Māori Indians
Total population
2,610 as of 2006 Census.[1] Many more Māori of partial Indian descent
Languages
English, Māori, Hindi, Punjabi
Related ethnic groups

Māori Indians (or Indo-Māori) are an ethnic group in New Zealand of people with mixed Māori and Indian ancestry.

History

The earliest record of a mixed Indo-Māori union is said to have occurred in 1810, when an Indian man from Bengal abandoned a shipping vessel to marry a Māori woman. There is also record of an Indian man living with his Māori wife in the Bay of Islands in 1815; another took up residence on Stewart Island after 1814.[2]

Possibly the earliest non-Māori settlers of the Otago region of South Island were three Indian lascars who deserted ship to live among the Māori in 1813.[3] There, they assisted the Ngāi Tahu by passing on new skills and technologies, including how to attack colonial European vessels in the rain when their guns could not be fired.[3] They integrated into Māori culture completely, participating in tā moko and taking on Māori names.

The late 1800s and early 1900s saw the first wave of migration of Indian men and later women arriving to the country. A number of them came directly to New Zealand but some came via Fiji and others via other British colonies such as Burma. In the earliest group of Indian pioneer men were those who came to New Zealand as teenagers. These young men from Punjab and Gujarat were generally looked after by the Māori community, and tended to have unions with Māori women.[4] Children of these unions were often cast out by the wider Indian community. However, such children continued to be welcomed into the Māori community.

Of the 3,151 Indians recorded on the 1951 census of New Zealand - 253 were of Māori Indian origin.[5]: 81  In 10 years, by the 1961 census, there were just slightly more Indians in New Zealand, while the number of Māori Indians had risen dramatically to 454.[6]

In Te Arawa the most well-known whānau of Indo-Māori descent are the Bhana whānau from Ngāti Whakaue. Another notable family are the children of Bruce Stewart, who are half Indo-Fijian through their mother and grew up at Tapu Te Ranga Marae.[7]

21st century

Responses to the 2001 New Zealand census indicated that 1.5% of Indian women and 2% of Indian men in New Zealand were in inter-ethnic unions with a Māori partner.[8]: 49  About 18% of children of these unions can converse in the Māori language, while less than 10% could speak an Indian language.

The first hui (Māori assembly) for people of mixed Māori and Indian descent was held in 2012 in Rotorua.[9] A second assembly was held in 2014, with over 200 mixed Māori Indians in attendance.[10]

The Auckland Tamil Association also held its second Maori-Tamil hui to forge stronger relationships between the Indian and Māori community.[11]

Early cultural contact theory

In 1885, Edward Tregear published the controversial book The Aryan Maori (1885), in which he placed the Māori language in the ranks of the Indo-European language family and further claimed, that Māori were descended from Hindu Brahmins who spread south, from India.[12]

The Tamil bell may indicate contact between Māori and South India going back to the 14th or 15th century.[13] A 1954 report by V Lakshmi Pathy, published in the Journal of Polynesian Studies, hinted at similarities between the South Indian Kannada language and various Polynesian languages including Māori.[14]

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ Pio, Edwina (2010). Caste away? : unfolding the Māori Indian. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Office of Ethnic Affairs. ISBN 978-0478294989.
  2. ↑ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "2. – Indians – Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz.
  3. 1 2 Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar; Buckingham, Jane (2018). Indians and the Antipodes: Networks, Boundaries and Circulation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199483624.
  4. ↑ Mayhew, W. R. (1977). Tuapeka: The Land and Its People. Clutha District, New Zealand: Capper Press.
  5. ↑ Statistics, New Zealand Dept of (1959). Population census, 1956. R. E. Owen, Govt. printer.
  6. ↑ Shryock, Henry S.; Siegel, Jacob S.; Larmon, Elizabeth A. (1980). The methods and materials of demography. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
  7. ↑ Fund, the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation (25 January 2021). "Series 2 | Episode 7: Homesick on the Marae". RNZ. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Callister, Paul; Didham, Robert; Potter, Deborah (September 2005). "Ethnic intermarriage in New Zealand" (PDF). Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Hui links Indo-Māori culture". The New Zealand Herald. 22 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Kinita, Dana (10 February 2014). "Te Māori: Māori Indians to gather at hui". The New Zealand Herald.
  11. ↑ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/indonz/494441/mysterious-artefact-helps-forge-stronger-tamil-maori-community-connections
  12. ↑ Tregear, Edward (1885). The Aryan Maori.
  13. ↑ Darrah, Petrina (8 February 2023). "The Mystery of New Zealand's Tamil Bell, an Archaeological 'UFO'". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  14. ↑ V Lakshmi, Pathy. "Are There Linguistic Affinities Between Maori And Kannada? Some Reflections". www.jps.auckland.ac.nz: 35–42. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "First Maori-Indian Hui a roaring success | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  16. ↑ Fund, the RNZ/NZ On Air Innovation (25 January 2021). "Series 2 | Episode 7: Homesick on the Marae". RNZ.
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