Dear Editor,
This letter is a continuation of the search for the location of the first Hindu temple to be erected in British Guiana. The initial letter prompted some interesting comments but no certainty. The suggestion was that the first temple was in the village of Lonsdale, on the banks of the Berbice River, close to where the first set of indentured servants landed on May 5, 1838. Sceptics insist that within the span of 8 years this could not have been done, as 1846, the date on the Ram Krishna mandir, was a period of uncertainty and instability both in the system itself and the lives of those transported from India.
Hopefully this matter can be resolved with further reliable evidence. We are left in this situation because in part we relied on others to record our history and yet have not directed adequate scholarship to assess the contributions of all. It is indeed regrettable that what we now consider to be significant developments in the progressive evolution of a diverse society were not documented for the benefit of future generations..
On page 259 of Peter Ruhoman’s Centenary History of East Indians in British Guiana 1838-1983 it is stated that one Hindu temple was discovered high up the Berbice River and the other on the island of Leguan when the Royal Commission visited the colony in 1870. It did not state which was first and it can be argued that this fertile natural paradise at the mouth of the Essequibo River may very well be the location of the first temple.
From 1833 to 1838 when the final Act of Emancipation was given effect, a labour shortage faced the plantation owners in the Magnificent Province. The ex-enslaved moved away from the plantations to experience their new found freedom to think and act as they wished. At that time Leguan, described variously as being between 12 to 18 square miles, had 23 sugar and 3 coffee/plantain estates. Even when it was reduced to 8 estates, it attracted a significant number of Indian labourers, an overwhelming majority of whom were Hindus. Today there are 6 temples on the island but the original temple location may not be any of these. By 1890 the colony had 33 Hindu temples, and 43 by 1917, but no evidence of another one in Leguan.
Based on Ruhoman’s account (and no source contradicting it has been found so far) even if Leguan was not the location of the first temple then it was definitely the second. The descendants of these cultural icons have continued to lead today in their project to construct the largest Hanuman Murti in Guyana. Blenheim is also unique in that it may be one of the few villages in Guyana where two mandirs serve just a few hundred people. Hopefully these peaceful multi-faith islanders would also establish a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and celebrate his birthday, October 2, if only to appreciate his influence in ending Indentureship after his brutal exposure to the maltreatment of Indian citizens in South Africa, and to recognise his relevance in a world of excessive materialism and unnecessary violence.
Information on the first temple in Leguan will be appreciated by the writer at ramjihindu@rogers.com
Yours faithfully,
Ramnarine Sahadeo
Canada
