Highlights
- Australia's older Hindu migrants faced challenges while celebrating festivals due to few Indian grocery shops, temples
- Hinduism has seen 'significant' growth in Australia, according to 2016 census
- Younger migrants say festivities are easy now as number of Hindus and temples is rising in Australia
The Hindu festival of Navratri, celebrated twice a year, starts today. It celebrates Goddess Durga, often by lively musical and theatrical renditions that resound in Hindu homes and temples.
The festival culminates on a high note on the ninth day with prayers to the goddess and offering of hearty and rich food like halwa, poori and bhangoor. Little girls, who are said to symbolise Goddess Durga, have their feet washed and receive gifts and money.
This tradition was not all-too prominent in Australia a few decades ago. However, with their numbers increasing via migration primarily from India, Nepal and Fiji over the past decade-and-a-half, their colourful celebrations have begun to evoke curiosity amongst Australia’s wider multicultural community.
Virendra Anand, now a retired engineer, landed in Australia in 1973. He came freshly armed with an engineering degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, West Bengal, and a plush job at the Australian multi-national company, BHP.
In 1973 Australia, the devout engineer yearned to worship Goddess Durga the way he was used to doing in India.
“Ghee (clarified butter) is the first thing you need to do pooja (worship). That wasn’t available in Australia when I came here. There weren’t too many Indian grocery shops or restaurants till nearly the early 1990s, leave alone Hindu temples at all,” recalls Mr Anand.
Mr Anand was disappointed and had to look for alternatives. He would buy white butter and melt it to make ghee at home.
He attributes this to the feeble rate of Indian migration to Australia about half a century ago. However, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country’s Hindu population grew from 1.3 per cent in 2011 to 1.9 per cent in 2016.
File photo of Member for Carrum Sonya Kilkenny at Melbourne's Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple attending a Hindu community event. Source: Facebook/Shivavishnutemple Hsv (Hindu Society of Victoria)
This was about all he could muster for pooja, which is otherwise an elaborate affair requiring exotic ingredients like incense sticks, betel leaves, camphor, vermillion, sandalwood and more.
Things have now a taken a turn, “and for the better”, says Sonia Kakkar of Melbourne.
A mother of two and a dental assistant, Ms Kakkar arrived in Australia in 2013 with her family. She comes from Punjab’s Jalandhar, a city that sits at the epicentre of a region in the state known for its inclination towards foreign shores. It is colloquially known as Punjab’s ‘NRI (non-resident Indian) Belt’.
“We face no difficulty while performing our religious activities in Australia. In our suburb alone, there are four Indian grocery shops and one Hindu temple. We have formed a community group in which members host special prayers during Navratri at home and invite others,” says Ms Kakkar.
Similar feelings are echoed by Bhawna Gupta who has established Kali Mata Mandir in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Craigieburn, home to a large Punjabi community.
“Sometimes I feel the Hindu community of Australia is more inclined towards pooja than that in India. People here aren’t really dissuaded by their professional demands when it comes to community service in the temple or even at home,” says Ms Gupta.
Bhawna Gupta (fifth from left) with members of Melbourne's Hindu community. Source: Facebook/CraigieburnMataMandir
She manages the temple with help from her family and the local community.
Back in in the day, reminisces Mr Anand, it was an uphill task to find any Hindus to socialise with during festivals.
“Today, I see posters of Hindu festivals on streets and social media. It just feels like home. But when I came to Australia, one would better forget about feeling homesick during festivals,” says Mr Anand.
Today, Melbourne is home to the largest Hindu temple of the country.
During busy festivals like Navratri, Shri Durga Temple at Deanside, hosts thousands of people (except for 2020 due to COVI-19). Pandit Sushil Shastri, a priest at the temple, says the festivities can even give you the illusion that you are in India.
“During the second Navratri of the year, we even stage Ram Lila, (a theatrical presentation of the Hindu epic, Ramayana). Major festivals like Lohri, Maha Shivratri, Holi, Janamashtami, Dushera, Karwa Chauth and Diwali, see over 10,000 people in the temple,” says Mr Shastri who hails from Hoshiarpur, which also falls in Punjab’s NRI Belt.
SBS Punjabi wishes everyone a happy Navratri.
To listen to this feature in Punjabi, click on the player at the top.
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