The Folk Museum of Indian Immigration is located in the premises of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Moka. It was opened on 11 March 1991. Its mandates and objectives are to:

• Restore
• Preserve
• Enhance
• Disseminate
• Interprete and
• Present the immigration experience and its history,and promote and celebrate the Cultural Heritage of Indian Immigrants.

The Museum highlights the history and culture of the Indian immigrants. It has in its custody a 'panoplie' of artefacts pertaining to the immigration period, namely; a hand-written 'Ramayana' - the great Indian Epic - brought by an indentured labourer in 1842. Also displayed are personal jewelleries and belongings of contractual labourers; Beau Vallon temple artefacts (1856); domestic utensils and agricultural tools used by Indian immigrants.

The Folk Museum of Indian Immigration has a permanent exhibition on archival documents, photographs, lithographs and dioramas of a typical village life, a traditional kitchen and a 'baitka' of the 19th Century. Hindu festivals are also highlights along with traditional clothing, musical instruments and jewelleries.

The Indian Immigration Archives (IIA) at the MGI was set up following a Government Decision in 1974 to transfer the Indian Immigration archival documents from the National Archives to the custody of the MGI.

Since then, the MGI has initiated a continuous programme to acquire documents and memorabilia, and engaged in an extensive history programme of research, dissemination and enhancement.

Tracing roots

The Museum and Archives offer a free service of tracing back roots. For further information visit Mahatma Gandhi Institute website mgi.intnet.mu (see Folk Museum and Archives).