Hanuman
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 20 Oct 2009 22:53
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Hanuman  
 After leaving the Temple on the Sea, we
passed a Mosque, a big school and I found a pretty blue flower when we stopped.
 
 42% of Trinidad and Tobago's one and a half million
population traces its ancestry to India. Indo-Trinidadians make
up the countries largest ethnic group. They are primarily descendants from
indentured workers from India brought when slavery was abolished and there
was an acute lack of workers when the freed African slaves refused to continue
working on the sugar plantations. The Indian Community is divided roughly half
and half between those who maintained their original Hindu or Muslim religions
and those who have taken to Christianity or have no religious affiliation.
Through cultural preservation groups, Trinidadians of Indian descent maintain at
least some of their customs and rites.
   By 1986 a temple was formed and throughout the 1990's the pink and white temple continued to develop into a south
Indian style mandir and a compound for the Hindu community was expanded.
 In 2001, Swamiji had the idea that a special murti should
be erected. It took two years and the contributions of many devotees, but by the
9th of June 2003 Kumbhabishekam was performed for a magnificent, 85 foot
tall murti of Hanuman or Hanumanji.
Located in
Carapichaima, this 85 foot murti is reputed to be the largest of its
kind outside of India. The murti stands on the grounds of the Dattatreya Yoga
Centre and Mandir and attracts devotees offering gifts and performing the ritual
of pradakshina (circumambulation while
uttering the sacred Hanuman mantra).
  
The dog sleeping,
Bear with his hat on the the faithful camel patiently
waiting.
 
 The temple is vast inside
and Hanuman is impressive outside
 
 Jessie teased me as I could not remember
Hanuman's name and had thought our trip to the Temple
on the Sea was our last stop. "No, No where is the tallest thingy outside India"
"I'll have to look it up for you".
 
 The wise teacher, Bear
still with the camel and the rear view of
Hanuman
 
 In the grounds stands a Canon Ball Tree. The balls hang from bangs that stick out
from the trunk. Jessie held the flower of the tree
and didn't want anyone to handle the balls as they have a
terrible smell.
 ALL IN ALL A HOLY
SITE THAT FEELS A SOMEWHAT MAGICAL PLACE
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