Dharmic Sabha Celebrates 150th

THE President of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud on November 28, 1987, wrote President Desmond Hoyte asking that May 5, the day of the arrival of East Indians in this country under the indenture system be declared a National Holiday. On December 7, Pandit Persaud received a letter from the President’s Office informing him that the letter has been referred to the Commemoration Commission.

The Commemoration Commission informed the Sabha’s President on December 9, that the letter will be tabled at a meeting of the Commission scheduled for January 1988. Only the Sabha’s letter was considered at that meeting when the Commission approved May 5, 1988, as a National Holiday.

Pandit Persaud feels that the holiday should be annual, since May 5 is of great historical significance to this country and an occasion which the nation should observe every year. Pandit Persaud said having initiated representation on the matter he will persuade the authorities to recognise the importance of the day and place it permanently in the holidays structure.

The Sabha has planned country-wide activities to celebrate the 150th anniversary. The occasion will be launched at a Ramayan Yagna at the Kitty Mandir on April 25, to be followed by a parade which will converge at the L.B.I. Mandir Compound, East Coast, Demerara on Monday, May 2. This venue will have relevant booths, exhibitions, including logies and cultural performances recapturing the varying forms of Indian music, dances, costumes, jewellery and folk items.

The country’s traditional Raag/Raagni singers will be featured for the entire evening and seminars with historical inputs planned for the Sabha’s one hundred-odd mandirs in the three regions. Similar functions will be held on the Corentyne, West Demerara, West Berbice and Essequibo during the month of May,