the goan I network
PANAJI
While the women are dressed in sarees and the men in formal shirts and trousers, the group goes about reciting Sanskrit shlokas before the services begin.
The group is entirely Hindu and for the last fourteen years, the members of the Swadhyaya Parivar have been creating a tradition with an aim to promote communal harmony across the state.
Speaking to the Goan Manu Dhulapkar who led the group at Old Goa explained the raison d’etre of the group and its deeds.
“We have been around for several years, but in Goa we have been practising this for the last fourteen years,” Dhulapkar who hails from Dhulapi in Corlim said. The group draws members from all over the state who converge at Old Goa on the occasion of Good Friday.
The followers of Pandurang Shashtri Athavale known as the Swadhyaya Parivar aims to create “Universal Brotherhood under the Divine Fatherhood of God” and lives by the maxim.
“Jesus Christ was one who preached peace and brotherhood. Just as he has spent his life preaching love and brotherhood so too we believe in spreading his message of brotherhood,” Dhulapkar said.
Before the commencement of services the group reads a sanskrit verses from the scripture before offering prayers in a chapel of the Sé Cathedral also in Sanskrit.
They are the followers of Pandurang Shashtri Athavale known as the Swadhyaya Parivar
The group draws members from all over Goa who converge at Old Goa on Good Friday
The members have been creating a tradition with an aim to promote communal harmony
Before the commencement of services the group reads a sanskrit verses from the scripture
The members believe that significance of Good Friday lies in understanding sacrifice of Jesus
