DUBAI, March 13, 2011: People queue in tens of thousands each week to pray at the Hindu Temple in Bur Dubai’s Old Souk. They must pass through an alleyway so narrow, one could almost put a hand on either wall. Once inside they have to proceed quickly through their rites, supervised by hired security guards. There is no time – or space – for them to linger.
The Shiva and Krishna Mandir temple complex in Al Bastakiya was built in 1958, but its community has long outgrown it. The Hindus share the overcrowded space with the Sikh community, but that group is set to move on. They have already been granted a plot of land from the Dubai Government and are opening a new center in the coming months.
There are 1.7 million Indians in the Emirates and although the number of Hindus is unknown, the Indian Consulate in Dubai estimates about 50 per cent of the Indian population are Hindu. The temple is the only gathering point for Hindus in the UAE and one of just a few in the Gulf, making it a sought-after spiritual lifeline. Things get even busier during religious holidays. The two-day Maha Shivaratri festival last year drew around 125,000 people. Their queues stretched for several kilometres.
The Hindu temple’s management has also put in a request with the Dubai Government for more land, but has yet to hear back.