15/03/2026
Ramakrishna Mission Fiji – The Beginning
The India Fiji connection is linked to the need for cheaper workforce to fuel the colonial trade and industry in dominions of British Empire. Fiji was colonised by the British in 1874, and Indian indentured labourers were brought into Fiji on contract basis starting from 1879 to work at sugar plantations of the Colonial Sugar Refining (CSR) Company of Australia to 1920, when the indenture system was abolished. About 60,000 such Indian labourers came to Fiji under indenture system during 1879 to 1916. One such labourer, Totaram Sanadhya, on his return to India in 1914 wrote a book – “My Twenty-one Years in the Fiji Islands; & The Story of the Haunted Line”. This book created a major ripple among the then Indian intelligentsia and leaders, and Mahatma Gandhi requested Rev. Chales Freer Andrews (CFA), an activist, Christion missionary and social reformer, to visit Fiji for ascertaining the actual conditions of the Indian labourers in Fiji. Rev CFA visited Fiji in 1928. In early 1930s, Rev C F Andrews met Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and the 2nd president of the order in Madras and appealed to him to send a Swami of the Ramakrishna Mission to Fiji to serve the Indian labourers. The period post freedom from indenture in 1920 saw the formation of several Indian organisations trying to promote Indian language and religious practices. One such was “Then India Sanmarga Ikya Sangam” (TISI Sangam), founded by Mr. Kuppuswamy, an ex-indentured labourer (later known as Sadhu Kuppuswamy), originally from Tamil Nadu who came to Fiji in April 1912. An idea of forming a South Indian organisation was proposed while celebrating the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda on 10 January 1926, at Penang, Rakiraki. Subsequently, on 24 May 1926, at a meeting in Nadi, Sangam was formed with Sadhu Kuppuswamy as its first President. On the persuasion of Sadhu Kuppuswamy and previous requests from Rev C F Andrews, Ramakrishna Mission sent Swami Avinashananda, a then senior monk of the order also hailing from South India, to visit Fiji. He arrived in Fiji on 8th August 1937, and his costs were borne by Sangam. Swami Avinashananda moved into the “Library”, which would become the Ramakrishna Ashram subsequently. On 6th January 1938, Sangam was incorporated as a proper single cohesive entity under the Company’s Act. When Swami Avinashananda departed Fiji in July 1938, Sangam was a strong well organised body and
ordinary local Indians already started feeling a sense of identity, pride and self-respect. He also assured that a much younger and energetic Swami would follow soon. Swami Rudrananda (11 March 1901 – 30 June 1985), born Muthukrishnan, from the Ramakrishna Mission Madras (from now onwards would be referred as Swamiji), a charismatic young college educated monk, experienced in social work and a one-time Gandhian and member of Indian National Congress, with fluency in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English, was chosen by the Ramakrishna Mission’s Headquarters as the monk best qualified to assist and administer the tasks of Sangam. Swamiji arrived in Fiji on 24 February 1939. Swamiji was a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda. Soon after his arrival, Sangam had its General Body Meeting on 29-30 April 1939, where several policy making decisions were passed, key notable ones being that Sangam would work for “all” the people and not just South Indians, coming up with a Sangam flag and focus on education and temple constructions. Over the years, he consolidated and expanded activities of Sangam, including acquiring freehold land at Savusavu, Madhuvani and Rakikaki. To address the educational needs of the community, Sangam Sarada Printing Press was started on 15 August 1948. Among all the achievements of Swamiji, the one that he is known for the most is for his effort to improve the conditions of the sugarcane farmers. Swamiji and A D Patel (ADP), a leading lawyer, initiated the formation of a sugar cane farmers’ union on 15 June 1941. Though Swamiji initially refused to get involved in the union or political activities, his fearless and outspoken advocacy for the farmers’ grievances involvement in the 1943 farmers’ strike resulted him to be under house arrest at Nadi. The Fiji Farmers’ Federation in later years went on to become the Federation Party and later the National Federation Party. Swamiji’s contributions towards the Fiji sugar industry is well documented in public domain. On 9th March 1949, Swamiji along with Adv. A D Patel, started the Shri Vivekananda High School (SVHS, now Swami Vivekananda College, managed by the Ramakrishna Mission Fiji) under the Sangam organisation at the Nadi boarding / temple premises.
The RM Fiji was formally established on 26th September 1952 with Swamiji being one of the Trustees. Post the 8th January 1953 Annual Sangam General Meeting held at SVHS, Sangam became legally separated from the Ramakrishna
Mission. The SVHS, Library and the Ashram were transferred to the Ramakrishna Mission.
In 1963, a new tertiary education centre was established at Tailevu under the name University Tutorial College (TUC), which later had to be closed because of lack of demand. Later in 1994, Ramakrishna Mission Primary School was started at the same location. Another initiative of Swamiji during the same period was the opening of Nawaicoba Vocational Centre (now known as the Vivekananda Technical Centre - VTC) for providing technical education to those who could not make it to the university.
Swami Damodarananda (19 January 1919 – 12 July 2014), born in Gurupura, Mangalore and later joined the Ramakrishna Math Bangalore in 1940, took over the responsibilities from Swami Rudrananda in 1976. Prior to Fiji responsibilities, he served at the Ramakrishna Mission Singapore centre during 1961-1976, and before that he had served at Rangoon and Lahore. He was initiated by Swami Virajananda, the sixth president of the Ramakrishna Order. He also conducted classes and made visits to New Zealand and Australia, founding and managing all the centres in most of the cities in both countries. Later, he handed them over to Swami Sridharananda. In 2004, Swami Damodarananda was transferred to Thailand to establish the Ramakrishna Vedanta Association at Bangkok.
