The establishment of a branch of the Saiva Sithantha Sungum in Pietermaritzburg in 1968 was an event of singular importance in so far as the religious advancement of our community in this area.

 

Our gratitude must be recorded to the late Mr Mariemuthu, the late Mr David Chetty and Wally Chetty and the late Dada Chetty whose untiring efforts were responsible for this move. The inauguration of this branch took place at 37 Royston Road, Mountain Rise, the residence of Mr and Mrs David Chetty who were truly one of the most dedicated members of the Sungum.

 

It was he who allowed the use of his lounge for the purpose of conducting services every Sunday at 9.00 a.m. Incidentally we are indebted to devoted son of Sri Karunainanda Swamigal, Guru Ravenanandan who was present at the inauguration and who was honoured to light the first lamp which gave birth to the movement in Pietermaritzburg.

 

The Spiritual Head of the Sungum, at that stage, Sri Karuaiananda Swamigal formally blessed the Pietermaritzburg Branch as a full unit. The initial membership of 20 soon began to increase due to the tremendous enthusiasm that was evident in all places like Northdale and Raisethorpe, so much so, that Mr David Chetty & lounge became far too small.

 

At this stage a further achievement was made possible by the opening of Tamil classes initially being conducted by Mrs Maggie Chetty at her residence at 37 Royston Road, Mountain Rise, Pietermaritzburg. With the passing of time and increasing interest it was felt that branches of the Sungum should be established in the different areas, particularly in Northdale and Raisethorpe.

 

In 1969 centres were established at Northdale, Raisethorpe and Mountain Rise, Guru Ravenandan was still doing excellent work in attending the needs at Greytown and Pietermaritzburg. However, due to increasing pressure of work he was succeeded by Guru M E Naidoo who was appointed to conduct services at Northdale and Mountain Rise and Mr N Govender (now deceased) was left to attend to Raisethorpe.

It is of interest to note that the first service in Northdale was held at the residence of Mr and Mrs M I Naidoo. Incidentally this service was inaugurated by Guru Ravenanadan. In the course of time Tamil classes were also conducted at the premises of Mr and Mrs M I Naidoo and the classes were conducted by Mrs M I Naidoo.

The late Mr Mariemuthu, a member of the Education Committee of the Mountain Rise Indian School was instrumental in organising accommodation at that school for Sunday services and vernacular classes for the Mountain Rise residents.
In November 1970, all the Pietermaritzburg Branches were given formal recognition by the Spiritual Head of the Sungum, Swami Sivanantha Navalar and Officials of the Headquarters at a function held at the Northdale Civic Centre.

 

The officials of the various branches were as follows :-

Mountain Rise :
Guru: K Moodley, Chairman: Vis Mariemuthu, Secretary: Wally Chetty, Treasurer: Juggie Naidoo.

Northdale :
Guru: M E Naidoo, Chairman: M I Naidoo, Secretary: K Soobramoney, Treasurer: D C Soobben
 

Raisethorpe : 
Guru: N Govender (now deceased), Chairman: S N Reddy, Secretary: Loggie Naidoo, Treasurer:
Aroo Pillay

A further milestone in the history of this body was created in 1972 of an 'All Purpose Committee whose primary task was to organise the raising of funds for the Sungum in Pietermaritzburg.

 

The officials of this committee were : Chairman: Mr Mariemuthu, Secretary: Dada Chetty (now
deceased), Treasurer: D C Soobben; committee members: Kista Govender, M I Naidoo, Wally
Chetty, P B Moodley.

 

This committee did excellent work in organising and conducting the popular Living Statue show. In the same year we were able to acquire a piece of land at Northdale. We were fortunate to accord a welcome to Swami Maharashi Sudanantha Bharathi of India who blessed our vacant land.

The year 1974 saw a change in the composition of the Mountain Rise cabinet. Mr Ramakrishna Moodley was appointed Guru, Chairman: Wally Chetty, Secretary: Dick Naidoo, Treasurer: Dheva Naidoo.

The Northdale Branch continued, growing. The expansion of activity at Northdale was due to the Sungum having obtained more spacious accommodation at the premises of the Northdale SanathanVed Dharam Sabha. Our Sungum will always be grateful to this organisation for its co-operation

 

The appointment of a Building Committee for the Pietermaritzburg project in September 1977 was yet another step forward. The committee comprised of Wally Chetty, Chairman; P B Moodley, Secretary; M I Naidoo, Treasurer; together with Kista Govender, D C Soobben, Dan Chetty, Percy Pillay, Shunny Pillay, Dick Naidoo and R P Moodley.

In January 1978 the foundation of the R80 000 building project comprising of a shrine and hall was laid by Sgt. Govender of Durban (President of the Sungum). Initially many problems were encountered, with even the builder deserting us. However, thanks to the Chairman of the Building Committee, Mr Wally Chetty for coordinating this project for three months and brought it to first slab height.

 

It was at this stage Mr A S Pillay, the noted philanthropist of Pietermaritzburg, entered the scene and it was a result of
his magnanimity this project was completed at a nominal cost. It must be readily conceded that the various branches in the City have earned the esteem and gratitude of the community by virtue of the practical service they have and are continuously rendering in this way, Sunday services, funeral services, memorial services and Sungum weddings.

 

The first Sungum wedding which took place on the 6th December 1969 was of Mr and Mrs Kandy Soobramoney. The opening of this Centre provides us all with tremendous possibilities for the future, apart from coordinating our activities, there will undoubtedly be greater enthusiasm for the Lords work.

 

The Branch was officially opened by Mr A S Pillay on Sunday 30 November 1980.

In December 1980 a new Pietermaritzburg branch committee was elected. Mr G (Wally) Chetty – Chairman, Mr R P Moodley – Secretary, M I Naidoo – Treasurer, Guru – M E Naidoo. The step undertaken by this Committee was to merge all the branches in Pietermaritzburg into one centre.

 

After much discussion with the various Committees it was finally decided to close all the branches and meet at a centre at Veerappa & Gangalu Place. Many fund raising projects were successfully undertaken to assist in the smooth running of our Temple.

During the 90's we were visited by 3 white Swamis from Hawaai and a special welcome was accorded to them at our Temple. At this stage our Branch was conducting Sungum weddings and Guru M E Naidoo was ably officiating these weddings.

 

Our Committee worked very hard and decided to extend the hall and feeding section. The plans were approved by the Municipality in July 1986. During the 90's the building operation commenced on the extension of our hall and feeding section. It was decided to continue building as and when we had sufficient cash.

We were fortunate to have a great Saint from India Swami Rangarajan who visited our Temple on two occasions. He also gave us a discourse on peace.

 

During 1993 we recorded a sad loss of our senior members of the Sungum, Mr David Chetty and Mr M I Naidoo. At this stage during 1997 we saw a change in our Committee when Mr D Padayachee replaced Wally Chetty as Chairman and Nelain Kannie as Secretary and Sergie Naidoo as Treasurer.

 

On 26 June 2003 our Branch recorded a sudden death of Guru M E Naidoo. His demise created a large vacuum, not only in the Sungum but in the entire community. A great shock was felt when we heard of the sudden death of our Gurus wife a month later.

On the 13th July 2003 history was made when our Spiritual Head of our Sungum Swami Siva Yoganantha initiated our Guru L Naidoo as the Guru of Pietermaritzburg Branch, on this day Maggie Chetty was appointed as the Deputy Guru and Wally Chetty the Assistant Guru.

The extension of the hall and feeding section was well on the move and our Branch is greatly indebted to our member Mr Ganas Moodley for undertaking the building project for gratis. May the Lord Shiva bless him and his family.

During February in 2005 this dream was realised and we have completed the extension. At the moment Yoga classes, singing classes and Sunday Services and weddings are regularly conducted at our Centre. In addition our Branch carries out Memorial Services, Funeral Services and feeding schemes at the Northdale Hospital and certain clinics in Pietermaritzburg. On a monthly basis we undertake to feed 300 under privileged persons in Northdale.

In order to commemorate our 70 years of existence of our Sungum we were privileged to have two visitors from India, Srimat Sundarmunthi Thambiran Swamigal who gave a discourse on Divine Grace and a great singer Othuvaar Thandapani Samu Ayya who sang beautiful Thevaram songs which the audience thoroughly enjoyed. A record number of 400 people attended the function on 17September 2007 at our Temple.