Source

ALBANY, NEW YORK, June 18, 2004: The Hindu Temple Society of Albany is celebrating the 12th anniversary of the temple. Built in 1992, the temple on Albany Shaker Road now supports a growing congregation of 600 families. For the next week, which began with preliminaries on Friday and will culminate with festivities Saturday and Sunday, the members of the Hindu Temple society will celebrate the anniversary of the temple while they also reinvigorate their Deities. “This is exactly what they follow in India,” said Sury Putta, a member of the temple’s board of directors. Temple leaders said they consider themselves doubly blessed. First, they witness a ceremony that few see. Second, in America at a temple founded by mostly immigrants, this week’s celebration is a sign that they are successfully passing their traditions on to their children.



The congregation began in the mid-1970’s with about 75 people. Eventually, the members bought eight acres on Albany Shaker Road, where they built a modest gathering space until they raised enough money for a temple. The congregation has another reason to rejoice this spring–it recently obtained town permission to construct a community building that will house classrooms, a library and a dining hall. the congregation plans to break ground on the $1.8 million, 12,600-square-foot facility soon–and have another celebration when it is finished.

Post Views: 582