AROUND 1,000 Canberrans braved freezing temperatures on Saturday (June 5) to attend a ground-breaking ceremony, or “Bhumi Puja”, for a new Hindu temple and community facility in Moncrieff. 

The temple, to be built by the Canberra Hindu Mandir, will be located on Hoffmann Street, named after the legendary Canberra music critic Bill Hoffmann, in the musically-themed suburb named after singer Gladys Moncrieff.

On hand for the ceremony were the High Commissioner of India, Manpreet Vohra, and politicians Shane Rattenbury, Elizabeth Lee, Giulia Jones, Michael Patterson, Susan Orr, Elizabeth Kikkert, Peter Cain, James Milligan and Leanne Castle.

The ceremony was conducted according to Hindu traditions, with the priest reading prayers and reciting scriptures while devotees arrived, before a formal ceremony in which bricks donated by the community, both Hindu and non-Hindu, were ceremonially buried in a pit, along with ashes from Aboriginal smoking ceremony.

Other bricks have been donated to be part of the actual building, which is intended to cater to the needs of the growing Hindu community in the Gungahlin area.

Krishna Nadimpalli, chairman of the Canberra Hindu Mandir, said the complex would  consist of temples for several deities, along with a large community hall, meditation halls, a Vedic religious and cultural education facility, a community kitchen and a vegetarian canteen which could be used for weddings, meditations and other events.

He said the ACT government’s approval of the land had come after continuous lobbying and perseverance of volunteers over a four-year period.

Vidoshi Jana, vice chairperson of the Mandir, said they hoped to see people of other faiths use the temple facilities as part of its services to the wider community.

The Vedic ceremonies had been preceded by the Aboriginal smoking ceremony but both, she noted, has the same purpose: “the blessing of the land”.

As we walked around the site, we passed smaller prayer shrines and stations where visitors could obtain votive food offerings or purchase “Navaratna”, the nine gemstones used to ward off illness and other evils.

“We accept every different tradition, from north to south and east to west,” Ms Jana said.

For information on participation or fundraising, email info@hindumandir.org.au. The temple plans can be viewed here.