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Pundit Sahadeo Tiwari

Pundit Tiwari was born in the village of Sarwan in Bihar,India on 25th February,1892.He came to Trinidad as an Indentured Immigrant in 1910 and later married Sunbass Tiwari(not related).This marrige produced two sons:Ramakant and Surrindra and, five daughters: Mayanti,Shanti, Savitri,Kanti and Reanti.In January 1932,Tiwari established The Sanatan Dharma Board of Control(Port-of-Spain Gazette:17th January 1932).The principal objective of the organization was to unify Hindus and further the interest of the Hindu religion among the Hindu section of the local community.The Sanatan Dharma Board of Control was based in Tunapuna and was composed of predominantly orthodox,practising Pundits. Pundit Tiwari was the first Pundit to perform a Hindu marriage ceremony or Vivah Samskara in the day despite vehement opposition from other Pundits who even threatened his life.The Hindu marriage ceremony at the time was performed in tht night and this resulted in the procession from the boy side or Baraat having to stay overnight.The family of the girl side or Dulahin had to look after and entertain the Baraatians,a rather costly exercise. It was because of such economic circumstances that Pundit Sahadeo Tiwari felt it best to perform the marriage ceremony of Francis Jairam Bhopalsingh and Rajoo Narayansingh in the day.The ceremony took place on April 23rd 1933 at 11:00 am in Tunapuna at the Old Railway Station(Port-of-Spain Gazette-20th April,1933).Pundit Tiwari refused to succumb to the opposition against him for doing the ceremony in the day.He imported a book from India called the Vivah Paddhati,a Hindu manuel on the marriage ceremony and was able to silence his opposition.Debate among the elite (Panchayat) was simple.A wedding performed in the night meant that the Dhruva Taara (North Pole Star) was shown to the bride and because the star was fixed, it was used to demonstrate to the bride that she should remain fixed in her commitment to her marriage.However, if the ceremony was done in the day, then Surya Darshan or the Sun was shown and it was made clear that the Sun held the same significance of the North Pole Star which was that it is in a fixed position.Thus,the validity of the day wedding was established. Pundit Sahadeo Tiwari died on the 14th April 1972.During his life he tutored a number of well known Pundits such as the late Ramcharan Byragie,the late Satnarayan Panday and Pundit Param among others.