The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Activities and Schedule

The Temple hours are:
8:00-11:00 A.M.
5:00-9:00 P.M. Monday through Friday
8:00 A.M.-7:00 P.M. Saturday, Sunday, and holidays

Brahmins or volunteers lead artis (worship of the deities) at least twice a day. Because the Bhavan holds over a dozen murtis (statues of deities), the HSNC allots different weeknights for group worship of different deities.
Regular activities include:
Daily rituals and arti - every morning and evening
Language classes for children - Sunday mornings
Shiv Mahima Stotra - Monday evenings
Hanuman Chalisa and Ramayan Path - Tuesday evenings
Mahavir Jain puja - Saturday mornings
Various bhajan groups and study groups meet monthly as well.

History

A group of approximately twenty Hindu families in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area organized the Hindu Society of North Carolina in 1976 in order to develop a community for Hindus, conduct prayers and rituals together, and teach their children about their Hindu heritage. Dr. G. D. Sharma, whose home was the site for the first Hindu rituals in the area, led the group and has served as the volunteer priest for the community. They met in community halls, homes, and other temporary locations until 1980 when they purchased a former Jehovah’s Witnesses church on Ashe Avenue in Raleigh. As the community grew and that first location became too small, they purchased land in Morrisville, a nearby town, and built the Hindu Bhavan, which opened on the 20th of December 1986. In 1999, they broke ground for a social hall behind the Bhavan, completed in 2001. The social hall provides additional space for community events, classes, and meetings.

Affiliations

The parent organization for the Hindu Bhavan is the Hindu Society of North Carolina, founded in 1976. The Jain Study Center of North Carolina also uses the facilities and has installed an image of Mahavir Jain alongside the Hindu deities. Likewise, numerous regional associations, including the Triangle Gujarati Association, Maharashtran Mandal, Hindi Vikas Mandal, and the Bengali Samaj, hold functions at the Bhavan. A few families from the two area Sikh gurdwaras and from local mosques come to the Bhavan occasionally for special events.

Profile created by Steve Ramsey. Updated by Ben Zeller, 10/2004.