Here in Fiji, the acronym FBI seems more popular as reference to Fiji-born Indo-Fijians than the American federal bureau. And while the question of the first may be a long drawn-out mystery, one family proudly lays claim to this title. Here, off the wind swept beaches of Olosara, Sigatoka, are descendants of Mahabir Dayaram, reportedly the first FBI.
ROBERT Bali jumps into the past with boundless enthusiasm, dishing out a list of colourful names and intricate details of these personalities.
His home is a family museum, with walls covered in photographs of collective ancestors and snippets of family trees, records and newspaper cuttings of numerous relatives for posterity. It only complements the wealth of generational knowledge passed down through the ranks of family members.
Through his mother, these constitute most of Navua’s part-European families tied together by Harry “The Jew” Danford and Ro Ela, the prized wife plucked from the harem of the Tui Namosi, Koroiduadua (Koroduadua) in the 1800s.
Through Robert’s father, Ram Bali, traces are made to the other offspring of Mahabir, who was born shortly after his parents arrived from India in 1879.
Marvie
“He was better known as Marvie, a nickname given by British overseers” Robert related.
Memories of this grandfather emanate from a childhood spent in the cosy abode of the family home in Samabula, Suva, where most of the extended clan occasionally converged. Robert isn’t the only family member with a nose for the past. In 2011, a first-cousin, Phulmati Nand published a biography titled Mahabir Dayaram – The family history of the man reported to be the first Fiji-born Indian. It was the culmination of several years of research and recollections for the retired Vatuwaqa schoolteacher, providing the public a glimpse into the life of a man reputed to be the first FBI.
“When I was a small girl growing up in Suva, my mother used to tell us that her father (my Nana) was reputed to be the first person of Indian origin born in Fiji in 1879,” explains the opening line of the biography forward.
Mahabir’s parents, Dayaram and Maikee, also had two sons — Mahend Singh and Sohan Lala, a pair left behind in India and with whom they later rekindled ties with.
“The Leonidas arrived in Fiji on 15 May, 1879, and soon after that a son was born to Dayaram and Maikee in Suva,” Nand outlined in her book.
“The birth record was not able to be obtained but an entry was made during that time on the immigration pass of Maikee.”
The admission also noted that the entry was mistakenly made on the pass of another woman named Maikee, who had also come to Fiji on the Leonidas.
She and her husband were aged 20 and 23, respectively, and like others who were periodically transported to Fiji for labour, were identified by immigration passes.
Dayaram listed his caste as Gararea and his village as Rucksa, Lukchinpur, and a son of Hira. His wife, whose father was mentioned as Hurri, was from the village of Gosaigunge in Lukhnow (Lucknow).
His indentured term was served with the Colonial Sugar Refinery Company, No 182, on the plantation of a J Barry in Levuka.
Around the time of Mahabir’s birth, the couple were living along the present-day Howell Rd, on the land of a Mr Turner, before moving to Waimanu Rd.
In 1881, a fourth son named Munna Lal was born to him and Maikee.
Nand notes that following Dayaram and Maikee’s term at Barry’s plantation in Levuka, they ran a grocery shop in central Suva, at the site of where Burns Philp now sits.
Dayaram also tried his hand as a horse trainer and raced horses, with Mahabir being one of his jockeys.
Nand recollects weekends that were also spent at her grandparents home in Colo-i-Suva, where they had a bure and also ran a little shop in the village.
Robert notes that Mahabir had a taxi base in Samabula and a car named Number 5, that was stationed along Cumming St.
“They were different back then, and he was always suited with a tie while reporting to work. They really took pride in their appearance, quite different from some taxidrivers we see now,” related Robert, a renowned soccer administrator for Nadroga who now runs his own taxi service.
Family fiascos
In the 1890s, Mahabir and Munna Lal voyaged to India with their parents, who found that the oldest child, Mahend Singh, had married in their absence.
“After staying in India for a while, they returned to Fiji with their two Fiji-born sons and also their India-born son, Sohan Lal, who they had left behind when they had come in 1879.”
As noted in Nand’s publication, Mahabir was married three times, one of them compounded by an overdue return from India.
His first wife, Shiu Raji, bore two children, while a second marriage to Robert and Phulmati’s grandmother Rattan Kumari — who was also known as Bismillah — produced four children. The third and final wife, Bhagirathia, bore him 11 children.
“The first wives of Mahabir and his brother, Munna Lal, were sisters — Shiu Raji and Ram Raji respectively,” the biography noted. The brothers accompanied their parents to India, leaving their wives behind with their own parents to look after their small children.
“As Mahabir and Munna Lal were late returning to Fiji, and as there was no easy means of contacting them in India; the parents of their wives assumed that their sons-in-law were not coming back so they married off the daughters, Shiu Raji and Ram Raji to other men.”
Both sisters took their children to their new husbands, which later seemed a premature arrangement as their first husbands eventually came back, after which a fiasco ensued.
“When Mahabir and Munna Lal finally returned from India, they went to get their wives and children but the situation was bad. Somar (Shiu Raji’s new husband) did not wish to part with Shiu Raji so Mahabir returned empty-handed. Munna Lal, however, fought tooth and nail to get his son Ram Lal back and he was successful.”
Inclined by duty, Mahabir’s parents, Dayaram and Maikee, took on the role of raising their young grandson, Ram Lal, while the brothers remarried — Mahabir to Rattan Kumar (Bismillah) and Munna Lal to Lakshmin. Elder brother, Sohan Lal, who had been born in India, had begun work as a sailor on an inter-island vessel. Servicing a route to Kadavu, he became the ship’s captain, and the reclusiveness of his wife and children led some relatives to believe that he may have been married to a
iTaukei woman on the island.
Marital life
As related in Nand’s book, Rattan Kumari was a hard-working woman but died young, just 15 days after the birth of her daughter, Ram Dulari (Dulli). The baby was then adopted by Munna Lal, and his second wife, Lakshmin. In a sense, Munna Lal and Lakshmin were childless, as though Munna Lal had Ram Lal from his first marriage, he was overly attached to his grandparents and the other grandchildren that Dayaram and Maikee looked after, which included Robert’s father Ram Bali and Phulmati Nand’s mother, Chandra Kali (Mahabir’s children).
“I still remember Ram Lal’s cousins calling him badka bhaiya as he was the oldest of the cousins. Munna Lal and Lakshmin later had a daughter, Rosie Suruj Kali Dhannu, who was married to Shiv Prasad. They had a shop at Pacific Harbour and she was the first lady taxidriver in Fiji.”
Following Dulli’s adoption, she was taken to live with her new parents outside Nadi, where Munna Lal worked as a lighthouse keeper in Momi.
“After my grandmother, Rattan Kumari’s death, my grandfather, Mahabir, started gambling and lost most of his wife’s silver jewellery,” Nand noted.
By now, Mahabir’s other children included Sam Lal, Ram Dulari, Suruj Bali, Chandra Kali, Ram Bali.
A discussion with his parents encouraged him to remarry, and in November 1920, he took on his third wife, Bhagiarathia. She had also been previously married and had a child named Ram Dulare.
“Her first husband, Lal Singh, was involved in some sort of problem so Bhagiarathia’s sister, Phekui, and brother-in-law, Tej Das, removed her and got her married to Mahabir. Tej Das and his wife then adopted Ram Dulare, as they had no children of their own. Bhagiarthia was very much upset at losing custody of her son but could not do anything about it,” Nand added, reflecting the disempowerment of women at the time. This third wife bore him eleven children, though one died in infancy, while their eldest, Raj Bali, died from illness aged 19.
Soon after Raj Bali’s death, a portrait of the family was taken at the Botanical Gardens in Suva, where Bhagiarthia, who was still deep in mourning, was a conspicuous absence. Mahabir sent his sons and nephew to St Columbus Brothers School, which he had attended himself, but his daughters didn’t receive the same privilege of education, a practice that continued after his passing.
“Even when he died on 26 January, 1951, his sons would not send any of the girls to school — a badly missed opportunity. The next generation of males stuck to the rules, old man Mahabir had instituted,” Nand wrote,
Still, the ladies of the house were all articulate and bilingual.
“Although the girls had never been to school, they all spoke the three languages, English, Hindi and Fijian, very fluently. They were also good cooks, dressmakers and housewives. Dulli was a great fisherwoman as well, catching crabs in the nearby mangrove swamps at Momi, Nadi.”
Robert’s father, Ram Bali became a carpenter and moved to Deuba for the construction of a hotel, before moving on to to Korotogo, Sigatoka, for similar tourism projects.
He went on to work at an agricultural station in Nacocolevu and through several marriages, founded his own Bali branch of the family. In late January, 1951, Mahabir collapsed at his home, leaving behind a grieving widow with five young children and only one son who was old enough to support them. He had enjoyed a large network of friends that had included prominent government figures and his passing left a void for his own expansive family.
The man reputed to be the first Fiji-born Indo-Fijian was laid to rest at the old Suva cemetery.
Today, Mahabir’s descendants are scattered around the world, though his memory and history continues being documented by varying generations.
Robert, who recently organised a reunion of relatives with his brothers, Michael and Moses, is a great believer in preserving history, and strongly urges others to delve into their own past.
“We need to preserve our history not only for ourselves but for the benefit of our future generations, so they know who they are and where they come from.”
