Sticking to tradition
PROMPTLY at 7.30am the pupils at Westville Hindu School make their way to the hall and remove their shoes before entering.
As they wait for the hawan to begin, there are no signs of fussing.
Aided by a recording, they soon recite the mantras in Sanskrit.
The prayer, says Dr Bisraam Rambilaas, who started the school 17 years ago, is performed every Friday.
The school, which follows a Hindu ethos, also has a few African pupils.
The older pupils, prompted by the recording, which guides them through the prayer, partake in the recitation and add samagri to a burning vessel laden with pieces of wood.
Rambilaas sits on a chair nearby, observing.
The Department of Indian Languages, he says, which operated at the then University of Durban-Westville (now UKZN), closed in 1998 and there were no other colleges where students could pursue their studies.
Two years later, he started the school to preserve an academic study of Hindu culture and language.
“Language is a vehicle through which we transmit our cultural values, our cultural human values and our family values. It is also a medium by which we express our prayer, song and dance. It is, therefore, important we preserve our language,” Rambilaas said.
Principal Tony Singh added: “Our mother tongue is starting to disappear among Indians, especially Hindus. We find that we are starting to become westernised and if we don’t do something about it now, we will lose our language completely and with that our culture.”
The environment, says Singh, has also lent itself to the 131 pupils being disciplined.
“Due to this environment, their behaviour depicts our culture, which means they behave in an acceptable manner throughout the day. Hence, we don’t experience any issues of discipline and all the pupils display respect for persons and property.”
POST was ushered to three classrooms, where the pupils were learning Sanskrit, Hindi and Tamil.
The first lot were colouring in pages.
One had a picture of light with the word “jyoti”.
Another, of the sun, followed by the word “surya” and the third an image of fire, which was titled “agni”.
Rhea Thaver, 10, said she wanted to learn Sanskrit as she wanted more insight into the Hindu culture and religion.
“It’s not difficult to understand,” she said confidently.
Nihmal Maharaj, 12, added: “Sanskrit is more than 5 000 years old. My sister, Dristi, is also a pupil at the school. She is 10 years old and sometimes I teach the phrases to her.”
Niiv Jansen, 12, said she wanted to study Hindi “because our prayers are in Hindi, so by learning I am able to connect with God and learn about my culture”.
Little Saiesha Moodley, aged 8, proudly showed off her drawing to her Tamil language teacher, Kajil Anirudh. The little girl said she chose to study Tamil because she wanted to make her grandma and grandpa proud.
“They speak Tamil and I want to speak to them and make them proud.”
Westville Hindu School has become a beacon in promoting Indian language and culture since 2000. When POST visited on
Friday morning, one could see why.