(Roman script) plaque at Suriname Memorial,
Garden Reach,
Kolkata,
West Bengal,
India The word
girmit represented an Indian pronunciation of the
English word "agreement" - from the
indenture "agreement" of the
British Government with labourers from the
Indian subcontinent. The agreements specified the workers' length of stay in foreign parts and the conditions attached to their return to
British India. In
Indic (Indo-Aryan) languages such as
Hindustani, the word
Jahāz (), which is sometimes pronounced as
Jahāj in certain languages such as
Maithili, means 'ship' (from the Arabic/Persian
Jahāz/ جهاز), with
Jahazi implying 'people of ship' or 'people coming via ship'. These Indian-origin labourers referred to one another as जहाज़ी भाई
jahāzī bhai (ship brother) or जहाज़ी बेहेन
jahāzī behen (ship sister), reflecting the brotherly and sisterly bonds made on their voyage from India to the West. Many Girmitiyas—indentured labourers taken from British India came from marginalised and lower-caste backgrounds, including a significant number from the
Chamar caste. Facing entrenched discrimination, poverty, and limited opportunities in India, they were often drawn by misleading promises of better livelihoods abroad. As a result, they formed an important yet frequently overlooked segment of the indentured workforce in regions such as Fiji, Mauritius, and the Caribbean. In Fiji,
Governor Arthur Hamilton-Gordon discouraged
Melanesian Fijians from working on the plantations in an attempt to preserve their culture. == See also ==