Jewelry valued at thousands of dollars including a rare ruby which adorned murtis at the Malick Hindu Temple, San Juan, Trinidad was stolen last Thursday night. The jewelry had been placed around the necks of almost all the murtis at the temple by Hindu devotees. It is customary for Hindu devotees to place jewelry at the feet of murtis or arround the necks of the murtis, for wishes granted by the various deities.

Bandits gained entry into the temple by forcing open doors at the western side of the temple.

Yesterday Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Sat Maharaj said that it must be purely co-incidental that this descration occured on the very night that the Equal Opportunities Bill was laid in the Senate. He said that when caretakers visited the temple early yesterday to clean and place fresh flowers on the alter they discovered the horror that seemed to emanate from what he described as religious intolerance.

Yesterday , caretakers at the temple stated that they secured the temple around 8:30 pm on Thursday and retired to their home. They awoke yesterday to find the door to the temple open and the jewelry stolen. Deepan Ramadin one of the caretakers of the temple said that a devotee had placed a gold chain with a rare ruby arround the neck of goddess Durga and that was also stolen. The caretakers said they had no idea who broke into the temple and stole the jewelry. Fingerprint officers checked the temple for prints on Friday and an investigation has been launched by the San Juan Police Station.

YOUNG Hindu men are being urged to band themselves into "protection groups" to defend against those who may want to destroy their religious traditions and institutions.

Sat Maharaj, secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, made out a case for the protection and defence of the Hindu faith after a prayer service on Tuesday night at Carrat Hill in Barrackpore. The service was the culmination of nearly two weeks of walkabouts aimed at sensitising Hindus about their faith and beliefs. In the face of Hindu temples desecrated and flags destroyed, Maharaj told the 2,000-strong crowd "self-defence is the first law of nature."

"You must be ready for the protection of your temples, homes and the Hindu way of life," he said, receiving loud applause. "I am not advocating violence," Maharaj said in an interview later. Insisting the young men will not be armed, he said it was their duty to protect their Hindu institutions and homes. Speaking on the theme, "The defence of Hindu society," Maharaj said it was time Hindus take protection into their own hands, adding, "the Hindu has never been a cowardly or passive person."

Insisting Hindus were now battling to preserve their way of life, Maharaj announced that a faith protection charter has been drawn up to deal with fending off the attacks on their religion. Part of this charter involved setting up a $250,000 fund to secure properties across the country, Maharaj said, noting the Maha Sabha was hiring security experts to advise Hindus on how best to protect themselves and their institutions.

"It is our duty and our right as Hindus to protect ourselves," he declared, noting that such a decree can be found in Hindu scriptures. He also told members of the audience to form themselves into neighbourhood watch groups, so everybody would know when something is amiss in their mandir.

Maharaj also invited other religious groups who also felt they were being targeted to come together to form a common front against the desecration. Stating the recently passed Equal Opportunity Bill will not offer protection to Hindus, Maharaj pointed out that a mandir in Malick was desecrated on the night the legislation was passed.

What is hurtful, he said, is that politicians have been silent over the recent desecration issue. He charged that perhaps they did not want to be identified with the attacks on Hinduism. Declaring Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) leader Errol McLeod an enemy of Hinduism, Maharaj said there were others like him who wanted to destroy Hinduism.

The most damaging attack from McLeod, Maharaj said, came when he pulled down a jhandi erected on Petrotrin's compound, noting that Christmas trees have been put up and Christian chapels built there for worship. Neither did McLeod do anything to stop the booing of an Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) pundit who was invited to speak at the Labour Day celebrations in Fyzabad, Maharaj charged.

Author: Parsuram Maharaj

The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha on Tuesday 3rd October, 2000 will be holding a massive rally at the Carrot Hill Basketball Court, Barrackpore, from 6:30pm. The topic of discussion will be "The Defence of Hindu Society" given the increase in anti-Hindu activity. The most recent incident of anti-Hindu activity was a robbery of jewelery that adorned the murtis at a Mandir in Malick, San Juan.

Following a brief religious discourse at Carrot Hill, Barrackpore an estimated 3,000 Hindus from across Trinidad will gather to hear the Secretary General of the Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj on the Hindu response to the increase in anti-Hindu activity in the nation. Also addressing the gathering will be Mr. T. Seegobin, President General of the Maha Sabha and 2000 Hummingbird Gold Medal Recipient, Pundit Bramanand Rambachan, PRO of the Pundits Parishad, and Hon Ralph Maraj Member of Parliament of Naparima.

The critics of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha are many and can be found within as well as without the fold of the Hindu community. These critics some of whom can be found in the media, political parties, etc. are easily animated to launch their caustic vitriol against the Maha Sabha. Yet these same critics are deafeningly silent when the Hindu community is under attack from hostile forces. It is left for the Maha Sabha alone to defend the Hindu community.

The Maha Sabha is alarmed with the recent desecration of the Malik Mandir, San Juan which follows an attacks at the Gurahoo Trace Mandir in Fyzabad [Thursday 27th April, 2000 and Saturday 1st July ]. These incidents represents an increasing amount of attacks on Hindu places of worship as well as Hinduism in Trinidad & Tobago. It is perhaps note worthy to list some of the past five yearÆs anti-Hindu activity so that the readers can obtain a comprehensive idea why the Hindu community is concerned.

The Hindu community continues to be attacked by pamphlets by a fundamentalist Christian group, a calypso group blasphemed the Hindu holy chant Hare Krishna during Carnival 1998, Hindu jhandis were ripped away in Sangre Grande and Piparo by groups of Christian fundamentalists, a pundit appointed by the IRO was booed at the 1999 Labour Day Celebration in Fyzabad, a foreign based academic / columnist called for the banning of the Hindu text the Holy Ramayan, the OWTU trade union called for the destruction of a jhandi at Petrotrin despite the presence of an Anglican Church on the site, CCN TV 6 aired a show on the life on a missionary that debased Hinduism and Hindus, human faeces was found at jhandis at a Hindu home, a Hindu Temple was twice desecrated in Fyzabad, the Tobago House of Assembly refuses to grant Hindus in Tobago a cremation site as well as a site to build a temple.

The Maha Sabha also notes with disappointment the nonchalant manner in which these serious acts religious intolerance are being treated by the Police, Government, Opposition, the Media, the Inter-Religious Organisation, the Chamber of Commerce and other bodies. The Maha Sabha calls on representatives of these groups to join the condemnation of these acts. It must be made public that the leadership Catholic Church was the only body that displayed religious, and civic morality by extending an official letter of concern after the last mandir was violated.

These acts of intolerance are being viewed by the Maha Sabha not as unrelated incidents but as an unconscious conspiracy inspired by those who believe that they have a franchisee on religion and are of the opinion that Hindus do not have the right to exist in Trinidad & Tobago. Given the lack of protection from the authorities the Hindu community will now be forced to explore alternative forms of protection of their places of worship, homes, and community. If Hindus do not consider taking their own protection seriously then the Hindu civilizational presence in Trinidad will continue to be under constant threat from ideologies that continue to masquerade as religions.

Indeed history will bear witness that the Hindu has never willfully taken to violence. It was only when he was pushed into a corner, and in his home or religion by the way, by inimical forces feigning friendship and goodwill, that he took up arms for violent reaction. But it was always a reaction, never an initiative. Will the Trinidad Hindu community be forced into reacting due to inactivity of the authorities to prevent further attacks on Hindu places of worships ?

The Hindu must not be like the householder who sees a thief plundering his home and cries out "vasudhaiva kutumbakam" [ the entire world is my home]. People will only say that he is a coward and a hypocrite, that he dare not do anything and is only hiding his cowardice behind platitudes.

The Hindu community must take its inspiration from the Hindu Avatars such as Sri Ram and Sri Krishnsa on these matters. Hindus must not only worship these Avatars but also be inspired to emulate their examples. The Ramayan and Gita are the greatest treatise on human duties intended to be followed in manÆs day to day practical life, and not merely to be read to devotees by a pundit. The example that Sri Ram and Sri Krishna left was that decisive dharmic action is required to be taken to combat evil.