SWITZERLAND, March 18, 2013 (Solothurner Zeitung): On Sunday, hundreds of Tamil Hindus from around the region gathered to inaugurate the new Sri Manonmani Ammbal Hindu temple in Trimbach. It is the largest of its kind in Switzerland.
In front of the main shrine of Manonmani Ammbal a kind of pergola was built, which was decorated with garlands of flowers and leaves. In the center of this wood frame there were richly decorated vases filled with holy water. In the many rituals that were performed, offerings were distributed and incense was burned on small altars. The ceremonies were performed by ten priests headed up by the chief priest Somas Kandar from Jaffna (Sri Lanka). During the rituals four musicians played on their traditional instruments, the Nathaswaram (a double-reed horn related to the oboe) and the Thavil double-headed drum.
In a procession the priests took the vessels of holy water up onto the roof of the temple and blessed the main tower. Then the main shrine and the numerous side shrines were consecrated by the priests. The statues of Deities were adorned with garlands of flowers and draped with precious silk fabrics. After the ceremony, Vasanthavajan Ramalingam, president of the Association for the Advancement of Tamil Culture in Switzerland, Guenter Hildebrand, architect of the temple, and Shtapathi Nagaraj, chief of the Silpakala Nilayam temple architects firm in Chennai, were honored. The inaugural festivities will continue, on a smaller scale, for the next seven weeks.