Marlboro Temple: 20 years
HUNDREDS of former Durban residents, now settled in Gauteng, have become regular devotees at the Shree Radhe Shyam Mandir in Marlboro.
At the 20th anniversary celebration of the temple last Sunday, the chairman of the Sandton Hindu Society, Suresh Goven, said people in the greater Sandton area, who arrived in search of better employment opportunities since 1994, had found a home at the only temple in the area.
This, added Goven, increased after POST published a feature recently, listing temple facilities in Gauteng.
“Growth has also been fuelled by publicising events at the temple in electronic and social media,” said Goven.
A hall adjacent to the temple is also proving popular for social and cultural events, including for those from the Indian expatriate community. “We have had events hosted here by the Punjabi, Bengali and Kannada communities, which also brought in a multicultural element to our Mandir.”
The 85 Hindu families in Marlboro were resettled there in the apartheid era after having lived in the neighbouring Alexandra Township for several generations.
The temple was built to avoid residents having to travel a long distance to the Melrose Temple in Johannesburg for their prayers and to celebrate religious festivals.
“Now we can get upwards of 2 000 people at events such as Diwali. We do not engage in any segregation on linguistic lines, so the temple is open to all as has always been the case since it was opened.”
The three-day 20th anniversary celebrations also saw huge crowds attend special bhajan performances and reconsecration of the deities.