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They are hoping to get support from Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council to build a Hindu Religious and Cultural centre.

At the moment they meet in believers’ homes or in borrowed halls where the community, of more than fifty, continue practising the rituals and ceremonies of their faith while fundraising for the total of £200,000 continues. Sushil Soni, the President of the Ipswich Hindu Samaj, told me of progress so far, “The executive committee is working and what we have to do now is raise money, but the main donation will come from the people themselves. We have already fixed the amount that we will be asking people to contribute. It will not be built tomorrow or the day after. It may take a year but we have now started and that’s the main thing.”

A bracelet for a brother

There are 900 million followers worldwide and is the third biggest religion in Britain. The 3000 year old faith has no founder, leader or prophets, but believe in a universal god they call Brahman. The many branches of the faith worship deities such as Krishna, Shiva, Rama and Durga, and Hindu’s believe that our existence is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth or reincarnation, governed by Karma, or the sum of good and evil actions in our lives. Their religious teachers are called Guru’s… and when praying believers repeat a verse or mantra … or practise yoga.

Sushil invited me to join in with the festival of Raksha Bandham when a Hawan and Sat Narayan Pooja was held at the home of Mrs Kiran Sinha and her family in Ipswich. When I arrived a group of twelve or so Hindus of all ages where sitting on the floor of the dining room as prayers and mantras were chanted. After the symbolic ritual of purifying themselves and their surroundings with drops of water, a small fire was lit in a metal goblet and this was fed with small pieces of wood, and ghee (clarified butter) and petals. On a small shrine an idol of the Hindu Deity, Lord Narayan was placed, and offerings of money and food were placed before it.

Family worship

I asked Shakti Khosla about the “third eye,” the jewel placed between the eyebrows that the women were wearing, “If the priest was here, one of the things he would have done was to mix red vermillion powder and would have put it on everyone’s forehead, where the dot is between the eyebrows, on the forehead. He would have done that as a mark of blessing and purity…..men as well as women.”

As this was a special day, when sisters honour their brothers, after the worship was finished and a meal shared, more family members joined us and the men and boys had braid bracelets or “name” tied around their wrists by their sisters – and in return gave gifts of flowers or money. Those whose sisters live in India or elsewhere in Britain or Europe, had received their “name” through the post – and their wives and daughters tied them on instead.

As the Indian community in Great Britain has adopted our Valentines Day – perhaps we should have a Brothers Day too - I thought it was a lovely idea!