Lord Ram, Krishna in US church!

An old Immanuel Lutheran Church has been converted into a Hindu temple, writes Lalit K Jha.

An old Immanuel Lutheran Church has been converted into a Hindu temple for all practical purposes: the only Mandir in entire North and South Dakota.

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Surprisingly enough, this small town in southeast corner of South Dakota having a population of about 1,800, does not have even a single Hindu resident. South Dakota in all has a little over 700 Indians.

It is the few dozen Hindu families residing in the neighbouring cities including those from Iowa and Nebraska, who come to this converted temple at least once a month to perform the pooja of their favourite deities, whose idols have been established here for about 11 months now.

The very hall where the area Christian bowed before the Christ and pastor delivered sermons underneath a Cross, is now having sacred idols of Ram, Krishna, Vishnu and Ganesha (to name a few).

In place of recitations from the Holy Bible, now it is bhajans, aarti, Gayatri Mantra, Hanumaan Chalisa and Vedic hymns that echo from this building, which functioned as a Church for more than seven decades.

The initiation ceremony was held on May 2, 2004 and was performed by a priest from Omaha temple.

In India, this could have been a major issue of debate, who knows, even conflict, among religious leaders, but here there has been no such thing so far. This, in fact, is a glowing example of Hindu-Christian friendship and religious harmony.

"The church was sold to us by the Immanuel Lutheran Church leaders knowing well that we would be using this for religious and cultural purposes," Subba Rao told Hindustantimes.com.

President of the small Siouxland India Cultural Association (SLICA), which owns the building, Rao said: "We were given preference over others buyers as Christian leaders did not want this Church to be either demolished or converted into a commercial or residential complex."

Refraining from calling it a temple, the SLICA has rechristened it India Centre. "We do have placed idols and perform pooja, but we do not want to call it a temple. We want to develop it into a full-fledged cultural centre, a place where we can display our glorious cultural heritage," Rao said.

While the main hall is used for worship and other religious functions, the basement of the old Church is used to organise cultural events and community functions, said Malathy Ramakrishnan, the woman who is mainly attributed for all this.

"We wanted a place where our children can interact with other Indians, besides a place which could help us in preserving our religious cultural heritage," Ramakrishnan told Hindustantimes.com.

Though a resident of nearby Burbank, Ramakrishnan has been working as an accountant here in a private firm for more than a decade now.

"It is the respect and goodwill that the small Indian community has generated over the years has helped us in not only getting the building but also performing our religious functions," she said.

In fact, the pooja and other function here have been attracting quite a number of Americans, who are curious to know more about the Indian culture and tradition, she said. "People here are very open minded," Ramakrishnan referring to the co-operation from the local residents.

Besides performing pooja and organising other religious functions, SLICA has also been hosting cultural evening including dances.

"We now plan to have a library and screen Indian movies regularly, besides our other activities," said Ramakrishnan.