Sadhu Kuppuswami

Sadhu Kuppuswami (1890 - 1956) was a Fiji Indian who inspired South Indians in Fiji to have pride in their culture and language and was instrumental in the establishment of the Sangam organisation in Fiji. At the end of his indenture period Kuppuswami Naidu, took up the cause of the South Indians in Fiji. He gave up worldly pleasures, taking up the life of a sadhu (holy man). He was a devotee of Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maha Rishi, Ramalinga Swamigal and Rama Krishna Paramahamsa. He later became known amongst his colleagues and South Indians in particular, as Sadhu Swami

Early life

Kuppuswami the son of Govind Swamy Naidu was born in the village of Konoor, Tamil Nadu, India in 1890. He was literate in Tamil and Telugu and was a police officer in India. He arrived in Fiji on 12 April 1912 as an indentured labourer, abroad the Sutlej III. He served his five years of indenture in Tavua. On becoming a “free man” he tried cane farming but soon gave it up to join the Melbourne Trust Company in Rakiraki as a two-horse ploughman. His father, an Orthodox South Indian, ensured that his son was given the best to develop his knowledge of South -Indian religion, culture and art in his mother tongue Telugu from a young age. He came from a simple middle class community of Kamma Caste.

Formation of South Indian Organisation

At Rakiraki, he met T.A.J. Pillai, a court clerk, and stayed with his family while teaching Tamil to local children. During the influenza epidemic of 1918,...
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