Center Profile

Sri Venkateswara Temple (2008)

(Hinduism)

Websites:

Description

Activities and Schedule

M-F: 9 am – Noon; 5 pm – 9 pm.
Sat and Sun: 9 am – 9 pm (priest unavailable from 1-5 pm).
A detailed list of activities and times are available on the temple’s website.

History

In 1998 Ram Bashyam, Vijay Mandadu, and several others began planning a temple dedicated to the deity Venkateswara to serve the many Hindu families in the Raleigh suburbs of Cary and Apex. To that end, they purchased a 2.5 acre plot in June of that year, legally incorporating the Sri Venkateswara Temple the following October. The plot that they purchased included a residence and some smaller buildings, and over the next few years they added additional land to bring the total to 9 acres. To avoid conflict with the neighbors and to follow zoning requirements, they built a private road leading to the temple as well as installing overhead lighting and parking lots.
The planned temple will be quite large, will feature a traditional Indian design, and will house a nine foot tall image of Venkateswara as well as several additional deities. But because the temple is not expected to be completed until 2006, the community converted the existing residence on the property into a makeshift temple. Over a three day period starting August 26, 1999 the community officially installed deities into the converted residence, deities which will serve as portable images for processions once the main temple is completed.

Description

The Sri Venkateswara Temple is currently housed in a small yellow converted residence. The worship hall is rectangular, approx. 20’ by 35’ in size. The building also includes a smaller entrance chamber and several storage rooms.

Date Center Founded
Legally incorporated October 1998. Temple expected to be completed in 2006.

Religious Leader and Title
Three priests (Brahmins) trained in India in the traditional Vedic method serve the community currently. When the temple is completed, that number will grow to 5 or 6. A board of trustees oversees the temple.

Membership
The temple has 230 (paid) member families and serves approximately 700 families in all.

Ethnic Composition
Predominantly South Indian, but North Indian as well. Between the three priests they are able to serve the Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi speaking population

Affiliation with Other Communities/Organizations
The Sri Venkateswara Temple does not have any formal relationship with the two other major Hindu temples in the area though has informal ties to the Hindu Bhavan (Hindu Society of N.C.), which serves predominantly North Indians.



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