Hindus, who travel along Princes Rd, will often whisper a quick orison when they come into view of the Vuninioudrovu Ram Krishna Hanuman Mandir in Sawani.
The prayers are delivered in view of a statue of lord Hanuman — a revered mythical hero highly regarded by Hindu devotees for his expression of devotional values and strength.
Animated conversation for Hindus travelling by foot or vehicle will become muted, followed by a succession of prayers to the Indian deity.
Born out of a need to unite the people and conserve the Indian culture, Vuninioudrovu Ram Krishna Hanuman Mandir was established in 1968 through the commitment of its founding members which included one Jagendra Prasad and others.
Temple president Salesh Karan said the mandir was a shrine for the people of Nausori to unite, worship and share their sufferings and achievements with their lords. He said popular temple was established in a small bure type structure about seven years ago.
“When it was established, the committee started with the journey from a small bure type mandir and years passed with lots of changes by various committee members,” he said.
“We used to conduct prayer sessions in small bure which restricted us from having large gatherings
“It was a single storey structure, so during heavy rain or cyclones it used to get flooded and all our idols would get drenched and dirty.
“Later, upgrades were done and the mandir was transformed into a corrugated iron structure with a concrete basement.”
He said the statue of lord Hanuman became the focal point and drawcard for the temple.
“From the beginning, the idol was kept on the top floor and everyone passing by could see it.
“That is one of the specialties of the temple.” Mr Karan said with the aim of providing better housing to its devotees, they decided to develop the temple further.
“We used to face a lot of issues whenever we approached any cultural event, the members had to move around, looking for space to make shed for the celebration and witnessing that, the landowner of the temple told us that he would give us a piece of land for us to construct the temple.
“That was the first step that marked the start of this temple’s journey and over the years, we have seen many changes.
“As the temple committee changed, the new developments were done.”
There are 12 members in the temple committee at present, including the youths.
He said the current committee members acquired the land title officially from Baljeet Singh in 2015.
The new mandir project was constructed by the current committee and launched in 2015 and Mr Karan acknowledged former presidents – Nagen Prasad, late Birend Prasad, Suresh Chand, late Jagdish Karan and Narend Kumar – for their support over the years.
“Not forgetting late Mr Ram Milan Chaudary and Seru of Vuniniudrovu village for their kind support in the past for looking after the place.”
To encourage youth participation, the temple members recently organised a flag designing competition and a young lad Kaushik Karan bagged the first prize.
“We have decided to conduct a session for the youths every Sunday where they can learn traditional musical instruments.
“At the beginning of every new academic year, we organise a prayer session for students and children from the Suva-Nausori area to attend.”
He said over the years, flooding in the area was the major challenge.
“However, through our fundraising and donors, we were able to extent our temple and no
