WASHINGTON, D.C., March 25, 2008: As the the Washington D.C. area’s Indian population swells, so soars the demand for Hindu ceremonies — baby-naming services, engagements, blessings for new cars — that are traditionally performed outside the many priest-staffed temples that dot the area. So, for eight years, Sastry has kept busy as one of the region’s few freelance Hindu priests. He navigates suburbs where Indians have bought houses, bringing ancient Hindu rites to modern American landscapes.
Freelance priests are bountiful in India, but just seven serve one of the Washington region’s largest ethnic communities. Census data from 2006 indicate that 105,000 Indians live in the area, about 60 percent of whom are immigrants; most have settled in Fairfax, Loudoun, Montgomery and Howard counties. To those who regularly call upon them, Sastry and his counterparts become trusted family priests, akin to family doctors or accountants.
Unlike the traveling preachers of the American frontier, Sastry does not proselytize. The affable priest is booked (http://www.vedicpriest.com) — months in advance — purely for his expertise in the elaborate ceremonies and Sanskrit mantras he studied in his native India. Sastry calls his work “community service.” His clients say it is crucial in a nation where second-generation immigrants have little interest in Hindu religious careers.
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