Kala pani

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For the infamous British jail in Port Blair, see Cellular Jail.

For the 1996 film of the same name, see Kala Pani (1996 film).

For the 1958 film of the similar name, see Kalapani (1958 film).

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The Kala Pani (literally, black water) represents the taboo of the sea in Indian culture, for which sailing the high waves and leaving the mainland meant confronting "houglis" or monsters.

Fear of crossing the Kala Pani also derives from the notion that it entailed the end of the reincarnation cycle, as the traveller was cut off from the regenerating waters of the Ganges. Such voyages also meant breaking family and social ties. This taboo accounts for the disinterest in overseas commerce on the part of high caste Hindus, who therefore left this lucrative field to Muslims, and to Christians and Jews settled in the spice enclaves such as Cochin and Calicut.

When slavery was abolished in Mauritius in 1834, the authorities looked for indentured labor to replace the slaves who had been emancipated. The emissaries sent to India for this purpose were astute in attracting so-called "coolies" to the countries requiring cheap labor, which were often presented as "promised lands." But many prospective candidates for the distant colonies expressed their fears of crossing the Kala Pani. So the British often employed a stratagem to dispel the doubts of the indentured: they placed water from the Ganges in large cauldrons on the ships, to ensure the continuity of reincarnation beyond the Kala Pani. The sea voyage was then seen as less fearsome.

Mauritian poet and critic Khal Torabully describes the Kala Pani as a source not only of the dissolution of identity, but also of beauty and reconstruction, leading to what he terms a "coral imaginary."