Bhadase Sagan Maraj was born on February 29th, 1920, in Caroni, a village consisting mainly of the descendants of indentured East Indian immigrant labourers. In the area Sagan Street where he lived, Hindu/Muslim rivalry was commonplace.
Bhadase attended the Caroni Canadian Mission School and later was a student at the Pamphillian High School in Tunapuna.
For 30 years, his father, Matthew Sagan Maraj, was a commanding figure among the Hindus in the area, where he was often called upon to adjudicate on important matters affecting villagers. From him, young Bhadase inherited the ideal for selfless work.
Maintaining a cordial relationship with his fellow villagers, he strove at all times to follow the tenets of Hinduism and always encouraged people to do the same.
Matthew Sagan Maraj has been described as a “Hindu to the backbone” and this certainly seemed to have instilled in young Bhadase a passionate commitment to Hinduism. Matthew was regarded as a fearless man who did not like to be double-crossed.
Matthew himself, like Bhadase later on, held several different jobs, including working as a lawyer’s clerk and gardener. From his garden, he sold eddoes, using a mule and cart as transport to take his produce to the market. He also worked on his own cocoa estate at Todd’s Road and spent his final years as a shopkeeper.
Bhadase always recalled his mother Baboonee, remembering the love and affection with which she always treated him. His mother, originally from St John’s Road in St Augustine, was the daughter of Parmesar Maharaj.
Even as a young girl, Bhadase’s mother was interested in Ramayana discourses and pujas; she could always be found in the Caroni Temple every Thursday when Ramayana Satsanghs were held.
She was married to Matthew at an early age and lived at Sagan Street, a house with a Pipal tree.
Bhadase grew up to be a physically strong young man; he played a good game of cricket but had neither the time nor opportunity to develop his talent in this direction.
Around this same time, his love for religion as a young man became evident in the number of personal yagnas he organised at his own home and the even greater number he helped organise in temples, villages and other private homes.
Bhadase was always at the forefront whenever there were negotiations for the benefit of the Hindu community, and he always took strong objections whenever he felt Hinduism was being treated in a derogatory manner.
As an outspoken champion of his religion, he later became very instrumental in discussions which culminated in the granting of a public holiday for the observance of Divali.
The Trinidad Guardian (August 26, 1956, pg 85) quoted Malik further: “Bhadase had started his rise in business as a sand contractor in 1941. He was the owner of a boat which was used to transport sand which he excavated from the Caroni River.
“Sand at the time was sold at forty cents per cubic yard, but because of the large stock which Bhadase had, he was able to command a price of one dollar and fifteen cents per cubic yard. This sand was used to build an air shelter in Point Fortin.
“Bhadase soon had six boats to use for this contract. A close friend had loaned him one hundred and twenty dollars to construct these new boats.”
From its very inception, the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha has always been the organisation with the greatest following among the Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago. It has been an organisation which continues to propagate the tenets of Hinduism in its traditional forms. The influence of this body on the Hindus in Trinidad is manifested in the influence which it wields through the Hindus.
Until 1952, there were two Sanatanist organisations in Trinidad, the Sanatan Dharma Association (SDA) and the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control (SDBC), and Bhadase recognised the serious setbacks this was posing to the Hindu community.
One significant disadvantage was that this had a very negative effect on the propagation of education among Hindus and the advancement of opportunities for them in this field.
Whereas the Muslims had begun their school building programme by 1948 and the Arya Samaj by 1950, the Sanatanist organisations were prevented from entering the field of education.
Invalid and unreasonable arguments forwarded by the government insisted that permission to build schools would not be forthcoming once there was disunity among the Hindus. This, however, was simply a convenient excuse to suppress the vast majority of Hindus in the country.
