French-lettered Indians in a remote corner of the Caribbean reclaim their Hindu identity
By Sharad Sahai, Guadeloupe

Journey to Guadeloupe, the twin- island outpost of France in the paradisiacal French West Indies, and you will encounter a kaleidoscopic diversity of skin colors, facial features and ethnic praxes. The majority of the 400,000 inhabitants are descendants of freed African slaves. Nearly eight percent, 30,000, are Indian. In 1854, after the atrocious slavery period ended, the French and British brought our ancestors to the islands to service the sugarcane fields as indentured workers. Four generations ago, they came from the Malabar coast, Pondicherry and regions of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, via Calcutta. The vast majority of them have been Christianized and have imbibed French culture so deeply that, put aside occasional goat sacrifices and strong remnants of the Indian folk and religious musical traditions, mostly everything Indian has vanished–until recently.

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http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1998/2/1998-2-12.shtml

CD1 The Sowebo Concert by Jay Kishor

Randy Weston
Album: Khepera
Song: Shang