Bhadase Sagan Maraj was a Trinidadian Hindu politician, business man who served the Hindu cause almost single handedly.
Profile
Bhadase Sagan Maraj was born on February 19th, 1919 in Caroni village, central Trinidad. His father Mathew Sagan Maraj was a leader of the Hindu community. Those were days when there was Hindus and the Muslims did not have cordial relations in Central Trinidad. When Bhadase was thirteen he witnessed his father being shot by a Muslim gang. Soon his uncle was killed too. He realised his life was also under threat, so he went away and lived with his paternal grandmother. Knowing he could face death threats anytime, he learnt wrestling and by twenty he became an accomplished wrestler. Construction business was in boom and he began to sell sand taken from the Caroni river and he began to make money. His business acumen was good and soon he began to make lots of money through various businesses, all by the age of thirty. He was one of the biggest contractors for the American constructions in Trinidad during the Second World War When the war ended, Bhadase was able to buy the base left by the Americans and this was many acres of land. Bhadase’s guru was PanditBasdeoMisir, a great exponent of the Hindu scriptures. Bhadase became politically popular with his Peoples Democratic Party and was elected to the legislative council in 1950. His political career graph moved up and down and finally in 1971 in the General Elections his party was badly defeated. This distressed the already sick Bhadase and he died soon after on October 21st 1971.
Philosophy Propounded
Though Bhadase was a politician and a business man his vison in life was to further the Hindu cause. He founded the Sanatana Dharma Maha Sabha in 1952. People respected him as he was very generous and helped people in distress. The obituary given by Augustus Ramrekarsingh, in Trinidad Express, sums up Bhadase’s passion for India.”More than any other single individual, Bhadase made the Indians proud of their heritage in a society which was Christian and Afro-Saxon, hence hostile to them.”
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Apart from the Sanatana Dharma Maha Sabha, he established schools. Most of them were in cowsheds and he was criticised for this. He reply to that was, “It is better to have a child receive an education in a cowshed than none at all”. Today there are many Hindu schools run by other organisations as well.
