I found out about the temple in Morrisville through a personal interview with a student here at ECU named Aparna Satsangi. She had told me that this week would be the week of the Holi celebration. I immediately saw this as an exceptional opportunity for me to learn more about the temple, and observe a special service there at the temple. To find out the time of the service being held at the Hindu Temple I looked at the temple’s website where it was listed on the main page. After a few short minutes I had what I needed.
The service began at 2:30 pm (HSNC, 1). I wasn’t quite sure if I should dress for the occasion, but I’ve never been one to try and wear out my welcome so I treated it as thought I were going to church. I put on a Polo and headed out the door. I took off from my house around 1:40 to embark on the 45 minute drive ahead of me. Throughout the duration of the 45 minute drive to the temple I kept running through the possible scenarios and outcomes that might take place once I had reached the temple. I was worried that I might be turned away or that I might commit some heinous intercultural faux pas. In hindsight I was probably just over-thinking the whole situation, but such is the way my mind operates. I mean, how often is it that one casually strolls out of their house on a Sunday and goes to the temple of a faith completely foreign to them with the intent of finding out the entire history of said temple? Not often I imagine, but that’s exactly what was happening. I arrived at the temple with little to no navigational problems. Upon pulling into the parking lot of the Hindu Temple and seeing the massive tan brick and white stucco structure that lay before me I felt a bit intimidated. This was all new to me, foreign. I felt out of my element seeing as I knew little about what actually went on inside a Hindu Temple outside of what I had read in a book or article and secondary sources don’t ever quite do justice to their primary counterparts.
After stepping out of my black truck I took a look around me to get a feel for the architecture. There is a smaller building at the entrance of the parking lot which is the actual temple. This is where the deities are kept, prayers are said, offerings to the deities are made and worship takes place. There are 20 deities kept in the temple, under each deity is a brass nameplate with the deity’s name written in English and Sanskrit. They sit on ledges made of marble and tile and in front of them sits offering plates, candles and incense. Above these ledges are bells which are rung by congregants after they say a prayer to whichever deity they are worshipping. When one enters the temple they must remove their shoes, because shoes are dirty, we wear them everywhere, even the dirtiest of places and this is seen as disrespectful for shoes to be left on while entering a holy place (Satsangi).
I began my walk up to the larger building, into which most of the congregants appeared to be entering. It was much, much larger than I had imagined it being. Over the entrance I noticed a large “Om” symbol which is the Hindu symbol that represents the formless, all-pervading nature of God (Sherma). At that point I decided it best to throw my initial apprehensions out the window (for the time being) to better facilitate my getting into the temple for the sake of my English 1200 grade. That plan faltered slightly when I entered the temple and saw the crowds of people bustling about grabbing programs for the impending service. I felt as though I stuck out like a sore thumb, a very large, mangled, sore thumb (of the purple and gold variety). I made my way through the glass doors and into the main hall. I was confused and didn’t really know where to start, so I started where anyone logically should; the beginning. I asked the woman sitting at the front folding table to whom I could speak to find out information regarding the history of the temple, the though, “this is the point where things start falling into place or I hit a brick wall” did flash in my mind much like the words “CONSTRUCTION, RIGHT LANE ENDS, MERGE NOW!” appear on those fancy black road signs with LED displays. Luckily, the woman was able to help me in that she was part of a small chain of events that ultimately led to my meeting Dr. Sherma.
After asking her who I should talk to regarding the history of the temple she immediately directed me to a young man behind me wearing an orange shirt. I approached him and asked the same question, he said “Follow me.” I was then led into the great room which was filled with congregants taking their seats, conversing and generally getting settled in. I was taken across the expanse of the great room to the front where the stage lay. To the right of that, sitting down was an older Indian man wearing a white tunic. I was introduced to him as an ECU student who needed help with a project and he was introduced to me as Dr. G. D. Sherma. Dr. Sherma is an older Indian gentleman. He stands at about 5’5 and is soft-spoken with a kind demeanor. His hair is a dark black with specks of gray intermittently dispersed throughout, his brow hangs low and his face is one well-worn by time. He had an inviting and “grandfatherly” way about him. Dr. Sherma put me at ease in that he was the “answer”. Dr. Sherma was more or less the reason I had gone to the temple that day. He said to me, “What kind of questions do you need help with?” I proceeded to then give him the gist of blogs three, four and five. He responded cordially, “Ok, in a few minutes after I give the invocation I will help you with your questions.” We sat and conversed, making small talk whilst we waited for the service to begin and for him to give the invocation to Krishna.
Upon Dr. Sherma’s taking the stage and beginning the invocation the great room took on an air of silence and earnest reverence. Afterward he announced that it was an invocation to Krishna to bless the celebration of Holi and the service taking place soon thereafter. Dr. Sherma left the stage and made his way back down to the chairs in which we sat just before the invocation, putting on his shoes and jacket he said to me, “Are you ready to talk about the temple?” I nodded and followed behind him as we left the great room, through the main hall and into a side room which was empty, but looked as though it was used for classes, dinners and a variety of other functions. We sat down at the table, I took out my notebook and without a further word Dr. Sherma began telling me the complete history of the temple. It seemed as though he had fully remembered the questions I outlined for the blog and was already prepared to answer them without hesitation. He only ever paused for me to finish writing what he said and every time I finished writing I would tilt my head up and he would begin again.
“I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1972. I had been working in Africa as an advisor to the UN (UNESCO). I worked in places like Nigeria and Sudan as an expert on education.” Upon moving to Raleigh Dr. Sherma worked with the USDA Forestry Department in Research Triangle Park (Sherma). I looked up and saw him rub his forehead as though trying to recall exact details which had not been accessed in some time. “When I moved here there were less than 50 Indian families in Raleigh at the time. My father was a Brahmin , as am I. So, people began coming to me and asking for me to pray for them. There was nowhere for people to pray and worship, they had to do it at home. From time to time I would call over a pupil to my home. People liked for me to pray for them.” As I looked up I saw Dr. Sherma lean back slightly and begin laughing as he said, “You know it’s just human tendency for people to get other people to do things for them. I guess that’s how it all started.” Dr. Sherma had an inviting and relaxed demeanor about him. Of this, I was glad. I had worried about seeming intrusive and out-of-place, but Dr. Sherma put my mind at ease with the way spoke as though I was as welcome as any family member. He continued, “Gradually a group was formed. We started praying collectively at homes, apartments etc. It took four years to develop an interest amongst the pupils to get an organized form of worship established. In 1976 the group became registered as the Hindu Society of North Carolina, a non-profit organization based in his home at 5400 Kaplan Drive.” My hand stopped writing and my pencil stopped moving and without fail Dr. Sherma started again. “In 1978 we bought a Jehovah’s Witness church near NC State where we held weekly prayers. Then number of Indians in the area grew to around 200. Then, in 1982-1983 the Indian population in the Raleigh area grew to 500-600 families due to Research Triangle Park providing a wealth of new jobs. We outgrew the Jehovah’s Witness church and purchased land near the airport. It was then that the plans for the new temple began.” I was astonished at the detail with which Dr. Sherma described all the events leading up to the creation of the current temple. The history of the temple was far richer than I had originally thought. “At that time Morrisville was very small, but we had faith in the temple’s future. In 1984 the temple was built and the deities were affixed.” He went on to explain that the temple he was speaking of was the smaller building I had seen when I pulled into the parking lot. The building we were currently in was the community hall which is used for celebrations and functions outside of prayer and worship. The community hall was added to accommodate the large growth in the temple’s congregation. “Now the number of families in the Research Triangle Park area is greater than 25,000.”
I looked up at Dr. Sherma trying to scour my mind for any further questions I might have. He had done a thorough job of explaining from beginning to end the temple’s history, inception and current standing. I asked merely if he could tell me a bit more about himself, his education, where his family came from. He said, “My family comes from North India, from Agra where the Taj Mahal is. I got my PhD from Montreal in Entomology, that is, the science dealing with insects, did you know that? I also taught at Governor Morehead School for some time, but now I am retired. I am the priest here, but I have hired two other priests to help me. There is a lot to do here. We pray two times a day (morning and evening), seven days a week.”
With that I told Dr. Sherma that I greatly appreciated his time and knowledge. He told me that if I needed help with anything else to give him a call, and then gave me his phone number. While we walked out of the side room he asked me, “Will you be leaving now or will you stay?” I told him I would be staying for the duration of the service and then headed back in to the great room.
When I returned to the great room there were three young girls up on the stage dancing. This reminded me a lot of holiday services in Christian churches where often times the children act out skits, sing or dance. The dancers were dressed in bright dresses, wore headscarves and had their hands painted. After this, several other children came up to the stage to sing songs which they had been working on for some time. Shortly thereafter, people began making their way out into the main hall where food that had been prepared for the celebration was set out. The congregants made their way through the different tables and made their way into the side room where Dr. Sherma and I had been not but a half hour earlier. Everyone appeared to have a good disposition and much laughter and conversation was to be heard in the main hall. Some time after, the temple began an activity which takes place on Holi in which the people “play” with colors which essentially means that friends and family throw powdered colors on each other. This is because Holi is a spring time celebration of colors.
When the color play part of the celebration was through, the Holi Dahan began. The Holi Dahan is a bonfire on the evening of Holi. I couldn’t stay around for much of the bonfire as I needed to get back to Greenville to write this and have it completed at a reasonable time. So I slipped away from the bonfire quietly and headed back to my truck to get home, get packed and get this blog written. I enjoyed every minute of the experience. It was something new and it was a valuable learning experience most especially from a cultural standpoint. At this point I am quite content with my choice of research project.
Works Cited
Atourcity.com. The Hindu Society of North Carolina. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.
Sherma, Dr. G. D. Personal Interview. 28 February 2010
Satsangi, Aparna. Personal Interview. 23 February 2010
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