WATERLOO, TRINIDAD, August 5, 2007: (HPI note: Following are several stories on the attack by Christians upon Trinidad’s most famous temple.) Members of the Siewdass Sadhu Shiva Mandir are calling for security measures to be set up on the temple’s compound after it was broken into and vandalized over the weekend. Pamela Gokool, secretary of the mandir’s committee, also known as the Temple in the Sea, said she received a call around 7 a.m. yesterday informing her that the temple had been broken into. Pointing to an area on the wall that was singed from the ground upwards, she said cupboards inside the building were emptied and the contents, along with puja items were piled into a corner and set afire. “This is a heinous crime, undoubtedly committed by some ungodly person with a lot of hate and animosity inside,” she said. “People are supposed to have respect for God and for this holy place and I am angry and hurt that this has happened. “There have been petty break-ins before, but this by far is the worst.”
Scores of temple members, devout Hindus as well as curious onlookers all braved the heavy rains and flocked to the temple as word of its vandalism spread. Deonarine Maharaj, a temple member, deemed the act as disgusting. “The person or persons who did this had to be very evil,” he said. One man, who did not wish to be named, said that he became emotional on seeing the damage done to the Mandir. “A real Hindu looking at this will be hurt to the core. Words cannot express what I want to say right now,” he said.
Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Satnarine Maharaj, is calling on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to take steps to prevent any upsurge in racial tensions in this pre-election period. Maharaja’s call came yesterday as Hindus reeled in shock and sorrow at the news that the Siewdass Sadhu Shiva Mandir, better known as the Temple-In-The-Sea, in Orange Valley, was vandalized, and an attempt made to burn it down. Vandals toppled and smashed murtis of four Hindu deities–Lord Ganesh, Lord Krishna, Mother Durga and Lord Hanuman. They also used jhandis and boulders to smash glass window panes and attempted to burn down the structure by setting fire next to the southern wall inside the temple. Officials of the temple’s committee noted, however, that the collection boxes remained untouched. Samdaye Siewdass, widow of the man who single-handedly built the temple, was reduced to tears when she entered the temple yesterday afternoon. She was so saddened by the destruction that she could not say a word. To read additional news reports and photos of the Mandir on the vandalizing of the temple, go to URL above.
Click here and here, for photos of the damage.