Royal Navy gets its first Hindu chaplain
LONDON: A pandit raised in India has become the Royal Navy's first ever Hindu chaplain.
Bhanu Attri (39), who grew up in Himachal Pradesh but now lives in Essex, formally passed out of Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth last week and is also the Royal Navy's first non-Christian chaplain.
He was one of two chaplains and 148 new Royal Navy officers to pass out.
Chaplains offer religious, pastoral, welfare and moral support to any member of the naval service, regardless of faith, who need it either at a base, or on ships and submarines. Attri, a Hindu priest with decades of experience running a Hindu temple in London, will also offer Hindu prayer ceremonies for Hindus.
There are around 40 Hindu personnel serving full-time in the Royal Navy, plus another 30 in the Maritime Reserves.
In the UK military, as a whole, there are more than 1,550 Hindus serving full-time, mostly in the army.
Whilst most cadets underwent 29 weeks of training, he underwent a slightly different 13-week course: six weeks of officer instruction, which included learning about the Royal Navy's worldwide role, its present-day mission, and how to survive a sinking ship; four weeks at sea, and three weeks focused on the role of a military chaplain.
Bhanu will now join the chaplaincy at HMS Drake, serving the thousands of personnel working in and around Devonport Naval Base, ashore and at sea.
'Passing out from Britannia Royal Naval College to become the first ever Hindu chaplain in the fleet is a profound honour,' Attri said. 'The chance to represent individuals from other diverse religions brings meaningful representation for the Hindu community and reflects the Navy's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and spiritual care for all.
My family feels immense pride.'
Anil Bhanot, Hindu adviser to the ministry of defence (MoD), said: 'In 2023 the Royal Navy created a position for a Hindu chaplain and I endorsed Pandit Bhanu Prakash Attri for best fitting the criteria. He has qualifications from India equivalent to a Sanskrit scriptural postgraduate degree.' Bhanot said he wanted to encourage more Hindu youth to join the British armed forces.
'Although our spiritual Bhoomi is India, our Karma-Bhoomi is the UK and MoD represents our protective arm,' he said.
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