Shree Shakti Mandir at Moira Street, off Belgrave Road in Leicester has stated the week long Ganesh Mahotsav with much pomp and gaiety. They held a procession on Monday, singing hymns, playing drums, carrying Lord Ganesh statues, and walked up to the temple, to kick start the festivities and was joined by 250 people.
Back at the temple, after the procession there were more celebrations and prayers for the occasion. They were joined at the festivities by Belgrave Ward Councillors, Padmini Chamund, Nita Solanki, Mahendra Valand, Mandir spokesman and Leicester City councillor Hemant Rae Bhatia as well as police and crime commissioner candidate Andy Furlong will be joining the procession.
Jaiprakash K Purohit, Chairperson and Trustee of the temple told the Asian Voice newspaper, “Every year we have a major Ganesh festival, where we have a marquee in the temple garden and we have 2500 to 3000 people attending every day, and we give prashad for everybody. And then we hire 18 doubledecker buses to go to Liverpool Mersey and do the immersion of Lord Ganesh in the middle of the sea. When we come back to Liverpool Mersey dock we distribute hot prashad to all the 800-1200 people who accompany us.”
Shree Shakti Mandir
Shree Shakti Mandir temple was once a Roman Catholic Trinity Church, built in the 1820s. In 1973 the property was bought by his Holiness (Eternal Rest) Sri Karunashanker Valji Purohit (Mukhya Acharya Ji Maharaj) - A Prominent Principal Hindu Priest and his (Son) Holiness (Eternal Rest) Harish K Purohit Principal Hindu Priest. Jai is his youngest son. Today, the temple serves both its large congregation and visitors for prayers, family sacraments and holds congregational events for people from all walks of life to participate in the word and work of God.
The information gathered by the temple has demonstrated that a community hub is now required to deliver the well-needed services to the residents. The proposed community hub will also provide cohesion practices to build harmony networking with individual communities and to promote cultural diversity; this also applies and supports the underrepresented community who may reside within the vicinity presently or in the coming future.
There is a clear majority of residents for whom English is a second language, and consequently, more information regarding personal, spoken and educational services are required in many languages to pass on the message of the services to support disadvantaged people.
The proposed new temple and community hub will deliver services to all residents, in particular, those who are vulnerable, disabled and people who cannot advocate for themselves and be an exemplary community. Further, this will create employment opportunities within the community hub. From previous years to the present day, the temple has been funded solely through donations without any financial support from any fund providers. They are now asking for people's help and generous contributions towards the brand-new Shree Shakti Mandir temple and a community hub to upgrade the facilities and provide a focal point for regenerating the area which will benefit the local community as a whole.
