Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 7

Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 127

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Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 7
under Dina Nath Tiwari of Tenapuna and C. H. Buddhu of port of Spain. These were incorporated under the Trustee ordinance. There were smaller Sanatanist organisations too : the Sanatan Dharma Sabha of Debe under the leadership of L. P. Sharma, the Sanatan Dharma Sabha of Sangre Grande under Shiva Narayan Tiwari and the Sudhar Sabha of San Juan.
In 1937 the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control sent Dina Nath Tiwari to the Sanatan Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha of Lahore (India) to discuss the problems of the Hindus of Trinidad. As a result of this effort Parashuram Sharma came to Trinidad early in 1938. During his stay here and later in Guyana and Surianam Sharma gave excellent lectures on Hinduism at various places, explaining the essentials of Hinduism. He also created some controversies between the two major sanatanist organisations of Trinidad. However, his efforts to solve the problems of the local Hindus with regard to the legalisation of their marriage and the cremation of their dead ultimately succeeded. 17
By the closing years of the nineteenth century the Hindus with a sizeable population had the courage to claim that the image of La Davina Pastora in Siparia (South Trinidad) was actually their own Mother Goddess. They participated in large numbers in the Good Friday celebrations of this church and offered gold and silver watches, chains, rings and coins to the deity.18 They paid special homage to this "Goddess Kali” with their own devotional songs. Even now they get the first hair-cutting (mundan) of their children done here.
Initially the Hindus had lived rather modestly and defensively but by 1897 they boldly converted a few non-Hindus to their own faith,19 This was partly because of their own numerical strength and partly due to the arrival of some missionaries from India.
In 1888 J. H. Collens in his Guide to Trinidad referred to the mythological, philosophical and theological works which the Hindus of Trinidad respected. The Ramayan was the most popular religious book but the Bhagavat Purana, the Mahabharat, etc. were also read. As the Hindus were becoming rich they spent more and more on community Kathas like Satya Narayan Katha, Ramakatha, etc. No wonder the Colonial
17.
P. Sharma to Goberdhan Pandit, 18 Oct. 1938, Goberdhan papers, Siparia, Trinidad. Also, Trinidad Guardian, 31 Jan. 1939, p. 13, San Fernando Gazette and Trinidad News, 22 April, 1896. POS Gazette, 12 Aug. 1897.
8. 19.