history

A Brief History of The Mandal

1976

Established as a non-profit organisation. Its values are based on Religion, Cultural, Education and Social welfare. It’s fondly become known as “The Mandal”

The Foundation Members

A number of passionate families were involved in its origin. These families consisted of Mr. & Mrs. Abhay and Indra Awasthi, Mr. & Mrs. Mahesh and Subhag Prasad, Mr. & Mrs. Barma Sharma and Julie Sharma, Mr. & Mrs. Baldeo and Sugeet Shanga and Mr. & Mrs. Peter and Veena Mali

1976 – 1990

The Mandal operated in an informal way. Some of the core activities were as follows:

Religious

Tuesday night Ramayan recitals were conducted at members' residence on a rotational basis. Maha Shiv Ratri was conducted at Mr. & Mrs. Satya and Savitri Sharma’s residence from 1979 to 2000. Ram Naumi and Shri Krishna Asthami were held at its member’s residences

1976 – 1990

Cultural

Diwali and Holi were also celebrated at member’s residences. Over time Holi was celebrated in various Parks in Melbourne, such as Jells Park and Wattle Park. Births and Marriages were celebrated by our close knit community as per our Hindu tradition and deaths were observed as per our Hindu rituals

1976 – 1990

Social Welfare

New migrants from Fiji and India alike were assisted on a needs basis. One of the key feature of our assistance was helping new community members move houses. Members always helped raise funds and made generous donations towards natural disasters both locally and internationally. Pacific Islander countries were the regular recipients of our Mandal donations

1990 – 1997

The Mandal formalised its activities and adopted a formal constitution in 1990. The Mandal continued practicing its values in Education, Religion, Social welfare and Culture. As the migrants increased some of our activities moved from members‘ residence to school halls. The main cultural event on our Mandal calendar was Diwali which is now being held at various halls

1997 – 2000

First property was bought in 1997. Major renovations took place to improve seating capacity and Prayer Altar. This property was given its name Hindu Satsang Mandal of Victoria (HSMV) Centre. In February 1998 all our religious and some cutural and social welfare programs and events commenced at this property. Maha Shiv Ratri celebrations commenced at property in 2000

2000 – Present

The Mandal purchased its second property in 2009. The Mandal is currently looking at developing this site