What I have learned from reliable sources from our local University is the when the British brought East Indians here,they brought the labor caste of workers to the sugar plantations. The upper caste members were not allowed to get into the contract of indenture-ship. The upper class especially the Brahmins were of the intellectual type and literate etc so was not needed for the fields nor stirring up trouble as the intelligent ones who may known better. As one lecturer said a Brahmin would have rather died than leave India to cut sugar cane far less work in the fields.This brings the point the, no Brahmins really came to the islands during that period.
Another confusion to the story is that the Indians here lay claim to their ancestors language as being Hindi when the recorded language with their arrival from mostly Uttar Pradesh and some Tamil speaking people from South India was Bhojpuri of which they lost with the advent of the Canadian Presbyterian Missionary Churches who taught them English helping them blend into society easier to attain jobs and education etc..It appears that when the Cinema industry boomed the first few people of the last generation didn't understand the Hindi Bollywood movies giving rise to them wanting to learn Hindi and laying claim to it in some sense.
Another dimension is last names as Maharaj,Maraj , Mahabir etc names that appear to be some caste of some sort but not really names. When they arrived the Hindi speaking British who themselves were confused by the Bhojpuri wrote what ever they mention, which would their present names when asked their names. Not wanting to be affiliated with a low caste they uttered words as Mahabir Maharaj etc Hence the unusual names.
The few individuals in those Indian/Hindu societies who would have been privy to rituals done by Brahmins or knew a few mantras in India or could have read a little became the Purohits which we call Pundits. They don't know any Sanskrit nor any other holy text besides the Tulsi Das Ramcharitmanas and a few Puranas which they take in a literal sense.They became the so called Brahmins of the Hindu community who in some way own a monopoly on Hinduism here. They lay claim to state who can be accepted into the Priestly caste and who can do rituals an who could speak with some authority about Hinduism. So in some sense they brought the caste system as they saw it with them to their benefit. It leads to divides among themselves likewise the rest of the wider community but we have gotten use to their prejudices and racists comments about their superiority. There appears to me to be some sort of psychological, religious and cultural issues to be dealt with when dealing with the issue of caste these issues are how many Hindus view themselves the world and other ethnic groups on the planet. They could continue to bury their heads in the sands or to find solace in Ancient scriptures or blame the British and Christianity as is customary. If these issues are not dealt with in a dispassionate intellectual mood the problems with the idea and it narratives would plague future generations. As in some sort of way the issues of Slavery have plagues my ancestors coming down to this present generation. The Historians who know the history well call them "Brahmins by Boat" meaning they turned Brahmins while coming to the West Indies on the "kala pani"ocean.
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