Trinidad trip: Whatever I saw, my heart was filled with pride.

Vinay Arya General Secretary Arya Samaj

It feels good to be an Indian outside India, but it feels even better to see our religion and culture smiling in a country thousands of kilometers away from India. These days, on the occasion of the 200th birth anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand, the International Arya Maha Sammelan was organized in America by the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, America. Hundreds of Arya people, scholars, sanyasis from India reached to participate in this International Arya Maha Sammelan. The four-day conference started and ended with great pomp.

It is said that walking, seeing and listening takes the experience of life forward. After the conclusion of the International Arya Maha Sammelan America, I went to Trinidad. It is an island in the Caribbean Sea, which is located at the southern end of the Caribbean Sea. Trinidad and Tobago together form an island country. One special thing about this country is that no religious or ethnic community is in majority here. About forty percent of the total population of Trinidad are Indians. Thirty-eight or forty-nine percent are Africans, the rest are Europeans, Chinese, Americans etc. If we talk about Trinidad and Tobago in terms of economic prospects, then it is the most prosperous Caribbean country because it has huge reserves of oil and gas. But my purpose of going here was not to know the economic prosperity or poverty of this country. My purpose was only to see the seeds of the crop of Vedic culture that the immortal Aryan disciples of Maharishi Dayanand ji had planted there a century ago. Those seeds have now become banyan trees.

Although for me India is the country, the place where I was born, it is also the birthplace of thousands of generations before me, where I got education, culture and identity. But after reaching here I did not feel at all that I am outside India. When I reached Trinidad, I was filled with pride thinking how 100 years ago Arya Samaj workers reached there without any resources. When I reached there, the Arya brothers of Trinidad told me that after 52 years an Arya Samaj official from India has reached here. I met Pandit Hansraj ji in Trinidad, his daughter is continuously engaged in the service of Arya Samaj as a strong worker member of Arya Samaj. I met many Arya workers including Ratna Kangal ji, head of Vedic Mission Trinidad, Minister Chandrabhan Ramdin ji, Nalini Ramdin ji, Pandit Jeevan ji, Pandit Chandra Bahadur ji, Pandit Surendra Bhan, and Pandit Radhe ji. There was a wide discussion on the work of Arya Samaj, the outline of future work was discussed. However, due to lack of time, I could not meet the officials of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Trinidad. But it was very pleasing to see the buildings run by Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Trinidad. I had the good fortune of visiting Gandhi Memorial Vedic School. I visited Avocet Vedic School and Avocet Arya Samaj Mandir. These flowers blooming in the form of institutions of Vedic culture on the island of Trinidad remained in my mind. I stayed the night at Pandit Hansraj ji’s place. He told me about the work being done by Vedic Mission Trinidad and also how Swami Dayanand Saraswati ji’s soldiers had come here and protected their religion and culture.

Actually, for those who don’t know, let me tell you that the history of Trinidad is like this. On 30 May 1845, the British reached Trinidad’s Port of Spain Harbor with a group of Indian workers. This group included 225 Indians. During the 103-day sea voyage, they covered a distance of 36 thousand km. After reaching the Caribbean, the Indian workers had to face many problems like harassment, diseases, racism and drug addiction. The main work for which Indian workers were brought to the Caribbean countries was sugarcane cultivation. Statistics from enslaved India show that between 1845 and 1917, about 1.5 lakh Indians were sent to the Caribbean Islands.

What happened was that many people who came from India to Trinidad started becoming Christians. The priests were ready. The British would take Hindus from India to Trinidad and the priests would convert them there. The big heads of Hindu religion were ignorant or you can say they were asleep. But the soldiers of Arya Samaj were themselves awake and were working to awaken the country and religion. When the then Arya leaders came to know about this devious trick of the priests in Trinidad, then in the year 1910, Bhai Parmanand, the devoted disciple of Maharishi ji, was the first Arya Samaji to reach Trinidad. After reaching there, he hoisted the flag of Vedic religion. He highlighted the importance of Vedic religion through his speeches and daily discourses. He started such a movement of purification that Indian Hindus who had become Christians started returning to their original religion.

Along with Bhai Parmanand, many other scholars of Arya Samaj started arriving. Pandit Mehta Jaimini came in the year 1929, due to his efforts a building was constructed in Marabella and Hindi classes started being organized. The soldiers of Arya Samaj were determined. Pandit Ayodhya Prasad arrived in the year 1934, and the local Arya Samaj community was so impressed by him that they requested him to extend his stay for three years. Ayodhya Prasad not only purified his own people but also purified people of other religions and brought them to Vedic religion. Those who regretted their decision or the decision of their parents had the opportunity to return to Hinduism. Pandit Ayodhya Prasad also laid the foundation of the first Arya Mandir in Chaguanas, which was also called Montrose Temple and ‘Vedic Church’. This temple was also used as a primary school. On 11 November 1943, this temple was used as the headquarters of the Arya Samaj Association.

In 1943, the Arya Samaj Association was recognized by the colonial British authorities. In January 1937 itself, it was decided to name the organization as “Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Trinidad”, which became the official name after government recognition in 1943. That year it had ten branches. The Pratinidhi Sabha ran nine primary schools in Trinidad. In 1968, Solomon Moosai-Maharaj established the ‘Vedic Mission’, built schools, colleges, opened Gurukuls and kept Indian music, Sanskrit, religion, philosophy, Hindi alive. For this reason, Trinidad is also an Indian cultural center today. Today the Arya Samaj is working there with full vigor. The OM flag fluttering on the Arya Samaj and Arya educational institutions there fills the mind with a feeling of immense pride towards the Arya Samaj that not only the Indian subcontinent is indebted to the favors of the Arya Samaj, but the Arya Samaj has also done a great favor to the Hindus living outside India. To tell you the truth, whatever I saw during my trip to Trinidad filled my heart with pride.

Vinay Arya General Secretary Arya Samaj