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Visitors absorbed in the exhibits
An exhibition to celebrate and explore 200 years since the arrival of the first members of the Malaiyaga Tamil community was held at the Public Library, Colombo in August 2023. This exhibition, curated by the Collective for Historical Dialogue and Memory (CHDM) and Institute for Social Development (ISD) with objects loaned by the Tea Plantation Workers’ Museum and Archive, Gampola, sought to raise awareness of the contribution of this community to the social fabric of Sri Lanka, a contribution that has been, hitherto, neglected and undervalued.
The exhibition set a new bar in curation using text, audio, video and installations to add liveliness and depth to the visitor experience. Informative text in English, Tamil and Sinhala was supplemented by photographs and artefacts such as travel documents, household objects, musical instruments etc. The hazards of travel from India only to face harsh conditions on the plantations were evoked in letters and dispatches sent by the colonial authorities and through poignant folk songs, transmitted orally and recorded for the first time. Contemporary newspapers and pamphlets showcased how charismatic leaders emerged and were able to mobilize the community to exercise their political rights via labour agitation; a first for Ceylon.
Disenfranchisement, immediately after Independence, rendering the community stateless and forcible repatriation to India without consent were poignantly displayed through personal statements, artefacts such as ‘one way’ travel documents and installations. This first discriminatory act against the minorities has now been mostly forgotten and needs to be brought back to the nation’s consciousness.
Audio interviews of the life stories of members of the community who left the confinements of the plantations through the routes of higher education and entrepreneurship brought out the difficulties faced by a marginalized community to integrate with the rest of society, even today. Literature and poetry featuring the unique culture of this isolated community, with its distinct history, added a further dimension to the exhibition.
Facts and statistics on migration to and from India, the expansion of coffee and tea as major export products, development of multi-ethnic townships to service the plantations, short biographies of leaders who fought for the rights of the community and a display of books on the Malaiyaga Tamils were available for those who sought more reference material.
Future iterations of this exhibition should expand the scope to include the experiences of the other, non-plantation based segments of this community who were transported to major towns and cities to labour in the municipal and urban councils forming distinct communities in these areas.
It is hoped that the effort put into this exhibit will not be lost and the display relegated to storage or destroyed. The exhibition deserves wider publicity throughout the island and needs to be found a permanent home. Inclusion of some of this material in school history textbooks will inform future citizens of the important contribution made by the community to the economy and help mitigate the stigma and discrimination still felt by this group.
It is anticipated that the exhibition will be an impetus to researchers and historians to study the fast disappearing culture and heritage of this community and inspire members of the community to share their memories and artefacts with the museum.
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