BERLIN, GERMANY, February 23, 2008: After years of praying in a cellar in a west Berlin street, the German capital’s 6,000 Hindus can look forward to worshipping in two brand-new temples. A local Hindu group this week announced plans to build a temple to the God Murugan, just three months after other Hindus conducted a ground-breaking ceremony for one dedicated to the elephant-headed Deity Ganesha.
“We want to create a religious place for worshippers from the south of India and Sri Lanka,” said Nadarajah Thiagarjah, chairman of the Sri Mayurapathy Murugan temple association. Thiagarjah says the new temple is not meant to rival the larger one dedicated to Ganesha, which will also be built in Neukoelin, a working-class district with a large immigrant population.