Heritage honour for • t

From humble beginnings, Adelaide's Ganesh a temple has grown into an icon ofthe community

resembles me human bod y lying on i ts back with me head to me east and feet to the west and houses 25 hand -crafted deities "

Wbenever one sees a picture of the Opera House, Sydney pops up on o ur mental s creen. And tbe Taj Maha l transcends you co tantalising Lidia. Every major city in the world has a scrucrure that represents ic, or the country where it is located, like the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower or Big Ben, co name a few. Travel brochures are living proof ~) f their value as tourist magnets. Such buildings have atcai.ned iconic status due to their age, design and character unique co the era o f their construction. Their soc io -culrural values have been etched into their community's heritage canvas.

Being a young nati o n, Australia may lack such spectacular age-old structures Howe ve r, most scates have buildings ranging from little cottages to magnificent mansions that give a narrative of tl1e lifesty le, social and cultural values of the early years of settlement. To ensure tbat such a narrative is not lose co future generatio ns, state governments ha\Te used legislation to protect some of 1.hose buildings by li sting them o n a heritage register. Generally tl1ose buildings a re of considerable antiqui ty.

But one building that got tbe gong i s o nly 13 years oldSouth Australian Hindu Society's Ga nesh a temp le in Adelaide. Number thirteen has proved lucky, in its case. Adding the temple to the register, the SA Heritage Council states, ''T he place meets the crite rion 16(1) o f tbe Heritage Place Ace of 1993. le has strong culmral and spiritual associacion for the community The temp le is significant as the Stace's first traditional Hindu temple since late 1990s ic has provided che State's Hindus, from different sects, with a p lace for both spiritual worship and culmral sruclies. The design of the temple 20 ln l 985, Dr Ravindran , an orthopaedic surgeon of Sri Lankan and Indian orig in, sowed me seed for che Hindu Society, inviting mree members from each of che above two groups, including Dr Easwaran (Sri Lanka), Baghwac Sharma, Mohan Odhav ji (Fiji) and Ken Soman (India)

U nderstandably, the Hindu Society is elated at receiving this badge o f honour, and also being tbe first Hindu temple in Australia co be felicitated How it achieved this, can be explain ed by following its 30 year journey.

Llke most public organisations, ic started from humble beginnings. Way back in me mid - '70s, about a half dozen families would meet at weekends to chanc 'bh'!)am' under the banner of me H indu Seva Samaj. It was the brainchild of 1'vfoti Somers, an arts teacher from South Africa. Around the same time Rajesh Chandrasekaram, a teacher from Malaysia, organ ised Vedanta Society meecings for similar spiri rual purposes. Bo tb mese informal groups used to meet at individual residences.

Witl1 the nwnber of migrants of Hindu faitl1 increas ing, the need fo r a common place of worship was keenly felt. Just four months after its inception, the Society pure.based a vacant Lutheran church hall in Marion, 15km south of the CBD. Ir was a very basic single- storey cement brick buildiug mac would seat around 80, with a small of/ice room. Ac one end the hall was a metre -high wooden p latform with a Cross placed on it. The gravel car park outside had space for 10 vehicles. The society opted for this austere building since it had no funds; any green field option was out of me question. Announcing its decision on the purchase at a meeting in r ovember 1985, me Society received pledges for a tl1ird of the purchase price and the balance at the time of settlement two months lacer, with n o need for borrowing. It was a remarkable feat. The local Hindu population might have been small, buc ics enthus ia sm high enough ro make Adelaide the second city in Australia to have a temple.

The auste re building's transformation to w hat ic i s today is simply amaz.ing! However, it was not withouc a few bumps a long me way, as could be expected \vi d1 any public organi sations of its kind Inicially a framed picture of Ganesha adorned me platform; it still hangs on one of the walls and is fondly revered. Within s ix months of buyi ng the building, a metre- high granite statue o f Lord Ganesha - as He is unive rsally accepted by all sections of the H indu community - was brought from l ndia and installed on a concrete pedestal after a simple but auchencic pmthishta ceremon y witnessed by a full house in July 1986.

Now being a house of God, d1ere arose a need co open the location and offer ptfftl every evening. In tl1e absence of a traditional priest, some volunteers like Dr f\nanch Rao, a mathemacics professor and scholar; Di.lip Chirm ull ey, a tLniversicr lecturer; and a couple of ochers well-versed in scr iptures undertook this job on a rotational basis for over a yea r. ln 1988, Skandaraja Kurukkal from Malaysia was appointed tl1e priest. A handful of generous members undertook co flmd the p r iest's accommodation and od1er expenses, as the temple had limited resources.

With all the rel igious features of a temple in p lace and more migrants an:iving, devotees started attending in large numbers. On major festival days there was not enough space, and devotee s had co stand outside to obtain d111:rhflfl and partake of pmsad. As the building was surrounded b y houses on all three sides, there was no room to expand. It was proposed to build a temple at the car park, shifting the idol cbere and converting the temple building to a hall. l\foving d1e consecrated did not find favour with some sections Lack of space and resource s confronted even the ALTughty. No solucion could be found until 1 992 when an opportunity arose to buy the backy ard of an adjoining house, and ic was taken up even tho ugh it cost as much as the original church bLulding! 1r was only made p ossible thanks to a generous d o nor. Lord V igneswara, described as a 'Remover of obstacles' knows how co spo c kind- hearted devotees.

The next few years were mainly taken up in raising fonds with the annual DiwaJi dinner being me main event. Mr Dilip Chirmnley and Dr Jagan Mazumclar, dudng their terms as president, tried to move tbe p ro jecc along In me general community, opinion was divided as to which of two proposed plans could be adopted.

Counselling was sought even from overseas experts including Subramaniya Swami from the Kauai (Hawaii) Hindu temple and Prof Kailasanatban from Jaffoa Univers ity. One plan involved p lacing deities represencing the aspirations of all regional groups in a single file, whereas the ome r p lan was ro keep Ganesha at his present place and build shrines for tbe od1er deities The latter plan was approved at a general meeting. From men on tilings moved fast, wi tb Dr Jagdish Saraf taking the re ins in 1998 as president, with good support from Siva Selvahtlalingam as vice-president and Dr Janan Easwaran as a largehearted donor. Sri l atarajan, a renowned stapathi (chief temple arcisan) and SL"< craftsmen an:ived from lndia in early 2000 Working long hours seven days a week, the)' transformed an unassuming o ld bLiilcling into an astonishing p lace o f wo rs hip Their accommodation and living expenses were all borne by a generous donor. In November 2000, aU the ddties were inst.'liled according co vedi c scripmres and consecrated at a four-day k11111b11bishek11111 ceremony witnessed by mousands of devo tees An icon was born and a dream of all those noble souls involved since mid -'70s was fulfilled.

A captivating feamre of the temple is its gop11ra111 (dome) adorned w i th colourfLtl statuettes from various Hindu mytl1o logy, aU constructed by hand by the Indian craftsmen This dome i s visible from quite a distance and has become a traffic- scopper. Even more astonishing is me g lass roof su rrmmding the gop11n11n Besides letcing in pl enty of lig ht, this unique feature acts like a divine window to d1e upper world. On moonlit nig hts, soft rays filtering through the glass give it an unparalleled feeling of peace and tranquillity. These two features would noc have escaped d1e attention of tl1e Heritage Counci l officials during their in specti o n visi ts before gra nting d1e temp le heritage status. The man y glowing cornments about d1e temple in t he v isitors book would have also impressed d1em. During the second k11111habishek..c1m ea rlier m is ye ar, tl1ey observed che rituals and noted tbeir religious and socio -cultural significance to d1e community

Selva, pres ident since 200 I, takes pride in poinring ouc ocher features such as the level of community support chat helped to comp lete every stage of d1e temple, \\rithout borrowing a cent.

"By having id ols specLfic co major seccions of d1e Hindu community, d1e temple serves as a haven of harmony ,vith each group caking ownership of major festivals of particular importance to them," he says Marble ido ls placed on one side and granite idols on tl1e o mer, in line with the custom in North and South India, provides a unifying edifice. More than a relig io us place, che temple serves as a culcural centre by holding classes in Hindi and T amil, classical dance performances and spiritual satsc111gs. Volunteer s explain Hfodui s m prjnciples to visiting groups from schoo ls and service clubs It functions as a social hub coo, for new migrants to establish their network with peopl e from d1eir regions

''All these aspects were made known to the Heritage officials during meetings w ith d1em in the course o f six )'ears si nce an application was made," says Selva.

The Adelaide Hindu community and their temp le ma y be small compared with their counterparts in the eastern st.'l tes, but they have become che pace setters.