TIRATH YATRA WALK 2013, STAGE 10: SHREE SHAKTI MANDIR

Stage ten of the Tirath Yatra Sponsored Walk with Leicester Friends of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies: Shree Shakti Mandir, Canon Street.The goal is to visit 16 Hindu places of worship (mandirs) in Leicester on foot in a single day.

Tirath Yatra (Hindi: तीर्थयात्रा) is a journey undertaken as a pilgrimage.

I found Shree Shakti Mandir one of the most interesting stops on last year's Holi Yatra Walk. A single storey concrete building in a residential area, it would be easy to miss Shree Shakti Mandir or mistake it for something else - a scout hut, for instance. It's certainly one of the least ostentatious places of worship I've visited in Leicester. It reminds me of the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands, which I've visited twice (in 1984 and 2008). This building was previously used as a Roman Catholic church (Our Lady of Good Counsel). On the side of the building shown in these photos (on Moira Street), Christian symbols have deliberately been left visible, as a way of emphasising the harmony of past and present use.

Sadly, this time there's no one to let us in, so we have to content ourselves with seeing the outside only. The building has been enlivened with some vivid repainting of certain arts in red since last year's visit. This makes some elements stand out more than they did last time, such as the big red trident shown in the photo above, superimposed on a cross. There are another three tridents tucked into the niche on the gable, with the cross above them.

On the walk to our next destination, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, I discuss the significance of the trident with a couple of my fellow yatris. In Sanskrit and Pali, the trishula ("three spear") is the emblem of the god Shiva. The three prongs represent Shiva's three aspects:

• creator
• preserver
• destroyer

as well as the three shaktis ("powers" - which suits this mandir, of course):

• will
• action
• wisdom

The fearsome goddess Durga also brandishes a trishula in one of her seven hands.

I mention a few things about the trident and its use in classical mythology and art and in popular culture. Aquaman has one. So he should; after all, he's King of Atlantis!

HOLI YATRA WALK 2012, STAGE 9: SHREE SHAKTI MANDIR

Ninth stage on the Holi Yatra Sponsored Walk with Leicester Friends of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies: Shree Shakti Mandir, Canon Street. The goal is to visit 15 Hindu places of worship in Leicester on foot today. Nine down ...

Holi (Hindi: होली) is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus, also known as the Festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistand and Nepal and in countries with large populations from India or of Indian descent who follow Hinduism.

Yatra (Sanskrit: यात्रा, "journey", "procession"), in Hinduism and other Indian religions, means pilgrimage to holy places and is generally undertaken in groups. One who goes on a yatra is known as a yatri. It is desirable, but not obligatory, for a Hindu to go on a yatra. One can go on a yatra for a variety of reasons, including festivals, to perform rituals for one's ancestors, or to obtain good karma. To traditional Hindus, the journey itself is as important as the destination, and the hardships of travel serve as an act of devotion in themselves. Visiting a sacred place is believed by the pilgrim to purify the self and bring one closer to the divine. (Thanks to Wikipedia for these definitions.)

Shree Shakti Mandir is one of the least ostentatious places of worship I've had the pleasure of visiting in the city. It's a single storey concrete building in a residential area and would be easy to miss or mistake for something else. First sight of the premises reminds me of a scout hall or something similar. It also brings to mind the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands, which I've visited twice (in 1984 and 2008). This building was previously used as a Roman Catholic church (Our Lady of Good Counsel). On the other side of the building from where we enter (on Moira Street), Christian symbols have been left visible, quite deliberately as a way of emphasising the religious harmony of previous and present use.

I leave some fliers and A4 posters for the upcoming REDP event Choice Unlimited (after asking permission, of course). I also leave information about the Council of Faiths next open meeting, a panel presentation entitled "God in my faith" coming up during the week.

KELVINGROVE: LAFARUK MADONNA

This exhibit in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum reminded me of the story of the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands (which is still standing, a little closer to home and which I've had the pleasure of visiting on two occasions, more than 20 years apart - first time for a few blessed hours entirely on my own on a wet and blustery day in the autumn of 1984, the second time as part of a hot and harassed coach party on a day trip in the summer of 2008).

This is a story about three religious paintings that were made by an Italian prisoner of war – Giuseppe Baldan – for a mud chapel. Find out how pictures painted on the back of old flour bags gave prisoners hope during World War II.

The paintings show the Virgin Mary holding her son, the baby Jesus, with angels on either side of them. In the background are views of the Lafaruk prisoner of war camp, where the Italians were held.

The camp was set up near Berbera, in what is now Somalia. The British built it to hold Italian prisoners of war during the war in North Africa.

How did the paintings survive? When the camp was disbanded, Somali soldiers, who were at the camp to keep order, destroyed the chapel and slashed the paintings. The Italian solders rescued the paintings and gave them to Captain Alfred Hawksworth – the British officer in charge of the camp – to look after. In 1965 he tried to give them back. A letter from Luigi de Giovanni, the camp interpreter, explained why the prisoners told Captain Hawksworth to keep them.

“I have appreciated your idea of bringing back to Italy the sacred paintings of captivity we entrusted to you … you must keep them for ever as a gauge of gratitude and love by the 35,000 people who owe you, beyond their life, the dignity of human treatment.”