School children, made up of iTaukei and Indo-Fijians gathered inside Fiji’s oldest Ganesh Temple in Masimasi, Sabeto, to sing the national anthem before prayers began for the last day of Ganesh Utsar rituals.

The temple, built in 1946 and named the Maha Sabha Ganesh Temple is one of the treasured prayer places for people, mainly cane farmers in the Sabeto area.

The national anthem was sung in the three main languages – Hindi, iTaukei and English.

Newal Umarao, head teacher of Masimasi Primary School, which is joined to the temple, said the aim for this Ganesh Utsar was for unity among the people.

Following prayers, devotees then visited Saweni Beach where the final rituals took place.

A spokesperson for the temple said most of the families from the Sabeto especially Masimasi were fourth generation descendants of those who donated the land and built the temple.

Some of these were the late Pandits Sharda Nan, Ram Kishore Mishra, Mathura Maharaj, Ram Sarup and a cane farmer, Sukhai Sadhu.