NORTH CAROLINA, U.S.A., May 30, 2005: The North Carolina Hindu community recently held the official ground-breaking ceremony for their Sri Venkateswara Temple that will be modelled after the temple in Tirupati, India. With US$500,000 in pledges, the community is planning to build a 4,000-square foot structure that is expected to cost $1.5 million when it is finished two years from now. Lakshminarayanan Srinivasan, a temple member from Durham explains, “We need to build a proper structure for God. He is just like royalty. We can’t just put him in any place.” Srinivas R.Chittineni, the president of the temple association, says, “We are doing everything according to tradition. We don’t want to deviate in any way. When people worship there, they will get blessings in return. Traditionally trained temple architects and craftsmen will come from India to oversee construction. The news release explains, “At an elaborate ritual groundbreaking ceremony, Hindu priests climbed into the hole and buried nine different gemstones, nine precious metals and nine types of grain — all offerings to the God who will soon reside in a shrine on that spot. For the rest of the day, members gathered to throw in their offerings of fruit, money and jewels. Vendors set up tents and sold vegetarian food, while women with bells on their ankles and jewels in their hair danced to traditional Hindu music. Children, seated cross-legged with their palms pressed together below their chins, recited Sanskrit prayers to a crowd of proud parents clad in garments of bright gold, purple, red and blue.”
According to a 2000 census, 26,000 Asian Indians live in North Carolina. Immigrants have been worshipping together at various temples in the area. However in the last few years the community, in recognition of its diversities, has chosen to build temples honoring their specific traditions. As a result, there is a Hindu Bhavan Temple in Morrisville, the BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu Temple also in Morrisville, and now the new temple for Sri Venkateswara Temple in Cary. Kaushik Ram Kommaraju, a junior whose parents have been active in the temple, sums it up, “The temple is a place where you get to know about your culture. A lot of people forget the traditions. This temple serves to preserve it.”