Matunga area is famous for its South Indian architectural style of temple's design but a small Gaondevi temple in its vicinity is creating a history of its own by bringing all the religious culture together under one roof.
More than 300-year-old Marubai Gaondevi Mandir opposite Don Bosco School of Matunga is a temple of goddess Marubai which is considered as the goddess of the village (gamdevi). Since 2000, the temple's trust started celebrating Golu Festival, a Tamilian festival to rejoice nine days of Navratri.
Speaking about how and why they started celebrating most of the South Indian festivals in a Maharashtrian temple, Anil Gawand (60), chairman, said, "Earlier, most of the population in this area was migrated from south mainly Madras. They slowly started worshipping and offering this goddess due to which we slowly started celebrating this festival. We keep golu (dolls) on golu padi on all the days. Since the beginning, the bhajan mandals get their own golu of gods and goddess from their own expense."
From the beginning the temple keeps seven odd steps of golu padi every year. "More than 150 golus have been exhibited this year. This year, they have also added golu of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar to name a few. Schools from nearby areas bring their pre-primary school students to see the golus every year," said Gawand.
Keeping the culture and tradition alive, the temple also organises haldi-kumkum function just like the tamilians organise at their home. "Many a times due to lack of time and space in the house, people forget to keep the tradition alive because of which many old people come to spend their time here along with their family and grandchildren," Gawand added.
During these nine days the temple's management not only organises golu festival for the South Indian population but also organises one day garba for the Gujarati people.
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