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Lockhurst Lane, COVENTRY, CV6 5NY

This gurdwara is dated 1962 on the front but the current building is clearly much more recent than that.

Cul-de-sac off Lockhurst Lane.

This is an odd corner of Foleshill viewed through a fence from Livingstone Road. In the centre of the photo beyond the rather overgrown plot is what looks like a vernacular cottage with a crude modern extension and, behind it, some industrial buildings including a long factory building of brick.

The front of Shri Guru Ravidass Gurdwara is on Foleshill Road.

The Lockhurst Lane 'bridge of sighs' connects two parts of Courtaulds textile works, which expanded along Lockhurst Lane in the years after 1918. The factory, which was known for making rayon and similar artificial fibres, closed in the 1990s and the surviving buildings have been put to a variety of commercial uses, with some converted to housing.

The temple occupies a former warehouse on Foleshill Road, adjoining an engineering factory, but is seen here from a pocket park on Livingstone Road, looking onto its side elevation. Shops on Foleshill Road, including the Chaiiwala teahouse, can be seen in the distance. The city council website describes it as a 'multicultural temple' of the 'Sikh-Ravidassia' faith, that offers 'Solemnisation of marriages, auspicious, inauspicious gatherings, punjabi classes, NHS classes for people living with long term conditions. Interpretation of the Guru Granth Sahib. Learning of tabla.' https://www.coventry.gov.uk/directory_record/15183/shree_guru_ravidass_temple Members revere the 15th century poet and contemplative Shri Guru Ravidass Ji, who was a chamar or leather-worker and therefore outside the Hindu caste system and 'untouchable'. He nevertheless developed a wide following and influenced the Sikhs, whose first guru, Nanak, he is believed to have met. The Wikipedia article on Ravidas(s) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravidas includes, besides an account of his life, a photo of the front elevation of the Foleshill temple and a description of the complex relationship of Ravidas' followers with the Sikhs, which has led to the two traditions parting company in the early 21st century. The website of the temple itself can be found here http://www.ravidassji.org.uk/index.htm .

This is a temple of the Ravidassia community and is dedicated to Shri Guru Ravidass Ji Maharaj, a holy man and social reformer, who challenged the caste divisions of Indian society and taught a religious path available to all; see Image] . The temple opened in a converted industrial building in 1996, as explained on its website here http://www.ravidassji.org.uk/about.htm . The adjoining building, to the left of this photo, is still used by an aerospace engineering company.

Harminder the cycle-powered mechanical elephant all but stole the show at the 2021 Diwali procession in Coventry. She can be seen here passing the Ravidassia Temple on Foleshill Road (for a view of the temple by day see here Image). Harminder was commissioned by the Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation (IHWO) of Northampton for Diwali in 2014 and was funded by Arts Council England; see her webpage here https://www.festiveroad.org/portfolio-view/harminder-the-elephant/ . In the howdah on Harminder's back can be seen her female pilot, perhaps one should say mahout, who is pedalling and steering the elephant, while behind her stands another woman playing the role of Sita, returning triumphant, freed from captivity to the demon king Ravana. An elephant is a suitable mount for an Indian princess. A cycle-powered elephant is also a very appropriate creature for Coventry; an elephant appears on the city coat of arms and it is represented in many places around the city, see for example here Image The bicycle and its Coventry pioneer James Starley Image have been featured prominently in the 2021 UK City of Culture events in the city, of which the Diwali procession, named 'Abundance', was one; see for example here Image