TE ROPU INIA O TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA
UNITE SERVE CELEBRATE
Welcome to Bharat Bhavan, the home of Wellington Indian Association and Gita Mandir.
Bharat Bhavan is open daily.
Established in 1925
Indian culture for Indians in Wellington.
You can help make a difference by making a donation. There are many ways you can contribute.
Tracing our ancestry project
We’re working with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to identify the portraits of our forefathers and foremothers who had their portraits taken in the 1930s.
Noli Nem
10:30am, 3rd August
Join with other mahila in Noli Nem pooja.
The holy Hindu festival of ‘Noli Nem’ , is celebrated in Gujarat, India. It is celebrated by fasting women for the health and well-being of their children. “Noli” (Norio), means ‘Mongoose’. “Nem” means ‘ninth’. The day is celebrated on the ninth day of the holy month of Sharavan.
To celebrate the festival the mahila cook a simple meal. They cook five or seven sprouted beans (the beans have been pre-soaked and sprouted a couple of days before), this is known as “vadhu”. This is served with a millet chapati known as “rotlo”, and milk.
The pooja is performed with diva made of oil, and the offerings made are fruit, rice, milk, flowers, abil (white colour powder), gulal (pink colour powder), and Kukum (red coloured powder).
The story of Nori Nem is then retold with the mahila eating and telling the story together.
What’s On
Available to purchase
Wellington’s Indian Story - Beyond a Century
Jacqueline Leckie
This year marks the centennial celebration of the Wellington Indian Association, and halfway through this year, a new book will unveil the community's rich history with the city.
That history goes back much further than 100 years, with the first Indian migrants jumping ship in the late 1700s.
Jaqueline Leckie said that was something that was still little-known to most Kiwis, but she had spent most of her career researching the Indian diaspora, and how they landed in white settler colonies like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
"I think it was about 1769, [where] there's records of some Indian sailors on ships, one was with the French East India company. And then later, Indian men were working on ships that were run by the British East India companies," Leckie explained.
Leckie had written multiple books about the history of Indian migration, and her latest focused on the Wellington region. It detailed how Indians settled and developed into the community that existed there today.
"So looking more at the importance of place, and connection which you would find in other parts of Aotearoa," she said.
Wellington's Indian story: beyond a century will be released in the middle of this year.
New health and fitness classes now on. Keep active, fit, and healthy this winter. Try one of our classes
