Deepavali in Trinidad and Tobago? Yes indeed, that timeless epic, the Ramayana, and the festival of lights is a part of the Diaspora across the globe, and is celebrated with as much gusto as in India, writes NARAYANI GANESH
I lift my eyes heavenward to catch the full view of the 85-foot high Hanuman towering into the blue sky — an unexpected rendezvous with Rama’s loyal devotee and son of the Wind god, 14,000 km from Delhi, and barely 10 km off the coast of Venezuela, South America. The Hanuman Temple is in Carapichaima village in central Trinidad.
When I scan the horizon from left to right, I spy another towering figure — that of Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swami of Mysore’s Avadhoota Datta Peetham! On closer inspection, I find that it is a large cutout, but smaller in scale than Hanumanji. I learn from local visitors that they are followers of Swamiji.
Although they have not been to their homeland in Bihar, from where their forefathers migrated to the Caribbean a few hundred years ago as indentured labour, they’ve made special visits to Mysore, to experience the ashram of their beloved guru, with whose guidance the temple was built. “Swamiji has been here twice, sharing his insights with us and performing yajnas and pujas,” said the gentleman from Trinidad who was visiting the temple with his family as it was a holiday, their Republic Day, on September 24.
The devotee informs me that during his last visit here in 2010, Swamiji performed Sri Chakra Puja and the Nada Sangama steel band played and he spoke about the inner journey of jivatma, each individual, to reach the Paramatman residing within. The Karyasiddhi Hanuman idol at Datta Yoga Centre, Carapichaima, built in 2003, is one of the more recent additions to Hindu places of worship at Trinidad and Tobago. There are temples to Shiva, Rama, Vishnu, Hanuman and Shakti built at various times over some 300 years, ever since people moved here from Bihar, Orissa, Varanasi and some parts of south India, brought here by various colonisers including the Spanish, French, Portugese and the British. “Why do you have the statue of a camel squatting here, facing Hanumanji?” Hearing no answer, I turn around to find that the visitors have left, and there was no one there to address my questions to. I decide to circumambulate Hanumanji and while doing so, I peered into the sanctum sanctorum with its flower-bedecked idol of the monkey god, an ishta devta of Trinidadian Hindus.
Indic tradition and faiths are so much a part of the composite culture here that every day is a celebration for everyone, of any faith, colour, race or affiliation. And so you have Deepavali celebrations in almost every home here, with Muslims, Christians and Hindus coming together to light diyas or clay lamps, sharing sweets, dressing up in Indian finery, women decorating their hands with henna and homes bursting with the aroma of Caribbean-style Indian roti-curry and reverberating to the rhythm of popular bhajans set to the beat of the dhol, often accompanied by steelpan bands and chutney music, both born of composite culture.
Come the Dusshera-Deepavali season and the Ramlila festival takes off, some four weeks before the festival of lights. Dedicated to Ayodhya’s scion, Rama, the Maryada Purusha avatar of Vishnu, plays are performed at various recreation grounds and other spaces throughout the islands, retelling the Ramayana. The festival this year was launched by the National Ramlila Council of Trinidad and Tobago, at a function held at the St Augustine Community Centre. There are more than 30 Ramlila groups throughout Trinidad and Tobago, with over 10,000 artistes, dancers, musicians, dramatists and persons with other skills enrolled as participants. The Ramlila festival this year began on September 19, culminating with the symbolic burning of the ‘demon’ Ravana on the 11th day. Kamalwattie Ramsubeik, president of the National Ramlila Council of Trinidad and Tobago, has been carrying out a fund-raising campaign, appealing to the government and private contributors to give generously.
Following the Ramlila comes Deepavali, celebrating Rama’s return to Ayodhya. “I can’t wait to wear my sari”, exclaimed an excited Nyasha, our local guide in Tobago. “But aren’t you of African descent,” I ask, rather lamely, for no sooner had I said that, was I given a short account of her family history that includes relatives from India, Africa and even China with traces of Portugese and French! “We’re very multicultural and end up celebrating every festival you can possibly think of,” she says. The same sentiment is echoed by Shelly, who is of Amerindian, French, Spanish and Chinese descent.
Cheri, our guide in Trinidad, has a great-great-grandma from India. Her maternal grandma is indigenous and others, of African descent. She, too, wears a sari and bindi, decorates her palms with henna while celebrating Deepavali — otherwise she is Christian — and all the families get together to light diyas, arranging them on bamboo frames and sing songs and tell stories, with the kitchen churning out cuisine that is a mix of all these cultures.
And then you have pockets of ‘East Indians’ — from Bihar, mostly — who have managed to retain most of their rituals even if they are somewhat hybridised by other cultural influences and also skirted inter-marrying, though some of them have broken this tradition to meld seamlessly into the larger TTian culture that subsumes every culture that ever set foot on the islands.
So, as they say on the islands, it’s time to “lime and jam” — hang out together and jive to music, and celebrate the rich culture of celebrations!
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