Devotees gather around a rug adorned with colourful fruit, vegetables. flowers and candles. As prayers are intoned by the priest a small fire is lit.
The air is sweet with incense and flower petals ready to be thrown. The sounds of soft drumming and chanting mingle with incantations as the sacred fire ceremony begins.
The vedic fire ceremony, known as bhoomi pooja, marks the start of constructing the long awaited £5m Hare Krishna Centre in Cardiff Bay. Bhumi pooja, the practice of offering prayers and blessing the ground before construction starts, is the spiritual version of a ground breaking ceremony for the Krishna community.
Read more: Inside Cardiff's thriving Hare Krishna community
Under a hot June sun a priest consecrates the ground with offerings to the deities for their blessings and protection of the new project. Devotees, a riot of colour in traditional saris and garlands of flowers, sacrifice petals, fruits and grains thrown into the fire.
They have been joined by dignitaries including Indian Honorary Consul to Wales Shri Raj Kumar Aggarwal and Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt, as well as members of the local community gathering on the building site behind a 19th century Grade II-listed terrace in Bute Street. Here one of the buildings will soon be transformed into Ty Krishna Cymru, a wellness centre and hub for the community with a spectacular three storey glass extension at the back.
The centre, which will include a plant-based café, yoga studio, sacred space and rooftop garden, was part-funded by the National Lottery and Welsh Government. The Krishna community has been planning the project since before the pandemic and hope it will become a go to place for people visiting Cardiff Bay, as well as a space for the local community and devotees.
"We are excited to welcome representatives from all sectors of the community for this auspicious event, marking the commencement of what will be an impactful and life-changing project for Cardiff's communities," said Tarakanatha Dasa, managing director of the project.
"We aim to create this wonderful, world class facility. It is a vision we had and I don't believe there is anything like it in Cardiff or the country."
Speaking before the main ceremony began, Indian Honorary Consul to Wales Shri Raj Kumar Aggarwal told those gathered: "This is a special, auspicious, momentous occasion to celebrate the ground breaking of this institution for all of us.
"I am delighted we are here today. This will be a place for everybody, it is for the needy, the vulnerable, everybody."
Followers gathered visitors to join them as they circled the colourful offerings before throwing fresh flower petals into the sacred flames burning in what will be the lowest point of the building. Petals rained down from those standing above to wish good fortune and future for Ty Krishna Cymru. As the priest placed bananas into the flames chanting began.
Hare Krishna monks dressed in white and saffron robes, their hair closely shaven, joined those gathered chanting the mantra 'Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare'.
As the ritual drew to a close people climbed the steep scaffolding stairs out of the site to ground level. From there they made their way across Bute Street to Cardiff's Hare Krishna temple, the centre of the religion in the city.
Here Tarakanatha Dasa unveiled a model of what the new centre will look like when it opens next summer before the crowd celebrated with a vegetarian feast of Indian food.
Outlining his hopes for what it will mean for the community, Tarakanatha Dasa said he hopes it will be a hub for locals, as well as a tourist attraction for those visiting Cardiff Bay. The plans for the building include kitchens, a library, shop, exhibition space, yoga rooms, meditation space and workshops.
At the heart of the building is the "sacred space", featuring a traditionally designed altar set within the glass extension. People of all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities will be welcome.
The Grade II-listed building being transformed was built by the Bute Estate and originally part of the first purpose-built offices in Butetown. Two centuries later it is re-emerging as part of the area's diverse identity - a colourful beacon in the old docklands landscape and a symbol of the ever-changing city.
The Hare Krishna Movement is the informal name of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness which has its roots in the ancient teachings of the "Vedas", historical philosophical treatises dating more than 5,000 years. The Vedas are also the source of many eastern religions and traditions including yoga.
Swami Prabhupada brought the movement — formally called the International Society of Krishna Consciousness — to the West in 1966. The teachings of the Hare Krishna movement are derived from ancient Hindu scriptures.
READ NEXT:
- Watch as Hare Krishna devotees march through Carmarthen
- Inside the oldest and largest Hindu temple in Wales as it celebrates its 40th anniversary
- I joined Muslims at a Cardiff mosque to break their Ramadan fast
- The Sikhs at the heart of a Cardiff community and the work they do to feed the homeless
- Creative core of Hindu festival Durja Puja in Wales
