History of SBD Sanatan Mandir Foundation, Phuket

The temple area has a long history. In our initial days the Island's Nepalese folks used to gather in various places, to to celebrate different kinds of Festival, to worship(pooja) or for the proposal of wedding or Bond. For all these, we used to gather in rented apartments and discuss among ourselves whether to have an association or some kind of organization or a place (space) for meeting, socializing and holding ceremonies as a meeting point. At that time of our seeking, we received a guruji, a spiritual leader, named Vyasacharya Kishore Gautam from Nepal who visited us on his way to Nepal from Myanmar. We all found it like a boon from God. We held several meetings, satsangs and discussions with guruji and urged him to associate with us and unite us. He agreed to help our Nepalese brothers and sisters to establish an association or an organization and recommended that we have a chairman or a leader of the organization and we also agreed to acquire a piece of land for our organization.

And then we gathered and travelled together to look for a suitable land in various locations till we came across the area that is now the current location of the Mandir Foundation. This was the place guruji saw and strongly recommended us to acquire as ours. When we viewed this plot of land, as guruji recommended, we also agreed that it was a great spot with a great atmosphere and would make an excellent gathering place. After that great decision, we started to collect donations from our society to buy this land. After acquiring this land, we applied for permission and started construction in earnest. Nepalese people have firm belief in their Sanatan faith and it is this firm belief that made them offer ornaments, personal jewelries, and valuables into the ground that was being dug at the moment. The next day, July 24, 2002, they poured cement over that dug space filled with ornaments and valuables.

The guruji who helped to establish this association then returned to Nepal. Nepalese people then thought that they should collect donations to construct the building. Most of the construction materials used to build the foundation would be leftover construction materials from various places. After that we built the Bhagawat building, When the building was completed in 2018, Yagya shala ( hawan kunda ) and Shanti building (Shanti Bhawan) was also used in rituals. After the construction process of Bhagawat Bhawan, Nepalese people in Phuket started to discuss about what the name of the foundation should be. It was decided during those discussions that the name of the foundation would be Shree Bhagawat Dhaam Sanatan mandir foundation. In the meantime, statues of Lord Buddha, Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Lord Sun (Surya Dev) and Goddess Durga, also known as Vishnu Panchayan, were imported from India. When they arrived in Phuket, the association held a ceremony that lasted five days. Important personalities and honored guests including the Deputy Governor of Phuket and the Ambassador of Nepal to Thailand were invited to attend the ceremony. In addition to religious ceremonies, other activities such as sports and religious sermons were also held. The intention of constructing and establishing this foundation was to allow people of various Sanatana denominations such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, to come and worship here. The foundation and the mandir had only one old building to start with. Subsequently, more land has been purchased to build another building. In addition to the place for worship at this foundation, there is also a place for believers to practice Dhamma and meditate.

Mr. Phanupong Limbuprasertkul was the first president of the foundation Mr. Jiwan Rai Thai and Mr. Kalam Chhetry were the first vice-presidents Mr. Tri Thongsuk was the first secretary Mr. Kalam Chhetri the current president of the foundation. He is in his 4th term as president