Indian Arrival Day is a holiday celebrated on various days in the nations of the Caribbean, Fiji, South Africa and Mauritius, commemorating the arrival of people from the Indian subcontinent to their respective nations as indentured labours brought by European colonial authorities and their agents. In Guyana, Mauritius, Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago, where it started, it is an official public holiday.
Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845 during the period of colonization.
The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago from 1957 till 1976. That party was the party which opposed the People's National Movement (PNM) at the time of Independence. After several splits brought about by leadership struggles, the party lost its hold on the Indo-Trinidadian community in the 1976 General Elections and was displaced in parliament by the United Labour Front under the leadership of Basdeo Panday, a former DLP senator. The party was the representative of the ethnic Indian community in the country; however Indian Muslims and Christians were said to be less loyal to the party than Indian Hindus.
Bhadase Sagan Maraj was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician, Hindu leader, civil rights activist, trade unionist, landowner, businessman, philanthropist, wrestler, and writer. He founded the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha in 1952, which grew to be the largest and most influential Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. He also founded the Caroni East Indian Association, the People's Democratic Party, the Democratic Labour Party, the Democratic Liberation Party, the Federation of Unions of Sugar Workers and Cane Farmers, and The Bomb newspaper.
The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), pronounced[sənɑːt̪ənəd̪ʰərməməɦɑːsəbʰɑː], colloquially known as the Maha Sabha, is the largest and most influential Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. It operates 150 mandirs, over 50 schools, and has its own radio station, Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM, and TV channel, TV Jaagriti. They also operate the Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago. It was formed in 1952 when Bhadase Sagan Maraj engineered the merger of the Sanatan Dharma Association and the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control. An affiliated group, the Pundits' Parishad, has 200 affiliated pundits. The organisation's headquarters are located in St. Augustine.
Satnarayan Maharaj, also known as Sat Maharaj, was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian Hindu religious leader, educationalist, and civil rights activist in Trinidad and Tobago. He was the Secretary-General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.
The Trinity Cross was the highest of the National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago, between the years 1969 and 2008. It was awarded for: "distinguished and outstanding service to Trinidad and Tobago. It was awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy, or for gallant conduct." Either nationals or non-nationals were awarded the honour, but no more than five may have been awarded in any year. The President was awarded the Trinity Cross in an ex officio capacity. The award was first presented in 1969, last conferred in 2005, and was subsequently replaced by The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the year 2008.
Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago is the second largest religion. Hindu culture arrived to Trinidad and Tobago in 1845, with the arrival of the first Indian indentured laborers, the overwhelming majority of which were Hindu. According to the 2011 census there were 240,100 declared Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Pichakaree is an Indo-Trinidadian form of music, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago. It is named after the long syringe-like tubes used to spray abir during Phagwah celebrations.
Simbhoonath Capildeo was a prominent lawyer and politician in Trinidad and Tobago. He was the elder brother of Rudranath Capildeo and uncle of Nobel laureate Sir Vidia "V. S." Naipaul and Shiva Naipaul. He was father to two sons, Surendranath and Devendranath Capildeo and a daughter, Sita Capildeo. Capildeo was one of the founding members of the Democratic Labour Party and a member of parliament from 1956 to 1966, becoming known as "the Lion of the Legislative Council". He served as the acting Leader of the Opposition for Bhadase Sagan Maraj and Rudranath Capildeo. Capildeo was also an important leader of the Hindu community in Trinidad and played in role in the foundation of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha. In 1989 he was awarded the Chaconia Gold Medal by the Trinidad and Tobago government, honoring his service to the country.
All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union, founded by Adrian Cola Rienzi was the major sugar workers' trade union and the predominant Indo-Trinidadian voice in organised labour in Trinidad and Tobago between the 1930s and 1970s. Leadership of the trade union passed from Rienzi to the Vice President, McDonald Moses, then Bhadase Sagan Maraj, and later to Krishna Gowandan.
Indo-Caribbean Americans or Indian-Caribbean Americans, are Americans who trace their ancestry ultimately to India, though whose recent ancestors lived in the Caribbean, where they migrated beginning in 1838 as indentured laborers. There are large populations of Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians and Indo-Guyanese along with a smaller population of Indo-Surinamese, Indo-Jamaicans and other Indo-Caribbeans in the United States, especially in the New York metropolitan area and Florida. The Washington metropolitan area, Texas, and Minnesota also have small numbers of Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians. Indo-Caribbean Americans are a subgroup of Caribbean Americans as well as Indian Americans, which are a subgroup of South Asian Americans, which itself is a subgroup of Asian Americans.
Basdeo Panday was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian statesman, lawyer, politician, trade unionist, economist, and actor who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first person of Indian descent along with being the first Hindu to hold the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North, Panday served as Leader of the Opposition four times between 1976 and 2010 and was a founding member of the United Labour Front (ULF), the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), and the United National Congress (UNC). He served as leader of the ULF and UNC, and was President General of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union from 1973 to 1995.
Caribbean Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Caribbeans and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. It is a koiné language mainly based on the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects. These Hindustani dialects were the most spoken dialects by the Indians who came as immigrants to the Caribbean from India as indentured laborers. It is closely related to Fiji Hindi and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani spoken in Mauritius and South Africa.
Devant Maharaj is a Trinidad and Tobago politician, and social activist. He is a leading member of the United National Congress. On 27 June 2011, he became a member of the Senate of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Minister of Transport following his appointment as Chairman of the Public Services Transport Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago.
Ramsaran Lionel "Sarran" Teelucksingh was a Trinidad and Tobago businessman and politician. The first Indo-Trinidadian elected to the Legislative Council, Teelucksingh represented the county of Caroni from 1925 until 1946 and was active in the leadership of the Trinidad Workingmen's Association (TWA), Trinidad Labour Party (TLP), and the East Indian National Congress (EINC).
TV Jaagriti is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian Hindu religious television channel, that is operated by the Central Broadcasting Services Limited, which is owned by the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a major Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. It airs programming related to the Indian Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago such as religious, cultural, news, lifestyle, health, youth and political programs.
