ALMOST 500 people raised the roof on the Punjabi Community Centre at the weekend, celebrating the religious day of a Hindu goddess.

This year’s Saraswati Puja Festival at the community centre in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill, attracted about 80 people more than organisers had hoped would turn up.

The festival was dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and arts and mother of the Vedas.

The goddess Saraswati is credited with endowing human beings with the powers of speech, wisdom and learning.

Every year, the Hindu community worship her for knowledge and wisdom .

Sunday’s festivities kicked off with the religious celebrations at 11am, and from 5pm the focus was on a cultural programme of singing and dancing and traditional cuisine.

Sujan Saha, cultural secretary of the Swindon Puja Committee, said: “It went brilliantly.

“There were a lot of people who came along to take part in the celebrations. It was just fantastic.

“The MPs Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson were both guests, as were many Swindon councillors as well.

“The success of this year’s event and the way that the people of Swindon came together made me exceptionally proud and was also incredibly humbling.

“It has also made it possible for us to start organising the festival so we can have it again next year.

“I just want to make a special thanks to all of the people who helped made it possible this year, the councillors, and the businessmen who helped put it together. I also want to make a special thanks to Mr Swapan Roy, the president of the Swindon Puja Committee, who put in so much hard work to make it possible.”

During the evening visitors enjoyed traditional food and drink as well as cultural festivities, while a a raffle was also held.

Sujan said: “There were so many prizes for the raffle, including an LED TV and a laptop.

“We had a couple of charity parties to raise money for our festival in Abys Indian in Swindon and Ashoka Indian Restaurant in Chippenham.

“It’s great to see a healthy exchange of culture and tradition on such an auspicious platform which brings us closer and makes our Swindon Puja committee stronger as a community in Swindon.

“We invited a professional dance troupe from London who performed classical Indian dance. Amit Dey and his band entertained us with a lot of Bollywood tunes as well as Bengali folk songs.”