porches, along streets, and throughout villages.
The thousands of lamps are lit to dispel darkness
and ignorance.
In the 1920s, buildings known as koutias
became a regular feature in the country’s land-
scape. The structure, found throughout the Bhoj-
pur region in India, traditionally served to house
the temple caretaker. In Trinidad, koutias became
additions to traditional temple structures and
served as congregational halls. Many koutias were
built in communities where there were no tradi-
tional temples, in order to attract visits from SWA-
MIS. The congregational halls became converted
into central places of worship and began housing
numerous Hindu deities. By the 1950s, the koutia
temple became a unique feature of Trinidad’s Hin-
duism. The structure of the koutia includes a long
rectangular body with a flat or low-angled roof.
When attached to a traditional temple it appears
with a decorative dome at its front entrance. The
temple typically holds up to 100 worshippers,
who use the structure for congregational rituals,
seminar talks with visiting swamis, and general
worship services.
At present, approximately 300,000 Hindus
reside in Trinidad and Tobago. They make up
about 23 percent of the country’s population
and represent the second largest religion in the
country after Christianity. Hinduism continues to
thrive. Despite the incursion of secular influences,
many young people remain interested in their
faith and continue to support the preservation of
Hindu traditions.
Further reading: K. O. Laurence, A Question of
Labour: Indentured Immigration into Trinidad and Brit-
ish Guiana, 1875–1917 (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1994); Ashram B. Maharaj, The Pandits in Trinidad: A
Study of a Hindu Institution (Trinidad: Indian Review
Press, 1991); Steven Vertovec, The Hindu Diaspora:
Comparative Patterns (New York: Routledge, 2000);
———, Hindu Trinidad: Religion, Ethnicity and Socio-
Economic Change (London: Macmillan Caribbean,
1992).
Tukaram (1608–1649) Maharashtran poet-saint
Tukaram was a Maharashtran poet-saint, who
sang Marathi songs in praise of Vithoba or Vit-
thala, a local incarnation of KRISHNA.
He appears to have been low-caste in birth,
probably SHUDRA. As with many of the poet-saints
little is known of him for certain, and most of that
is taken from autobiographical snippets found in
his verses. The primary hagiographies, the Bhak-
tililamrita and the Bhaktavijaya, were both written
by one Mahipati. They contain many miraculous
events and much information that is probably not
factual.
Poet-saints sometimes find the corpus of their
works expand over the years as others mimic
their style and wish to have verses of their own
composition appear under the respected name of
a saint. This phenomenon is evident in the case of
Tukaram. Thus, there is no possibility of issuing a
critical edition of Tukaram’s words, though many
editions and sets of verses have been attributed
to him.
The hagiographical biography is as follows:
Tukaram is born as an AVATA R of the Mahatrastran
saint-poet Namdev at the behest of VISHNU him-
self, after his parents, Vaishnavite Bolhoba and
Kanakai, sincerely entreat God for a saintly son.
When Tukaram reaches manhood, his father gives
him responsibility in his business. Because his
first wife is feeble, Tukaram’s father arranges a sec-
ond for him. Tukaram proves inept at business, as
he has otherworldly concerns; when he does have
a successful venture he gives away all his profits
to a needy BRAHMIN.
Tukaram falls into severe poverty and his elder
wife starves to death. Then his eldest son dies. At
this, Tukaram renounces the world and retires to
a mountain to worship Vithoba. There Vithoba
reveals himself to him. Tukaram’s second wife
continues to serve him as her husband but com-
plains bitterly of his otherworldly nature.
Tukaram is known for his kindness and caring
for all. He feeds the hungry by miracles, he aids
a lame woman, he repairs a temple. Gradually, heTukaram 455 J