| Education | no formal education |
| Occupation | Farmer, Priest |
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). 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.
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.
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