VIRGINIA, U.S., August 5, 2013 (Roanoke): Children danced through the streets of Salem on Sunday morning as the Hindu community celebrated the installation of a new mandir, or Hindu temple. It will be the second such temple in the Roanoke Valley, but the first of the BAPS denomination, in which devotees follow the teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
Religious leaders say the new temple won’t just give them a place to worship, it will serve as a hub for the Roanoke Valley’s Hindu community, which is made up of about 400 families. Dharmendra Patel is an active member of the BAPS denomination and a Salem business owner. He said there aren’t many Indian immigrants in Southwest Virginia, so it can be a challenge for them to maintain their cultural identity. “It will help people who immigrated from India — first-, second-generation kids — it will help them understand the culture, the religion, what we do,” he said.
Roanoke’s and Salem’s mayors, Virginia lawmakers, national Hindu leaders and about 800 religious followers traveled from as far away as New Jersey to take part in the centuries-old tradition of installing a new temple.
The event began with an early-morning parade through downtown Salem. Floats carried several white marble statues of Hindu deities carved by hand in India. Sadhus, or Hindu priests, said the four-foot-tall marble figurines were made in the image of God. They were carried through the streets so they can be introduced to the city and bless local residents. After the parade, they were taken into the temple and placed in their permanent home at an altar.
Coming from an Irish Catholic background, Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said he didn’t understand everything he saw on Sunday, but he enjoyed the opportunity to learn about a different religion. “It’s important, and it’s a good thing for us to have this sense of diversity and multiculturalism,” he said. “So I would say to the Christian community and the Jewish community, you ought to come and see and understand each other. It’s been a very interesting experience for me.”