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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, May 2, 2005: The installation at the weekend of a new leader for the Hindu community attracted almost 4,000 people in a splendid ceremony. Pundit Uttam Maharaj was installed in a four-hour ceremony at the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) headquarters on Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College grounds in St. Augustine. Swami Divyanand Teerth Maharaj from India officiated at the function. Maharaj replaces as Dharmacharya his father-in-law, Pundit Krishna Maharaj, who passed away more than a year ago. The ceremony began with a breath-taking procession of more than 100 pundits. The pundits walked through the center of the crowd and filled the stage. Pundit Maharaj held center stage on a raised dais, decorated with flowers. Pundit Maharaj, 57, retired from a lengthy teaching career at the Rousillac Hindu School in 2003. A former pupil of St. Benedict’s College, La Romaine, Pundit Maharaj is also a gifted sitar player and has taught both Hindi and Sanskrit. He has performed Hindu prayers all over the country, as well as in Canada, England and the US. In 1998, he was elected president of the Pundits Parishad of Trinidad and Tobago.

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