Shri Nathji Mandir, Leytonstone (Shri Nathji Sanatan Hindu Mandir)ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਨਾਥਜੀ ਮੰਦਰ, ਲੇਟਨਸਟੋਨ (ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਨਾਥਜੀ ਸਨਾਤਨ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਮੰਦਰ)

On Whipps Cross Road in Leytonstone, east London, stands a plain red brick building that carries an outsized place in British Hindu history. The Shri Nathji Mandir, formally the Shri Nathji Sanatan Hindu Mandir, was inaugurated in June 1980 and is the original temple of the charity Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK. Three decades later the same charity opened its famous limestone temple at Wembley, the Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir, Wembley, but Leytonstone came first, and it is still in daily use. This entry tells its story. See also the hub: Mandirs in the United Kingdom.

What is Shri Nathji Mandir?

Shri Nathji Mandir is a Hindu temple at 159 to 161 Whipps Cross Road, Leytonstone, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is run by Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK, a registered charity formed in June 1979. The charity was founded by Vaishnav Hindus, and its stated aim follows the teaching of Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Pushtimarg tradition, but the temple itself is deliberately open to all: it follows Sanatan Dharma and welcomes every Hindu tradition under one roof. Its shrines hold Shri Ram, Shrinathji, the Shiv Parivaar, Amba Mataji, Jalaram Bapa and Hanumanji, a spread that reflects that open door policy, from the Pushtimarg devotion to Shrinathji at its heart to the widely loved Jalaram Bapa and Hanumanji.

How did the Leytonstone temple begin?

The charity behind the temple took shape in June 1979, founded by Balmukund P. Parikh and Ramanbhai Patel, of the six gham patidar community, with the blessings of Krishna Shankar Shastriji, known to devotees as Dadaji. A year later, in June 1980, the Leytonstone temple was inaugurated with a Bhagwat Katha, a week of storytelling from the Bhagavata tradition. The temple's own history, retold by the MyAdhyatm temple guide, remembers who was there: Dadaji himself, Acharya Kanubhai Dave, and Indira Betiji with her sister Nikunjlata Betiji. For Indira Betiji, a much loved Pushtimarg teacher, it was her first katha in the United Kingdom.

The same month, June 1980, the foundation stone of a Ram Mandir at the site was laid by the katha teller Moraribapu, and its pran pratishtha, the ceremony that installs the deities, followed in June 1982, presided over by Dadaji, with katha by Chote Moraribapu. The money tells its own story of a young community stretching itself: the institution had about 130,000 pounds in hand and set itself the challenge of raising the same again to complete the work. What grew on Whipps Cross Road was not one shrine but a small temple quarter, with the Ram and Shrinathji temples joined by shrines to the other deities the congregation brought with them from Gujarat and East Africa.

Why does a small brick temple matter so much?

Leytonstone matters because of when it opened. In 1980 London's Hindus still worshipped mostly in converted halls, houses and former churches, and purpose held temples were rare. A permanent mandir of its own, bought and paid for by the community, gave east London's Hindus a fixed home for weddings, funerals, festivals and daily worship, and a base from which the charity could later attempt something far bigger. When the Wembley temple opened in the summer of 2010, built entirely of imported Indian limestone with no steel supports, it drew national attention. Leytonstone is the quieter first chapter of that same story: the proof, thirty years earlier, that the community could organise, raise money and keep a temple running.

Leytonstone and Wembley: one charity, two temples

Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK runs both temples, and the pair show two generations of British Hindu building. Wembley is monumental: carved in India, assembled in London, and filled with dozens of shrines. Leytonstone is domestic in scale, a brick hall temple on a main road, closer in spirit to the prayer halls the first generation knew, but with proper shrines and a full festival calendar. Devotees often treat them as one family: the Leytonstone temple keeps the charity's original congregation in the east of the city, while Wembley serves the larger Gujarati community of the north west. Both follow the same Sanatan Dharma principles the charity sets out, centred on God, prayer, rebirth, right action and compassion for all living things.

Visiting Shri Nathji Mandir

The temple stands at 159 to 161 Whipps Cross Road, Leytonstone, London E11 1NP, near Whipps Cross Hospital and the edge of Epping Forest. The charity lists the temple phone as 020 8989 7539. As at most Sanatan mandirs, visitors of all backgrounds are welcome for darshan during opening hours, shoes are removed before the shrine area, and modest dress is appreciated. Festival days, above all Janmashtami, Navratri, Diwali and Jalaram Jayanti, are the busiest times, when the small temple fills with the families whose parents and grandparents built it. Anyone travelling specially should check the charity's website, svnuk.org, for the day's timings before setting out.