ABDOOL CADER KALLA
Recently there has been a concern for the Parsis (i.e “Persians”) – heirs of Zoroastrian refugees who fled Persia and landed on the coast of Gujarat, India, perhaps in the eighth or tenth century, especially in Bharuch and Surat hinterlands. Later Navsari, some 35 km south of Surat, became the main religious Parsi center in Gujarat. In the eighteenth century, they followed the British to Bombay and became part of the cultural and economic elite of the Raj and the Empire (Miele. M). New communities of Parsis sprang up in some of the main cities of India and later in British colonies around the Indian Ocean. John R. Hinnells is the scholar who has published a “fundamental work” on the diaspora of this community in 2005. He seems to have missed Mauritius but mentions Madagascar.
Very early in 1980s during my initial study of Gujarati merchants in Mauritius, I came across a Gujarati signature on a notary deed dated 1812. In the study of the merchant class, I found it imperative to trace their sources of money and in Mauritius we are lucky that at the National Archives all notary transactions are kept (NA series). And most correspondences to the authorities are available. (RA series). While labouring through these at Sunray Hotel, Coromandel, I bumped on a request to Governor Farquhar on behalf of the consular agent of his excellency Imam of Muscat on the island about the transit of his ship to Port Louis signed in Gujrati and translated as Runtanjee Bickajee. Later, the directories of public notaries of this period revealed his name and most notaries referred to him as” Bickagee parsi de la secte de Zoroastre (les adorateurs de feu). I was able to explore some of his activities. His will in the notary act drafted by notary Jollivet in 1847 yielded far more details about this first Gujarati diplomat, financier, government contractor, philanthropist, and shrewd observer of the Mauritian society of early British Mauritius. This narrative is about this Surtee as he was going to provide a template for other Gujarati Surtee merchants and entrepreneurs.
On 19 July 1847 notary public Jollivet found Bickajee on a bed (khatia) with a table and some chairs and he described him as a “négociant demeurant à Port Louis rue l’hôpital…. malade de corps mais sain d’esprit”. He signed his will in the presence of witnesses. This will instituted Jules Chauvin and Charles Kevin Campbell as his sole legatees and Henry Finniss as executor of his will. Finniss was a retired commissioner of Police. These witnesses show the close links Bickajee cultivated with the local Franco-white and the British population. He did not choose any of his co-religionist. There were three or four Parsis around and among them was Pestongee Manackjee, a priest, whom he encouraged to come to Mauritius and who was going to replace him.
The Activities of Bickajee
Some of the documents enclosed in Bickajee’s will seem to indicate that he was living with a woman called ‘Lionette” with whom he had two offsprings: a boy and a girl. From the birth certificates included, we learn that there was a boy by the name of Jean Francois Damari, born on 14th June 1812, the natural son of Lionette, and a girl by the name of Marie Uranni, born 21st June 1818, the natural daughter of Lionette, both acknowledged by Bickagee. Some documents of 1815 onwards show him as cosignatory for the Imam of Muscat and other Arab merchants as Mauritius was importing horses, mules, certain spices from India to cater for the small Indian population. These documents led us to deduce that he was in Mauritius at the outset of British control. Further, he was probably closely associated with Farquhar, the first governor of British Mauritius. Bickajee was an agent for chartering boats like British boat Actress, Arab schooner Curfew, British and Arab sailing ships like Renown and Fultah Ramany. The breakthrough came when he acquired the representation of the Bombay transnational firms of the British Frith & Co and the Parsi Jujubhoy Dadabhoy Sons &Co as from 1816.
He did a small business of importing mules and horses from Muscat for draught animals on sugar plantations. He later became one of the main importers of condiments from India, Ceylon and Burma. His main economic activity was the lending of money as he had a substantial number of billets et bons souscrits from among all the strata of this creole society. In today’s world, he would be considered as a usurer, but the Gujaratis had an intricate system regarding the lending of money.
He must have been somebody of substance as per the census of 1826, he was one of the few Indians who used to live in the former white city and had direct access to the business district. He used to live on Rue La Rampe (Edith Cavell) and later rented a place at La Rue L’Hôpital as he sold most of his assets at the dawn of his life.
On the limited information available, it is very difficult to assess whether Bickajee financed the illegal slave trade to Mauritius or legal slave trade in Reunion. Some of his borrowers were negotians, who might have been enslavers and engaged in the slave trade. Bickajee bought enslaved women for his own use. In 1816 he bought a négresse, Virginie, and in 1821 he bought on the local market another one, Josephinie, for the sum of 270 piastres.
He was very active in the bidding for government contracts in the area of public works. Government floated a contract for the scavenging and night soil services for Port Louis. Bickajee got the contract and he signed the prescribed papers with the colonial secretary Dick on the 11th December 1834 for the sum of 18 pounds per month for a year. He had to provide « sans réserve le nombres de charrettes, animaux, bras, conducteurs, surveillants et ustensiles”. His scheme of work was to “balayer, nettoyer chaque jour toutes les rues et ruelles, aussi nettoyer ruisseaux, fontaines, lieux publics, enlever les immondices, animaux morts et aussi en cas d’alarme par le feu prêter ses mules et leurs harnais pour le transport des pompes’. This was a huge contract, he obtained an advance from government and borrowed on the local market by mortgaging a plot of land of 25 arpents at Rivière Latanier. This contract was renewed for another year in January 1836.
As a result, Bickajee was among the first to import indentured labour from India, specially from the Bombay presidency. At the termination of this contract in December 1837, he proposed the services of 27 indentured persons to the government. Earlier in 1830 he recruited masons and general masonry workers from Bombay for the building of the Citadel-Fort Adelaide in Port Louis. He seemed to have had close contacts with those entrepreneurs who were importing unregulated labour from India.
Following the improvement in the economic conditions of the island as from the 1830s, his main economic activities seemed to have shifted towards real estate. He bought properties in Port Louis and its environs. Initially he focused on the central areas of the town. Thus, we find him buying the commerce of hardware and other related items of Etablissement Bouvet on Jemmapes Street next to Line Barracks for 7500 piastres in 1835 and selling it to Henry Wilson in July 1837 for 11625 piastres. His most prestigious acquisition was the property of Jean Edward Germain at Grande Rivière of 2438 toises for 4500 piastres. This spacious house was inhabited by the French Consul. Bickajee bought it fully furnished with the stables and all after securing a loan on the local market. We have a lot of details of this property as it appears in the inventory. This southern part of the town made up of Cassis, Bain des Dames and Grande Rivière was a high-class residential area which attracted Bickajee.
As all speculators, he was sometimes in financial difficulties. He had to borrow on the local market. Notary deeds of 22nd December 1842 from Me Koenig revealed that the Lagesse family was his main creditor. It is safe to assume that he had dealings with fellow Indians Tamil landowners and of sugar estate –Vellivel Annasamy and Rama Tiroumoudy Chettiar.
Bickajee-seth
By the late 1830s, Bickajee showed the characteristics of a seth. He was certainly a banker (shroof) and most Indians looked up to him. He provided advice to his fellow countrymen and possibly financial help which is difficult to establish as some dealings were done on trust. He encouraged other Parsis from Surat to migrate to Mauritius during his frequent visits to his daughter Raneebye married to Khakassrou Musser Wangee in India. Thus, Pestonjee Bomangee was the first to come in the late 1830s to Port Louis to do business and left a short while after. On the other hand, he was joined by Ismalgee and Pestonjee Manackjee who were to prosper in Mauritius. At the demise of Bickajee, Manackjee, who was a priest, took his role. Incidentally as he was from Rander he could have encouraged the Bahemias, the first Surtee Muslim family, to immigrate to Mauritius in the early 1840s.
At the restart of Indian labour immigration under government regulations in 1843, Mauritius began to attract Indian capital. Bickajee’s inventory papers reveal that he had substantial commercial dealings with newly arrived Muslim Gujrati traders like Aga Mohammed and Turkey Shimree. Ismaljee Mamoojee from the Surat area and Daoujee Mamoossajee borrowed money from the Parsis to engage in their traditional agricultural activities as from the 1840s.The early ex-indentured labourers borrowed money from Bickajee.
He witnessed the first attempt at the unregulated importation of labour from India from the early 1830s and to its embargo as a result of maltreatment during the period of apprenticeship qualified by Tinker H. as “Mauritius was among the most oppressive territories during this period.” (Tinker H. ). Bickajee lamented in his deposition in front of the official commission to investigate the plight of the first badge of indentured labourers. He exposed the utter deception of his compatriots as they felt that they have been tricked. He highlighted the unhygienic conditions where they were living, and the utter disrespect of the conditions laid out in their contracts. He deplored the total ignorance of plantation owners about the cultural practices of Indians by not giving them time off for their religious festivals. His remarks were going to be rehearsed by the Royal Commission of Enquiry of 1875 (Williamson and Frere).
End notes
This short piece on Bickajee needs further research to understand the activities of the Parsees in early colonial Mauritius. Research will have to be carried at the National Archives, Coromandel, into Z2D, Z7F, RaA series, shipping records, Blue Books, official reports and other published items. For Mauritian researchers, notary deeds and land records at Registrar General and Civil Status Office in Port Louis which are so vital to understand the movement of capital by the merchants are strictly prohibited as researchers have to bear the same surname as the merchant on whom one is working. A fortnight ago I wrote an email to the Director of Civil Status Office to find out if the death certificate for Bickagee was available. I did not receive any answer. I went to enquire and after checking my I.D card I was flatly told that it will be unlawful to give me a copy.
References
Hinells.J The Zoroastrian Diaspora. Religionand Migration. Oxford UNi.Press 2005.
Kalla.A.C The Gujarati Merchants in Mauritius c 150-1900.Journal of Mauritian Studies. Vol 2 .No1.1987
Mielle.M Hypothesis on a Parsi community in Tamatave,in the Second Half of the Nineteen Century.CSEAS,Kyoto UniversityJapan
Tinker.H A New System of Slavery.Oxf.Uni. Press.1974.
Légende
Parsi barber (From the A. Richard’s collection)
