Tamils in Mauritius

Tamils were among the earliest settled communities in Mauritius. Artisans, masons and traders from the Coromandel coast arrived with the first colonial settlements and worked on the port, the roads and the public buildings of Port Louis.

The nineteenth century brought a much larger migration under indenture, and with it the kovils that still anchor Tamil life on the island. Kovil committees became the community's first schools, welfare funds and civic associations.

Tamil is one of the languages taught in Mauritian schools, and the festival calendar — Cavadee above all — is part of the national calendar. The community's story is now written as much in Mauritius as it is in Tamil Nadu.

This page is a short introduction. Family histories, kovil archives and oral accounts are the material we most want to publish — the record is far from complete.