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Six Sacred Sites | Basingstoke Hindu Society
- Stuart Mugridge
September 23rd to October 16th, 2006 Carnival Hall Opening Times: Saturdays 12.00 to 15.00, Sundays 10.00
to 13.00, Event: Wednesday October 4th 2006 Participants were asked to register their perceptions of "sacred" on a website designed by the artist for that purpose. The boundary between the sacred and profane is both virtual and physical. Sacrality isn't necessarily location-defined but is also a state of mind and an expression of community. The strict rules of Hindu temple architecture are not vital to Hindus living in Britain: for a place becomes sacred with worship - with people. The temple becomes a focus for community identity as well as the dwelling place of the gods and deities - "an intensification of social relationships and the reinforcement of religious traditions."(See below for reference) The very strength of Hinduism is its willingness to adapt to each new environment and the demands of each new age. There is a standardisation of Hinduism in Britain that seeks to unify whilst allowing for ethnic expression. The devotional can worship alongside the ritualistic for the end is the same: to know oneself. As one Southampton Hindu states: 'the temple, its rituals and its imagery act as a telephone to connect the worshipper with Brahman and so with himself'. At Basingstoke the temple room is almost anonymous in its corner of a community hall. The small sign of 'Mandir' and a short length of ornamental fabric are all that may alert a member of Basingstoke's Ladies Choir or the Sapphire Sequence Dance Club to the presence of this focal point for the town's Hindu community. Hinduism is a sharing and community-minded faith and this is reflected in the efforts of the Basingstoke Hindu Society to make this amenity available to all. Immediately next to the temple room, separated only by a partition wall, is the office where members of the society undertake the day-to-day running of the hall. It is here that Mugridge's response is centred; where the sacred and the profane exist cheek by jowl. Reference: Knott, K. (1987) 'Hindu Temple Rituals
in Britain: The reinterpretation of Tradition' in Burghart, R. (ed.) Hinduism
in Great Britain: The Perpetuation of Religion in an Alien Cultural Milieu
Tavistock Publications, New York
Directions to Carnival Hall:: A 5-minute walk from the top of Basingstoke town. By car from Junction 6 of the M3 follow signs for town centre, pick up signs for the Haymarket Theatre which brings you into New Road. Where the road forks right at the top of New Road go straight on up Hackworth Road. Turn right immediately into Southern Road. Council Road is second on the left. The Carnival Hall is on the right at the top.
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