Source: www.yaledailynews.com
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, April 7, 2010: The brightly painted, incense-scented room in the Bingham basement has an altar cabinet filled with small statues of Hindu gods. Ashish Bakshi, the head of the Hindu Student Council, said the group did not have the resources to organize travel to the nearest Hindu temple, which is in Middletown, Conn. He added that while Christian students have prayer spaces, Jewish students have the Slifka Center, and Muslim students have a prayer room in Bingham as well as a local mosque, Hindu students were left without their own spiritual environment. Prior to the opening of the prayer room, Bakshi said, students would just pray in their rooms.
The Hindu Student Council, with the assistance of University Chaplain Sharon Kugler, opened the room after two years of planning, and it will be used for small gatherings and study breaks as well as prayer. In, addition, the Chaplain’s Office has hired the first Hindu fellow, Neil Aggarwal, a third-year resident in psychiatry, who will serve as a liaison between the Chaplain’s Office and the student body.
Around 15 students from both Yale College and the graduate schools gathered on Monday to celebrate the opening of the prayer room.