HUNDREDS of members of Swindon’s Hindu community came together to honour goddess Kali Mata Puja at the weekend.

The festival of celebration and worship took place at the Punjabi Community Centre and was organised by the newly formed Swindon Sanatan Association.

There were endless hours of worship, glorious food, dancing and music to pay tribute to the goddess who is known for fighting evil.

A statue of Kali Mata Puja was also placed on a stage and was surrounded by candles and flowers.

“This is our second biggest Hindu festival and we believe that Kali Mata Puja can rescue us from all the evils and we pray for her,” said Sumon Roy, who helped set up the event.

“If her and her peace exists in the world it will be more peaceful.

“On Saturday we had the main worship from midnight and finished about 6 o’clock. Today, we are celebrating the cultural programme with music and dancing from Bengali to Bollywood.

“We are trying to bring the community, not only Hindus, together. Puja is a festival for everybody to enjoy and celebrate.”

Kali Puja is traditionally worshipped at night with tantric rites and is given offerings of red hibiscus flowers, sweets, rice and lentils.

Worshippers meditate throughout the night unit dawn in the belief that all evil will be destroyed.

Sujan Saha, another of the organisers, said: “The atmosphere is very friendly, people are coming here to enjoy themselves and dance from all communities under one umbrella.

“Our intention is to make Swindon multicultural and I would like to invite everyone next time to come along to make our event more successful."

Debabshis Saha, president of the group, who has lived in the town for ten years, added: “Puja marks victory over evil.

"People worship Kali Mata Puja in difficulties and other particular times. She destroys all evil, that’s why we celebrate once every year over two days."

Meanwhile there was also a Diwali festival of lights celebration on Sunday at the Hindu Temple in Cheney Manor.

It is also one of the biggest Hindu festivals and signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair.

It was the first Diwali being celebrated at the temple and over 300m of bright, multi-coloured LED lighting illuminated the building.

Inside, there was an hour of worship, before the spectacular light switch-on and show-stopping firework display.

Pradeep Bhardwaj, chairman of Swindon Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre, said: "It was beyond our expectations. We had around 400 to 500 there.

"It is even more significant here because most of the people are away from family so they bond even more because they are missing their dear ones.

"It reminds us to reflect upon the good times in life and share the joys with everyone and come together."

Celebrations will continue this week, including preparing more than 100 dishes to offer to the Gods, before being shared.