The Hindu View of Trinidad and Tobago.. book to be launched

April 13, 2016, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago:

A book entitled The Hindu View of Trinidad and Tobago: Selected articles by Sat Maharaj has just been published. It is written by Dr. Kumar Mahabir, an anthropologist and the same author of Sat Maharaj: Hindu Civil Rights Leader of Trinidad & Tobago (2014).

Mr. Sat Maharaj is a religious and cultural leader in Trinidad and Tobago. He is the Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), the major Hindu organisation in the multi-ethnic society. Sat is hailed as a Hindu civil rights leader of the twin-island republic, and as the most influential and longest-serving spokesman for Hindus outside of India.

The book comprises a collection of Sat's newspaper columns which were originally published in the Express, Newsday and Guardian, the three daily newspapers in the twin-island republic. These selected columns span a period of 20 years from 1996 to 2016.

The Hindu View of Trinidad and Tobago consists of 108 articles organised thematically into eight sections: Politics, Education, Culture, Religion, History, Icons, Society and the Maha Sabha. The articles address local, national, regional and international issues that are of interest to general readers as well as researchers and scholars.

Dr. Koenraad Elst is quoted in the book as saying: "Sat Maharaj has developed Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago into a vibrant religion which is earning its rightful place in the tropical sun. This collection of articles provides hope and promise for all those who struggle for visibility and equality in the Hindu Diaspora."

Elst obtained his Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and is the author of Decolonizing the Hindu Mind (2001) and Return of the Swastika: Hate and Hysteria Versus Hindu Sanity (2007).

At the book launch on Saturday evening, the feature speaker will be Lennox Grant, a columnist and former editor of Tapia, Expressand Guardian newspapers. Other speakers will include Swami Aksharananda from Guyana who obtained his Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA. Remarks will be made by Professor Ann Marie Bissessar, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, UWI; and Ravi Dev, a former New York attorney, now an Indian civil rights activist in Guyana.

The Hindu View of Trinidad and Tobago will be launched on Saturday April 16, 2016 at 5.00 p.m. at the Lakshmi Girls' Hindu College Auditorium, St. Augustine, Trinidad. The launch is open to the public by reservation ONLY. Contact: 645-2745, 645-3240, or VKmaharaj@live.com

For additional information, contact Dr. Kumar Mahabir at 756-4961, 674-6008 or dmahabir@gmail.com