Durga Bhawan

In March 1991 a proposal was made by Mr D Shukla to construct a Hindu Temple with the name of Hindu Cultural Resource Centre, originally meeting in the the Langley Hall in Oldbury. A mandali (Religious Bhanjan singers group) was established and became very popular in the UK, and still perform regularly. After a few years the committee bought the derelict Spon Croft pub, funded by the local community, in order to build their own Hindu Temple. In July 2000 a Bhumi Puja (Land worship) was organised with local dignitaries from the West Midlands and Indian consulate in attendance. During 2002 / 03 several ceremonies took place to open the new Mandir with all the deities being established which came from India. The main deity is the goddess Durga (the divine mother) she was chosen because she is very powerful and her name is similar to Mr Shukla’s who the community wanted to honour. Durga is always presented with four arms seated on a lion, her four arms represent her power to grant Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Karma (pleasures of the flesh) and Moksha (freedom from rebirth). During the week there are Aarti ceremonies twice a day with larger services with Bhajans sung on Tuesday and Sunday. Ash has a room for deities at home, he has all the deities. He prays there early in the morning and last thing at night as well as during the day. Both Ash and Kulbhushan give money to the deities and then at the end of the year they collect it and give it to the temple or a charity. They were aware of discrimination in the past but it is much better now and they have good relationships with people of different faiths. https://www.facebook.com/durgabhawan/?locale=en_GB