By Paras Ramoutar
Port-of-Spain, Jan 30 (IANS) A mobile temple with a seven-foot tall idol of Lord Hanuman is travelling through Trinidad and Tobago as part of a religious procession being taken out by the Hindu community in these islands.

The procession began Thursday and runs for seven days and nights. Scores of devotees form part of the procession that stays at Hindu homes at nights as they trek across the country, 44 percent of whose 1.3 million population is of Indian descent, a large number of whom are Hindus.

About 147,000 Indians came from Uttar Pradeh and Bihar between 1845 and 1917 to work on the sugar plantations in this nation. They brought with them the Hindu epic Ramayana.

Devout Hindus join the procession when it passes through their respective communities offering water, food, flowers and sweets. They sing bhajans and recite verses from the Hanuman Chalisa that are specially structure hymns in praise of Lord Hanuman.

The procession is being organised by the Hindu Festival Society led by its president Tribhavan Seegobin and the El Socorro Hindu Mandir led by Sathyacharya Pundit Bramhanand Rambachan.

The country has several temples devoted to Lord Hanuman and thousands of Hanuman Chalisa are distributed annually by religious groups and devoted individuals.

(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com)