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*Divali Nagar - world’s first Hindu theme park*
by Dr. Kumar Mahabir
The Divali holiday in Trinidad and Tobago will be observed on Wednesday
October 26, 2011, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Divali Nagar,
the first Hindu theme park in the world.
In the week leading to Divali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, over ten
million *deyas* [clay lamps] are lit in homes, temples, offices, streets and
parks. This festival has become the second-largest, open-air, national
festival in multi-ethnic Trinidad and Tobago, after Carnival.
The hub of all Divali celebrations in the island is the Divali Nagar site in
Central Trinidad, which was established in 1986. Indeed, the Nagar is the
most-frequently visited entertainment centre in the country during Divali,
second only to the Grand Stand in the Queen’s Park Savannah during Carnival.
The Nagar provides a public stage for local, regional and international
performing artistes. These models, singers, dancers, musicians, choirs and
orchestras entertain locals, as well as visitors from the rest of the world.
The Nagar has grown to epic proportions, attracting many artistes and
tourists to this international spiritual tourist destination. They come from
Belize, Jamaica, St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe,
Guyana and Suriname in the Caribbean. Others come from French Guiana, U.S.A,
U.K., Holland and India. Prominent guests included the President of India,
Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and the two Presidents of Trinidad and Tobago,
their Excellencies Noor Hassanali and Maxwell Richards.
Each year, the Nagar chooses a theme based on Hinduism and Indian culture
for its presentation. The theme is researched and exhibited by Baba
Satnarayan Mourya, an artist from India. Various modes of information,
including designs, paintings, posters and photographs are showcased.
For nine nights, the Nagar is transformed into a blend of the sacred and
secular, where the bustle of commerce mingles with the melody of prayer.
Booths showcase and sell products and services to approximately 150,000
visitors. Commercial booths sell mainly Indian clothes, footwear, jewellery,
accessories, music, movies, furniture, appliances, and religious and
household items. In recent years, the Nagar has also accommodated an Indian
Trade Fair. This is a flea market operated by about 25 businessmen from
India.
The Nagar houses about 150 tents which include commercial stalls, religious
booths, media houses and food kitchens. The kitchens - preparing local, hot,
on-the-spot Indian delicacies - are the most popular. Pepper *roti *made on
a* chulha* [earthen stove], in one of the food stalls, is extremely
delightful.
At the Nagar, palmists and astrologists are sought and consulted. Mehindi
artistes are in demand for decorating the hands and palms of mainly young
women with artistic lines of paint. Itinerant salesmen peddle cotton
candies, balloons, glow sticks and toys.
Hare Krishna performers in the courtyard draw the largest and youngest crowd
outside of the main stage due to their captivating renditions of
*kirtans*[chants]. They are well-known for congregational singing,
ecstatic dancing [
*sankirtan*], playing of musical instruments, and the public chanting of
God’s names.
Each year, local theatre groups perform plays in the Bisram Gopie Sangeet
Bhavan Auditorium at the Nagar. Brave Heart Productions Theatre Company and
the Princes Town Theatre Workshop are two companies that have acted on the
smaller stage.
It is perhaps the spectacle of fireworks on the last night of the week-long
extravaganza which draws the largest crowd to the Nagar. An estimated 50,000
persons converge upon the site to witness the creative explosion of lights
in the heavens that appears like meteoric showers of celestial raindrops.
Established in 1986, the reception towards the Divali Nagar in Trinidad and
Tobago has been so tremendous that it has inspired Hindu theme parks and
other Nagars in the rest of the world. In 2005, Toronto in Canada celebrated
its first Divali Nagar, followed by Florida in the USA in 2008. In 2005,
Swaminayaran Akshardham in Delhi in India, established the second Hindu
theme park in the world. In 2011, plans are being made by ISKON [Hare
Krishna devotees] to construct a spiritual theme park in Bangalore, India.
The Nagar is not the only fair which blends the sacred and the secular with
entertainment. Located close to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and
SeaWorld in Florida, is the Holy Land Experience. Established in 2001, this
Christian theme park is a recreation of Jerusalem during Biblical times.
Instead of offering wild rides, the park offers lectures and prayers which
make the Holy Land appear more like a church.
722 words
Dr Kumar Mahabir
Chairman, Indo-Caribbean Divali Publication Ltd.
Assistant Professor, University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT)
10 Swami Avenue, Don Miguel Road
San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago
West Indies
Tel: (868) 674-6008
Tel/fax: (868) 675-7707
Mobile (868) 756-4961
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