Tamil Mauritians are the descendants of

Tamil people The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Dravi ...

who migrated, from the

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

n regions corresponding to the modern state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, to the island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

History

The first batch of Tamil immigrants were craftsmen and tradesmen who arrived in small numbers after 1727 when

Isle de France (Mauritius) Isle de France () was the name of the Indian Ocean island which is known as Mauritius and its dependent territories between 1715 and 1810, when the area was under the French East India Company and a part of the French colonial empire. Under th ...

was under the administration of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...

.The Murukan cult in Mauritius
by Khesaven Sornum (2001) A larger number of immigrants from

arrived during

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rule and after abolition of slavery from 1835 to serve as labourers on the sugar cane plantations.History of the Tamil Diaspora by V. Sivasupramaniam
, ''murugan.org''
/ref> From 1834 to 1924 out of the estimated 458,000 indentured labourers who came from all over India to Mauritius, around 114,500 came from the Presidency of Madras. Tamil indentured labourers made up 25% of the total indentured population. From around 1850 Tamil was taught in some schools such as

Royal College Curepipe The Royal College Curepipe (commonly known as RCC) is a public secondary school with high admission standards in Curepipe, Mauritius. Since 1791 it has been regarded as one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Mauritius. In the past, ...

Modern times

Around 12.4 percent of Indo-Mauritians are Tamils. Tamils make up 6 percent of the island's total population of around 1.3 million accounting for around 78,000 people. As per Mauritian social conventions, the "Tamil", "Marathi" and "Telugu" appelations are strictly reserved for members of these respective ethno-linguistic groups who still practice Hinduism. Converts to Christianity join the broader Creole population.Republic of Mauritius
/ref> The Tamil population is scattered around the island but mostly lives in the usual Indo-Mauritian majority zones.

Language

Tamil was gradually replaced by

Mauritian Creole Mauritian Creole or Morisien (formerly Morisyen) ( mfe, kreol morisien, links=no ) is a French-based creole language spoken in Mauritius. English words are included in the standardized version of the language. In addition, the slaves and in ...

as the mother tongue of Mauritian Tamils. Nonetheless, most Tamil Mauritians can read and write Tamil as a learnt language. It is one of the asian languages recognised by Acts of Parliament along with Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri and as such taught in schools as from age 6. It is one of the languages that students may sit, for their O-Levels and

A-Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

Mo Koz Kreol
/ref> Tamil magazines like ''Pathirikai'' cater for the community.

Festivals

Thaipusam Thaipusam or Thaipoosam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம், ''taippūcam'' ?), is a festival celebrated by the Hindu Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of ''Thai'' (January/February), usually coinciding with Pushya star, kno ...

, is the principal Tamil Hindu festival, a national holiday in Mauritius and celebrated in various temples across the island.

Murugan Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...

temples are common and various public places bear Tamil names such as Coromandel near Port Louis (derived from Cholamandalam), Alepo Street, Velore Street, Madras Street, and others.

References

" Several other languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi and dialects of Chinese, such as Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin, are also spoken."
{{Clear Mauritian people of Indian descent Asian diaspora in Mauritius

History

Modern times

Language

Festivals

See also

References