Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 7

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

Page 136

Hinduism in Trinidad
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year.52 Abir is played in the villages with "Joking" relations like sisterin-law, brother in law, etc. and there is great fun.53
A festival like Makar Sankranti was celebrated around January upto the early sixties with ritual bathing, mela (fair) and bazar, but now it has disappeared. However, Ramanavami, the birth day of Rama, in March-April has survived. In 1940 the Sanatan Dharma Sudhar Sabha organised this festival on a grand scale. 54 Now it is usually confined to individual homes and temples.
Shivaratri was also a big festival in the past. The Sanatan Dharma Sudhar Sabha of San Juan organised it in all the Shivalas of Trinidad in February 193955, but now it is confined to a few temples only. The younger generation of Indians know little about the significance of this day.
Katik-ke-nahan, the ceremonial bathing in the sea on the last day of the month of Kartik (Katik), is still retained by the Hindus. Pitri Paksha (Pitar pakh) is the fortnight around August-September when the departed souls of the ancestors are offered oblations. Lord Ganesh is worshipped on special occasions. The ceremonial reading of the Ramayan or the Bhagawat Puran for a week or ten days has always been popular in Trinidad.56 In some areas the Ramayan Satsang is arranged every Thursday or Saturday night, the Hanuman puja on Saturdays and the Suryanarayan puja every Sunday morning.
52.
53. 54. 55.
See N. K. Bose, “The spring Festival of India" in Culture and Society in India, London, 1967, pp. 36-85. Klass, op. cit., pp. 166-168. POS Gazette, 21 April 1940, p. 16. POS Gazette, 12 Feb. 1939; Trinidad Guardian, 10 Oct. 1946; POS Gazette, 8 Feb. 1947 : Thousands of Hindus from all over Trinidad assembled at the Springville temple. The Shiva Purana was read, a sacred drama was staged and chowtal singing was arranged. A and J. Nichoff (op. cit. p. 123 (confuses the Bhagwat Purana with the Bhagwadgeeta. These are two of the most important Hindi scriptures. The Bhagwat Purana says that Vishnu is the sole sustainer and controller of the world. He appears in this world as an avatar (manifestation or incarnation) in a crisis. This idea is also contained in the Shrimadbhagwadgeeta popularly called Geeta or Gita.
56.