This paper aims to map the progressive settlement of Murugan worship throughout the indentured Tamil communities of Mauritius island, in the early decades of the 20th century. I locate the emergence of Murugan-centered within a departure from the historically dominant ritual economy of Mariamman and Draupadi worship, confined to sugar estate temples under direct White planters’ patronage.
The establishment of Murugan cultic centres map instead the settlement of a new class of upper-caste Tamil landlords moving from small plantation holdings to more mercantile ventures. Through the foundation narratives of two important Murugan temples, I argue that the peripatetic and metamorphous deity provided to formerly indentured migrants a Bhakti of economic freedom and political ascension.
As index of this devotional discourse, my analysis of three poems of Mauritian Murugan devotee Vadivel Selvam Pillai (1899-1978) showcase this association between the deity and a hard-won material liberty.