LAXMI NARAYAN TEMPLE

Another productive day: I went to the Laxmi Narayan Temple. (Laxmi is the wife of Vishnu). Like all Hindu temples in Suva, there was a heavy-duty metal gate that surrounds the temple. When I arrived, the gate was closed; and the gatekeeper seemed rather ambivalent on letting me. After I explained the purpose of my visit, the man, Chut, began to warm up. He told me that the head priest was out, but would be returning shortly. The temple was pretty nice; it had a great view of the greener side of Suva. The most interesting aspect of the temple was a massive Shiva Lingam. There were three large wooden cobras coming out of the lingam to form a trident.



The priest, a middle-aged man named Jayndra Shatri, did not speak very much English. Fortunately, another man, who was probably only in his late twenties, name Niraj happily served as my translator. I asked Jayndra about the role of music within the temple, and he said yes, especially for, “big functions and festivals.” When I asked him if there were any musicians commissioned by the temple on a regular basis, he said yes; and that, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, during puja (Hindu temple service), the musicians frequently perform. He gave me the contact information of Somal, the regular temple tabla player; so I will definitely try to set up an interview with him this week.

When I left the temple, Jayndra gave me a prasad of two Gala apples. Typically in India, prasad consists of little sugar cubes, so it was very “Indo-Fijian” to give an endemic (er, exclusive to the South Pacific and New Zealand, so not exactly “endemic” but you get the idea) fruit as prasad.

Some other locals (who are non-Hindus) have told me that the temple is for Gujaratis. This is important to note, as Indo-Fijians of Gujarat descent typically did not come to Fiji as indentured servants. Around the First World War, many Gujaratis emigrated from India to Fiji as business entrepreneurs. Therefore, it is entirely possible that Indo-Fijians of Gujarat descent retained a more orthodox form of Hinduism. With all of that in mind, I would hypothesize that religious music of Indo-Fijians of Gujarat descent is closer to classical Hindustani music than any other Hindu Indo-Fijian group. (Man, sometimes all of these academic labels are a mouthful!)

I will post pictures from the temple later today or tomorrow.