TEMPLE HISTORY

The roots of the Valmiki community began in Coventry, UK in the early 1950’s with the arrival of Mr Darshan Singh Mattu. He was followed by Mr Kartar Singh Mattu and Mr Dara Singh Mattu in 1954. Mr Darshan Singh Mattu’s family was the first family to arrive in 1958 and in 1960 the families of Mr Dhanna Ram Sidhu & Joginder Pal Sidhu arrived in the UK, more families from the Valmiki community followed to join their family members. The Valmiki community lived together as a big extended family, people from the community helped each other financially, but the biggest help was the sharing and provision of accommodation for the community members and their families till they built their own base.

All through the 1960’s the Punjabi communities of all faiths got together once a month to celebrate Sangrand at the Red Lane School, Coventry.

In 1965 Mr Rattan Chand arrived in the UK from Kenya, East Africa. He was one of the main visionaries involved in getting the Valmiki community together to form the first Valmiki Committee in the UK.

Mr Ratan Chand was a member of an existing Valmiki Committee in Kenya and wanted to bring all the community together by forming a Valmiki Committee in the UK. In 1966 Rattan Chand and a few other members got together to form the first Valmiki committee in the UK.

In 1967 the Maharishi Valmik Sabha organised and celebrated the first Guru Ravidass Jayanti in the UK along with the whole Ravidass community at the Wyken Community Centre. This saw the start of a deep relation between the two communities, culminating in the Ravidass community joining us every year to celebrate Maharishi Valmik Jayanti and the Valmiki community join the Ravidass community every year to celebrate the Guru Ravidass Jayanti.

From 1965 to 1970 there were many Valmiki families who arrived in the UK; these families were mainly from Kenya, East Africa. Most of these families were forced to leave after Kenyan Independence, as they were given two years to acquire Kenyan citizenship which in turn would renounce their British passports.

From 1966 to 1979 the Maharishi Valmik Sabha brought the Valmiki community together once a year at various rented halls across Coventry to celebrate Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti. The Maharishi Valmik Sabha would travel and perform marriage ceremonies for the Valmiki Community across various towns and cities in the UK. The Maharishi Valmik Sabha had a vision that the Valmiki community should have their own temple; the Maharishi Valmik Sabha collected donations for the temple since its formation in 1966.

The vision of the temple started to take shape in 1975 with the help of Mr Avtar Lal Mattu who was a Royal Mail employee and was made aware that the Royal Mail was planning to sell its parcel sorting office based on Fisher Road in Coventry. Mr Avtar Lal Mattu discussed the sale of the parcel sorting office with the head of the Royal Mail Coventry. The head of the Royal Mail welcomed the idea of the parcel sorting office being used as a place of worship, he agreed on a sale price of £15000 for the parcel sorting office.

Mr Avtar Lal Mattu contacted the Maharishi Valmik Sabha and an emergency meeting was called at The General Wolfe Public House in Foleshill, to discuss the sale of the parcel sorting office.

The Maharishi Valmik Sabha had £4000 and needed to raise £11000 to secure the purchase. Mr Avtar Lal Mattu contacted the head of the Royal Mail Coventry and requested some time to get the funds together. By this time the head of the Royal Mail had already received offers of up to £30000 for the sale of the Parcel sorting office, but he wanted the building to be used for a good cause and agreed to sell the building for £15000 and wait for the Valmiki Community to raise the funds. He agreed not to sell the building until he received the final decision from the Valmiki Community.

Thus began the huge task of raising £11000 to build the UK’s first Valmik Temple. It was agreed that every working male member of the Valmiki community in Coventry would donate £100, the equivalent of £1700 today (March 2015), towards the temple building. The Maharishi Valmik Sabha contacted other Valmiki community members in other towns and cities around the UK to help raise money for the temple. It took two years for the Valmiki community to raise the £11000 to secure the purchase of the temple building.

In September 1978 the purchase of the building was completed and the Maharishi Valmik Sabha received the keys of the new temple building. The temple building was registered under the name “JAGAT GURU VALMIK JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE” and four Trustees were elected.

From September 1978 to April 1979 a lot of building work and repair was carried out at the JAGAT GURU VALMIK JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE to convert it from a parcel sorting office to a temple and make the building safe for public access. Around £5000 was spent on the material used for the repair. All the manual and skilled labour was free and was provided by the members of Valmiki community.

In April 1979 the new Maharishi Valmik Sabha was elected and the JAGAT GURU VALMIK JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE was open to the public.

From 1979 to 1987 the JAGAT GURU VALMIK JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE did not have a Langar hall, so the Langar was served at the back of the temple which was an unsheltered open area. In 1987 the Lord Mayor of Coventry Arthur James Waugh was the guest of honour attending the Maharishi Valmik Jayanti celebrations at the temple; he saw that the Valmiki community had to stand outside in the cold and rain for the Langar seva. He advised the Maharishi Valmik Sabha to apply for a government grant to build a community centre. The request for a community centre was submitted and Coventry City Council issued a grant of £107000 for the construction of Maharishi Valmik Community centre.

The construction of the Maharishi Valmik Community centre commenced in 1987 and was completed in October 1988; the Maharishi Valmik Community centre was opened to the public on the 23rd of October 1988.

The Maharishi Valmik Sabha and JAGAT GURU VALMIK JI MAHARAJ TEMPLE have been serving the Valmiki community in the UK since 1966 and will continue to do so for future generations.