A passage of Indian ancestral history

One hundred and sixty-eight years have passed since our forefathers came from India. They came with Ramayana, Hanuman Chalisa, Satnarine Poti, Tulsiplants and mango trees. After arrival, they found new land, new atmosphere and new work. They were hard workers so they gave their labour, time and energy to make a new country. 

In the guidance of the British, our ancestors came here in the name of gold, gospel and God but their hearts and minds were rooted in the fertile soil of the Indian culture, tradition, spirituality and social setup so they protected the ancestral property of Mother India. The Indian community has great history from Calcutta to Caroni, from Motherland India to fatherland T&T, from Indian language to foreign languages. Our ancestors were not only a part of past history but they were making a new history on this land with own skills, capacity and ability. 

During 168 years of history, the entire globe totally changed its way of living and process of thinking with the slogan of globalisation, economical liberation, human rights and democratic values. At the end of Imperialism, Colonialism and Communism, history has seen two World Wars and the dangerous games of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima in Japan. 

During this long history, the Indian community tried to preserve eternal values in a changing society with the vision of our ancestors from the Manu Smriti to St Tulsidas’ Ramayana. Our people are currently living in this present time following the 5,000 years history of Hindu civilization and knowledge to preserve, propagate and organise in the light of our ancestral vision at this shore. 

The present Indian community is aware of the wealth of our ancestors and ready to adapt to new changes and transformation in the need of this modern period. When we look at pages of history of the Indian community from May 30 1845 to May 30 2013, we are looking on the horizon of great changes. In the first ship Fatel Razack, 225 labourers came in the period of British Colony. From that day until now, of the 1.4 million population of Trinidad & Tobago, 42 per cent are Indians. 

Political progress

In political progress until now, we have seen the emergence of two Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago who have done great work for the progress of this country with multi-ethnic relations with all communities. The Indian community has many facilities and are able to enjoy the social and constitutional rights as a common citizen. This facility was not accessible or in their hands during the period of British Empire and after that for many years. Now they have freedom to follow their own religion, customs and Hindu tradition. 

Spiritual progress

The Indian community is stronger for spiritual consciousness, traditions, family structures and sanskaras, Holy Scriptures, festivals and celebrations of great heroes’ birthdays as Ram Navmi, Krishna Janamashtami, Navratri, Shivrari and Deep ratri (Divali) form part and parcel of their lives. At present, Ganesh Utsav Celebration is fast becoming popular and has placed its colour on the spiritual fabric of their lives and promoting spirituality in this land. 

The Hindu society has a very unique and special quality that they are following their culture and tradition despite occasional disruptions. With their own values, they are following the rainbow culture of this land with multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-culture of this country. 

Last year, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar visited India. It was indeed a “pilgrimage”. At the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebration, the President of India, HH Smt Pratibha Patil honoured her at that time and on the spot she accepted this honour and greeted the President of India in a traditional way by touching her feet. This gesture indeed touched the heart of each and every one. She went with our famous cricketers, Lara and Ganga and with senior ministers. During the guard of honour, our Prime Minister wore the full Indian traditional and elegant dress of the Indian Sari. That was unique experience of the Indians. For economic progress, many contracts for gas, petrol and hydro carbon, technology, medical health care and tourism were set up. In a special message, the Prime Minister also invited Bollywood and Tollywood (South Indian Film Industry) to come for film production to Trinidad. 

After Independence, the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Persad presented a wooden chair to the Senate of Trinidad & Tobago Parliament. That chair is present until now and presents a great attraction to visiting dignitaries. 

In the beginning all holy books were in Sanskrit and Hindi. Now they are available in English and accessible to the new generation. This new generation are able to share in the knowledge with the old generation. Many Pundits are writing books on rituals and bhajans. Many young Pundits are going to learn in India and many Hindu organisations such as Dattatreya, Chinmaya Mission, Kabir Panth, Swaha, Swadhyay and Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha are providing training for them. 

The Hindu Swayam Sevak Sangha and Indian High Commission placed special emphasis on celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda this year. One of our pulsating Hindi leaders who gave the great call for Hindus all over the world to arise and awake and realise their inherent values and spiritual heritage. Indeed a great Lion of our Dharma. 

In the media, many TV channels are presenting Hindi stories and history, mythology, songs, dance and, bhajans and all aspects of our life. Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Krishna Lila has come on the screen now and the entire country are enjoying the many episodes of this epic. Today, singers and dancers from this country are going to other countries to present art and skill with Indian music, dance, steel band and spiritual speakers are also invited to English speaking countries to present lectures on holy books. In 2012, we went to Japan and Israel with Swami Brahmadeo ji. This year we completed a conference in Bali, Indonesia and also have invitations for Holland, Denmark, Norway, Azerbaijan and Hawaii. 

The Indian Diaspora is indeed touching the lives of people across this globe making a significant and positive impact on each community. 

Many speakers are also invited to several conferences in different parts of the world. At present, the Indian community is in Renaissance period. All the youth students, many of them products of our universities are also organising programs at the university halls, youth camps, yoga retreats and classes and school camps on various themes. 

ECONOMICAL PROGRESS

In the beginning of history of Indian Arrival, our people were working in the field as farmers, mostly sugarcane. However this sugarcane industry was spoiled by wrong discussions of economists in this country. But the Indian community started business, trade, corporate style organisations in the entire country. With their skills and capacity, they are successful in business and financially stronger contributing greatly to the GDP of the country. If farmers will get more support of subsidy and banking help, they can be more fruitful to the economic progress of this country.

EDUCATIONAL

Our children have more attention in the field of education. They are earning degrees and diplomas in schools and are in a good position in all exams. Many of them have excelled in top fields as doctors, engineers, lawyers, education and arts and are also working in many other countries such as Azerbaijan, Moscow, Russia, USA, Canada, Mauritius, Europe, Latin America and many more. Medical Institutions of the American Universities have branches in the Caribbean. 40 per cent of these students are our Indian children. The Hindu organisations such as Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Chinmaya Mission, Brahma Vidya Peetham, Swaha, Kabir Panth, are running very successful teaching schools with colleges. There is great hope for the Indian community’s future as we have the road map for progress in the world. 

NATIONAL MONUMENT

This county has many national monuments. The Indian museum, Temple in the Sea, the 85-foot high Hanuman Murti and Divali Nagar are all historical monuments and national property. Their iconic presences remind us of the Hindu life in this country. For the protection of nature and the atmosphere and to fight against pollution, two great historical events were started in this country – Aripo Datta Ganga by Swami Ganapati Sachchidananda. This is a place of pilgrimage that houses the Ban Shiva (Shiva of the forest) temple, a satsangh arena and kitchen. Another great attraction is Ganga Dhara, started by Swami Brahmadeo ji with Sri Ravi ji of Hindu Prachar Kendra. Every year in Blanchisseuese, devotees gather in thousands for the Annual Ganga Dhara programs. Swami Brahmadeo ji makes four visits a year around the four significant periods of Ma Ganga’s birth. With the inspiration of the Trinidad devotees, Kumbha Mela was also started in Suriname. Swamiji Brahamdeo has a vision for this country also with 12 Jyotir lingams. 

HINDU LITERATURE 

All Hindu scriptures are now translated in English language. Chinmaya Mission, Swami Ganapati Sachchidananda, Sai Baba and Maharishi movement has commentaries of many scriptures in English and many other scientific literature on Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha has many books and magazines that are used in the Educational system of schools and colleges. Through Jaagriti Radio station, they are propagating culture, Hindi language, all rituals with philosophy. 

FUTURE OF INDIAN COMMUNITY

As we are looking at history, from 1845 to now we see a journey of great Himalayan progress in all aspects of the Indian community’s life. Now further steps are waving the flags of our culture and religion not only in the Caribbean but the whole world. If we have patriotism for Trinidad and Tobago, to make enlightened citizenship, Unity of all sections of the society, stable government with a mission and vision, more help to economy of farmers then this country has all possibility and potentiality to be a beacon of all human civilisations of this planet.

This beautiful island has natural resources, beauty of nature, water and solar resources, intellectual resources – doctors, lawyers, engineers, industrialists, spiritualists and so on. This country can do a Himalayan work with the help of the Indian community which has power of head, heart and hand. At present it is our duty with our progress we can be a part of all communities and denominations with the motto of “Love All, Serve All”.

The Legend of Hugh Williams- ship sunk in the Menai Strait

HMS Friday: The Legend of Hugh Williams

On December 5, 1664, a ship sunk in the Menai Strait,

a stretch of water with tremendous tidal swings off the coast of Wales. All 81 passengers died, except one. His name was Hugh Williams.

On December 5, 1785, another ship sunk in the Menai Strait, with again everyone aboard dying except for one man…named Hugh Williams.

And then again, on December 5, 1820, yet another ship sunk in the Menai Strait. Only one man survived, and he was named Hugh Williams.

This is an awesome legend, and the scope of the coincidence is staggering. Another source actually references two other British shipwrecks with the lone survivors bearing the name Hugh Williams, except they weren’t on December 5. In one of those wrecks, there were actually two survivors, an uncle and nephew, and both were named Hugh Williams. And so despite having two survivors, you could still technically say of the wreck “the only man to survive was named Hugh Williams.”

While the story can be found all over the web, explanations for it are nowhere to be found. Only one site includes source reference to the Hugh Williams legend, but those are little more than just re-tellings of the legend in books about Northern Wales.

I think above all else, this legend is a wonderful case study in the art of storytelling. The story is sensational, brief, and gets right to the point of the bizarre coincidence of the many men named Hugh Williams.

So I want to play Debbie Downer for a bit. This story under-examines many critical details that make it far less sensational, so let’s look at those.

First off, the coast of Wales is a really dangerous place for ships. It is one of the most weather-exposed areas of the United Kingdom, an island kingdom heavily dependent upon sea travel. The reason there are so many British shipwreck stories is because there were so many British shipwrecks, period. And a whole heap of them along the northern coast of Wales. More shipping leads to more shipwrecks, just pure and simple.

Shipwrecks of North Wales. Adapted from a map by R.J. Karn for Planaship Maritime Publications, Cornwall 1984

I unfortunately can’t get a higher resolution image of this map of shipwrecks along the North Wales coast, but even without much detail, you can clearly see that there are a lot of shipwrecks from over the years.

The legend makes it sound like there have only ever been 3 shipwrecks in the Menai Strait. The real number is probably closer to 300.

So, to update our legend, we should add the fact that we are addressing three shipwrecks out of hundreds that have occurred in this area.

Now, to the coincidence of the date. I can’t find a list to confirm this, but my suspicion is that most of shipwrecks in the Menai Strait occur during the winter. If you look at the typical seasonal climate of Wales, early winter is the most notorious time of year for wet, windy, and stormy weather. The ocean is also at its coldest. December 5 falls during the prime season for treacherous weather, with the coldness of the water increasing the likelihood of fatalities involved in any shipwreck.

To update our legend further, we should add that the shipwrecks occurred on December 5, during the most dangerous time of the year for shipping in an already dangerous area.

And finally, the name itself. It should be little surprise that the surname “Williams” is very prevalent in Wales. And “Hugh,” (actually “Hew” if we want to stick to the original Welsh) is a very popular first name, listed at every online resource I can find about Welsh names.

So the fact that these various survivors were all named Hugh Williams is not that strange. Not as strange as if they were all named, I don’t know, Ziggy Stardust.

What we have are three shipwrecks in the Menai Strait, a veritable graveyard of shipwrecks, occurring during a dangerous part of the year, which coincidentally happens to be the same day, and each of those shipwrecks left a solitary survivor with the same, popular name.

That’s a much less fun way to tell the story, isn’t it?

I beleaguer these details because I really, really want this story to be true. But I also want unicorns to be true. Wanting something to be true doesn’t make it so; it also needs to be believable. When you understand the prevalence of shipwrecks on the Welsh coastline, especially during winter, the legend becomes more believable. The same for when you think about how common the name Hugh Williams is.

I needed it to be less sensational, because then it’s easier for me to believe. When I tell the story to people, I’ll obviously stick to the sensational version. But I’ll be able to tell it knowing that there’s a good chance that it’s true
.

Death & Afterlife

Death & Afterlife

No other religion deals with this topic like Hinduism. Upanishads describe reincarnation, or punarjanma .

The Bhagavat Gita, an important book for Hinduism, talks extensively about the afterlife. Here, the Lord Krishna says that just as a man discards his old clothes and wears new ones; similarly the soul discards the old body and takes on a new one. In Hinduism, the belief isthat the body is but a shell, the soul inside is immutable and indestructible and takes on different lives in a cycle of birth and death. The end of this cycle is called "Moksha" or salvation.

Garuda Purana, a book solely deals with what happens to a person after death. The God of Death Yama sends his representatives to collect the soul from a person's body whenever he is due for death and they take the soul to Yama. A record of each person's timings & deeds performed by him is kept in a ledger by Yama's assistant "Chitragupta".

According to the Garuda Purana, a soul after leaving the body, travels through a very long & dark tunnel towards South. This is why an oil lamp is lit and kept beside the head of the corpse, to light the dark tunnel and allow the soul to travel comfortably.

The soul, called "Atman" leaves the body and reincarnates itself according to the deeds or Karma performed by one in last birth. Re-birth would be in form of animals or other lower creatures if one performed bad Karmas and in human form in a good family with joyous lifetime if the person was good in last birth. In between the two births a human is also required to either face punishments for bad Karmas in "NARKA" or "HELL" or enjoy for the good karmas in SWARG or Heaven for good deeds. Whenever his or her punishments or rewards are over he or she is sent back to earth, also known as "Mrityulok" or World of Death. A person is merged with the God or ultimate power when he discharges only & only good Karma's in last birth and the same is called as "Moksha" or "Nirvana", which is the ultimate goal of a true Hindu.Atma (Soul) merges into "Parmatma" or the greatest soul.According to Bhagwad Gita an "Atma" or soul never dies, what dies is the body only made of five elements - Earth, Sky, Water, Fire & Vacuum. Soul is believed to be indestructible.None of the five elements can harm or influence it.Hinduism through Garuda Purana also describes in detail various types of "Narkas" or Hells where a person after death is punished for his bad Karma's and dealt with accordingly.

Hindus also believe in 'Karma'. 'Karma' is the accumulated sums of one's good or bad deeds. According to Hinduism the basic concept of Karma is 'As you sow, you shall reap'. So, if you have lived a good life you will be rewarded in the afterlife. Similarly your sum of bad deeds will be mirrored in your next life.Good 'Karma' brings good rewards and bad 'karma's lead to bad results. There is no judgment here. People accumulate karma through their actions and even thoughts. In Bhagavad Gita when Arjuna hesitates to kill his kith and kin the lord reprimands him saying thus "Do you believe that you are the doer of the action.No.You are merely an instrument in MY hands.Do you believe that the people in front of you are living? Dear Arjuna they are already dead. As a kshatriyas (warrior class) it is your duty to protect your people and land. If you fail to do your duty then you are not adhering to dharmic principles."