The Mahatma Gandhi Institute at the crossroads of celebrations

Arts and Culture

Rooted in a vision of scholarship, creativity, and inclusivity, the MGI became an institution that reshaped the country’s cultural landscape

By Nandini Bhautoo

When the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) was conceived in the late 1960s, Mauritius was just emerging from the first turbulent years of independence. Though more than two-thirds of the island’s population traced their roots to the Indian subcontinent, the cultural and artistic traditions of this majority were still marginalised in the country’s public life, media representation, and decision-making structures. The press and power centres of the time favoured colonial western forms, leaving Indian music, dance, theatre, and scholarship in a peripheral role.

It was against this backdrop that a joint decision in December 1969 between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India and Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam of Mauritius set in motion the creation of MGI. Kher Jagatsingh played a significant, though often less-publicized, role in the institution’s establishment, from its inception to its development as a center for learning and the arts. The project was given concrete form when the Mon Désert Alma Ltd donated 31 arpents 50 perches of land in Moka in 1970. That year saw the laying of the foundation stone by Indira Gandhi, the passing of the MGI Act, and the formal blueprint for an institution designed to safeguard, research, and promote the cultural heritage of Mauritius in all its diversity, with special attention to the rich traditions of the Indian diaspora.

From its inauguration on 9 October 1976, MGI stood as a counterweight to decades of cultural imbalance. Under its first Director, Dr K. Hazareesingh, the Institute started with The School of Performing Arts, which was initially known as School of Indian Music and Dance. Subsequently the School of Mauritian, Asian and African Studies (SMAAS) was established. It became a hub for research and documentation. Dr Hazareesingh facilitated the transfer of the Indian Immigration Archives to the MGI in 1978. This vast collection of over 450,000 individual records is now inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. These archives were not only historical treasures; they were symbolic acts of cultural reclamation, recognising the lives and journeys of indentured labourers whose stories had long been relegated to the margins.

It should be recalled that the Immigrants’ Registers, initially kept at the Immigration Depot (which then housed the Department of Public Assistance), were not considered historical documents. This fact emerged in Sada J. Reddi’s book, Sir V. Ringadoo – An Opportunity to Serve, where Ringadoo recalled the response of the then chief archivist, Auguste Toussaint, to his query as to why the historical records of the Indian immigrants’ arrival had not been transferred to the National Archives. Considerable efforts were later made by B. Ramlallah to convince the government to have the registers moved to the MGI’s Folk Museum of Indian Immigration for their restoration and preservation.

MGI’s mission was not limited to academic research – it was also about cultural awakening. In the 1970s, its active collaboration made possible the Festival de la Mer, a landmark event that brought to Mauritius a constellation of artists from across India. For the first time, the Mauritian public was able to encounter, in person, a rich diversity of classical and folk-dance forms — many of them virtually unknown on the island. This was not a small thing. Mauritius was then an isolated island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where much of the Indo-Mauritian population descended from impoverished, often illiterate farm workers violently uprooted from India generations earlier. Their cultural moorings had survived mainly through oral transmission and repeated family practices. The Festival de la Mer opened a window to worlds dimly remembered but deeply felt – a reconnection with traditions that were part of their identity yet had been inaccessible for over a century.

The appointment of Dr (Prof.) Uttam Bissoondoyal as Director-General in 1982 marked a period of expansive growth. A committed scholar and educator, Bissoondoyal strengthened MGI’s academic publishing through the MGI Press, producing landmark works on indenture, slavery, and the Indian Ocean diaspora. He professionalised and expanded the Performing Arts, commissioning nationwide surveys of musicians and dancers, reviving traditional repertoires from the Indian source regions, and advocating for music to be recognised as an examinable subject at Cambridge School Certificate level.

By the early 1990s, MGI had become a vibrant centre of academic life in Mauritius. It regularly hosted conferences bringing together local and international scholars, fostered public debate through roundtable discussions on issues of national significance, and showcased pioneering research in multiple editions of the Journal of Mauritian Studies. The School of Mauritian and Area Studies was particularly active during this period, producing research and cultural programming that resonated well beyond the campus.

The MGI’s contribution to education in Mauritius extended beyond its cultural mandate with the establishment of its secondary school, which quickly earned a reputation for academic excellence and leadership on the national scene. From its inception, the school was conceived as more than a place of learning – it was a model institution, setting benchmarks in teaching standards, extracurricular engagement, and values-based education. The creation of the Mahatma Gandhi Secondary Schools (MGSS) network in later years further amplified this mission, extending quality education beyond the urban centres and into rural areas. This initiative not only broadened access but also ensured that high academic standards reached communities that had historically been excluded from such opportunities, marking a decisive step in the democratisation of education in Mauritius.

The MGI’s School of Fine Arts has been a crucible for artistic innovation and cultural dialogue for over four decades, most visibly through the annual Salon de Mai. Founded by Moorthy Nagalingum, this exhibition has grown from an intimate gathering of elite artists into an inclusive platform welcoming both emerging voices and established masters. Over the years, its galleries have been graced by the works of eminent Mauritian artists such as Nalini Treebohun, Krishna Luchoomun, and Nirmal Hurry, as well as celebrated Indian artists including Mrinali Mukherjee and Satish Gujral, whose exhibitions on the MGI grounds brought international prestige and inspiration to local audiences. The Salon de Mai has consistently blended aesthetic excellence with socio-political engagement, using sculpture, painting, printmaking, and installations to address issues of education, democracy, identity, and memory. By fostering this sustained exchange between art and society, the School of Fine Arts has secured its place as both a guardian of heritage and an incubator of contemporary creative expression in Mauritius.

By the close of the twentieth century, MGI had become a visible symbol of cultural dignity. Its music and dance schools trained generations of artists; its archives and publications gave voice to a history that had been kept silent; its exhibitions and festivals asserted that Indo-Mauritian traditions deserved not only preservation but celebration in the national space. This was not about exclusion or replacing one dominance with another — it was about restoring balance in a society where cultural narratives had been skewed by colonial-era hierarchies and post-independence inertia.

Today, the intensity of that intellectual and cultural activity has waned. With the retirement of many of the institution’s stalwarts, the School of Mauritian and Area Studies — once a powerhouse of research — has yet to fully realise its potential anew. The contrast between the dynamism of the Institute’s formative decades and the quieter pace of recent years is a reminder that cultural institutions require sustained vision to remain relevant and vital.

MGI’s early decades thus represent one of the most significant cultural interventions in modern Mauritian history. It was an institution built on vision — rooted in scholarship, creativity, and inclusivity — and it reshaped the country’s cultural landscape in the second half of the twentieth century. By giving a platform to traditions historically marginalised, MGI helped Mauritius take a decisive step toward a more representative and confident cultural identity.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 15 August 2025