Same sex relations in th early indian diaspora

Its often been noted that homosexuality wasn't seen as a heinious crime in India until the British came along and made it so.

I'm not sure its quite right to extrapolate from that that ancient India was a gay paradise. There are certainly references in the laws of Manu which disapprove of non-reproductive sex of any kind - a position that can be understood in tribal societies where building up your numbers was a matter of survival.

But it does seem like same sex relations weren't seen as such a terrible thing and some historical corroboration of this has been emerging. For example there's the work of Nayan Shah, a historian based in California who has found fascinating cases of prosecutions for homosexuality involving early migrants from the subcontinent to the West Coast of the USA.

These migrants were usually Punjabi farmers who went to work in the fertile fields of California. Only the men went, with wives being brought over only much later, until that was stopped by racist laws that wanted to restrict non-white immigration into the US. (The Punjabi men who were already there ended up marrying Mexican women, leading to a fascinating Punjabi-Mexican community).

Its not surprising though that some of these men ended up having sex with other men, presumably with each other, but also with white men which is proven by the cases that were discovered and prosecuted (all involving white men). What is particularly interesting, given how the Baba Ramdevs and others go on about how this is a Western vice coming into India, is how the papers at that time reported this as examples of "Oriental depravity" that was tainting American values!

What's also interesting though is some of the statements that Shah uncovered in the transcripts of the trial. Some of the Punjabi men couldn't believe they were being prosecuted in this way for something they clearly saw as so harmless. Again, one should be cautious in taking this as a gay pride statement, but it does show that the shame and horror attached to homosexuality in the West wasn't there in India at that time.

I can't find a full copy of Shah's paper online, but here's a link to a summary:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/american_quarterly/v057/57.3shah.html

And here's some more material from a different, rather sadder part of the diaspora story - from the indentured workers who went from places like Bihar and Bengal to the Caribbean (for those who are following Amitav Ghsh's Ibis trilogy this general story will be familiar).

Gaiutra Bahadur, a Guyanese scholar who is the descendent of such indentured workers, has been trying to find out more about their story. In particular she is interested in the stories of the women who went as indentued workers and part of what she has written was recently published in The Caravan. Here's a link - its not of specific queer interest, but well worth reading:
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story/1058/Her-Middle-Passage.html

In the course of her research though, Bahadur has also uncovered accounts of labourers who were found to be having same sex relations with each other. Again, its not clear if these came from deeper feelings, or were just situational sex, but the salient point is how harshly they were treated by the authorities. The story of the punishments they were given make for disturbing reading, so be warned.

(Tip of the hat to Siddharth Narrain for sending the material to me):

[Dear colleagues
The Caribbean IRN has received this report. It records the brutality meted out as punishment to 'maintain discipline'
Yours
Vidya

Between 1838 and 1917, the British embarked on bringing indentured labour from India to the then British Guiana.
This 1898 report from the Governor of British Guiana to the Colonial Office in England reports on the punishment meted out by the Surgeon Superintendent of the Mersey against two men Nabi Baksh and Mohangoo for committing sodomy.
"Nobibux was put in irons and Mohangu, after blistering his penis, was made to holystone from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily." The surgeon superintendent said that he had "known of cases where the penis had been blistered, as a prevention treatment, in cases of Masturbation with boys"
When the ship docked in British Guiana, there was an investigation which included testimony from others on the ship.
This report was donated by Gaiutra Bahadur. Ms Bahadur got the report from the Colonial Office Correspondence books at the UK National Archives at Kew, United Kingdom while doingresearch for her soon to be published book "Coolie Woman" "Coolie Woman" is scheduled to be published in 2012 by The University of Chicago Press in the US and Hurst & Co. in the UK. An excerpt from the book first appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of the U.S. literary magazine The Virginia Quarterly Review (http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2011/spring/bahadur-coolie/) and was then reprinted in India in the Sept. 2011 issue of The Caravan magazine. The whole excerpt is up at the Caravan's Web site: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story/1058/Her-Middle-Passage.html
Gaiutra Bahadur shared her notes from the report which consisted of a mix of handwritten and typescript pages].

Notes from the Report
Mersey arrived October 31, 1898
Dr. Arthur Harrison, Surgeon Superintendent (SS)
G.H. Rock, Captain
September 25: "No 696, Nobibux, m., 20 years, and No 351 Mohangu, m, 22 years, were caught about midnight by a sirdar named Rambocus committing sodomy. When brought up before the Captain and myself they both confessed their guilt. Nobibux stated that for the last ten years he had allowed men to commit acts of beastliness: he had no doubt induced Mohangu to do this criminal act. Nobibux was put in irons and Mohangu, after blistering his penis, was made to holystone [scrub the decks] from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily." [latitude 35.17 s. and longitude 22.10 e.]

[nobibux handcuffed every night from sept 25 to landing on oct 31, as was a man who had jumped overboard and was rescued]

criminal charges brought against two immigrants; in CO marginalia, discussion over the legality of the punishment and doubt expressed over whether there was any sodomy committed at all; indication there wasn't enough proof to prosecute: "the men should have been put in confinement and tried in British Guiana for an offense committed on the high seas on board a British vessel..."; fine the surgeon but should he be barred from re-employment?

inspector general of police investigated; attorney general decided not to prosecute; IAG criticizes SS for punishing the two without fully and carefully enquiring into the case. violated Rule 165 relating to colonial emigration, which strictly prohibits harsh treatment of the people

Arthur Harrison, SS, states on November 4, 1898:

[on 25th Sept, when near the Cape of Good Hope, his compounder Abdul Wahed reported to him at 8 a.m. that he heard two men had committed sodomy during the night. he told the compounder to take the men to the hospital, where he would question them.]

[witness, the sirdar Rambuccus, brought in with the two men. questioned in front of them, he said that he was on watch in between decks at midnight and "saw something unusual between these two men, they being under one blanket; he pulled off the blanket and saw them
committing sodomy." he called the head sirdar at once. the prisoners denied it to the head sirdar but then later confessed. they were left in the charge of the hear sirdar for the rest of the night. captain also present at inquiry. while Rambuccus was giving this testimony,
neither prisoner said anything.]

[the head sirdar Salikram is then questioned. confirms being called as above. says he separated the men and "asked them why they were doing this wrong thing, that they at first denied it and afterwards they confessed they did it for pleasure."]

[when questioned by SS, men at once confessed. Nabibux: "I have done it." Mohungu said same, "as far as I can remember. I cannot remember the words they used in confessing." Nabibux placed in irons fastened to a stanchion in the hospital. Mohangu placed in hospital and ordered to holystone from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. "I blistered the penis of Mohungu. I
did so as a punishment as I thought he deserved it." did this right after enquiry concluded. the captain knew Harrison did this. "Mohungu was the man who committed the act on Nabibuccus. I blistered him as a preventitive, as he might have attempted the act again. I have known
cases where the penis has been blistered as a preventitive treatment, in case of masturbation with boys."]

[says he didn't see it as a crime committed against the laws of England, but "as a matter of discipline on board ship"; didn't examine their private parts for evidence]

"Since this all occurred, it has come to my knowlegde that the head sirdar had threatend the two men to make them confess. Since I heard this, I have questioned them. Both denied the act and said Salikram had threatened to make them confess.

My compounder's name is Abdul Wahed. I have heard from him since that the man Rambuccus who caught them had a spite against one of the men, owing to something that had occurred in the country Depot in India."

ABDUL WAHED, THE CHIEF COMPOUNDER, STATES:

[the inquiry occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on the 25th Sept.]
"I heard Mohungu say he had put his penis in Nabibux' anus, and some days afterwards both men said to me that Rambux and Salikram had threatened to beat them throughout the voyage if they did not confess to having committed the sodomy."
"Nabibux told me that he and Rambux had had a row in the Fizabad depot and he told me that Rambux had a spite against him." [the prisoners were under his charge in the hospital]
[doesn't know what the depot quarrel was about. didn't ask. never noticed any ill feeling between Rambux and any of the men before this happened. never noticed Mohangu and Nabibux to be much in each other's company]

RAMBUCCUS

[an Ahir. says he knew Nabibuccus for a month in the Fyzabad depot,
where he was a sirdar]

"The men were under a platform sleeping. There were other coolies sleeping there too. The men were sleeping in their usual place... I noticed two men under one blanket. I have orders not to allow this, so I hauled the blanket off. Mohangu was on top of Nabibux who was lying
on his back. Mahangu was lying on his stomach. I asked them what they were doing. They gave no reply. Mahangu came off. I did not see his private parts. His baba was loose. I did not notice the state of Nabibux' baba. He had it on, but I don't know whether the crupper of
the baba was undone or not. I did not see his private parts. I did not see his anus. I did not see Mahungu's penis in Nabibux' anus, but from their position I suspected that they were committing sodomy... These two men always slept together during the voyage."

SALIKRAM

"They said Rambux hauled the blanket and shook them up while they were asleep. Rambuccus said they were committing sodomy but I don't think they were. They appeared to me just as if they had just been awakened. Their eyes seemed heavy with sleep."

"I never knew either of these men before I met them onboard. Myself and Rambuccus do not agree. I never noticed Rambuccus and either of the two men have any quarrel. I never noticed Nabibux and Monungu keeping much company. I don't know whether these men were in the habit of sleeping alongside of one another. I never threatened these men to make them confess. I never heard the men confess they had done it. They did not confess before me."

IN THE END: 50 pounds deducted from Harrison's gratuity for inflicting corporal punishment


[Other reports of gay sex
Ms Bahadur also shared that she found one other reference to gay sex in the 63 ship reports she examined. On the ship The Brenda in 1892, one of the immigrants Mathura was accused by another man, Nanku, "of having attempted on 14th October an unnatural offence," in the words of the Immigration Agent General, who reported this case to the police. Mathura was charged before the police magistrate and referred to Supreme Court for trial

[The scanned images of the diary with the full text of the letters and statements can be viewed on the Caribbean IRN Collection of the Digital Library of the Caribbean].