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Chattanooga: Hindu community celebrates the god of wisdom

By: Perla Trevizo
(Contact)

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Groups of children, men and women wearing traditional saris in yellow, purple and different colors celebrated the national Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi in honor of the god of wisdom with hymns and prayers Wednesday afternoon in the local Hindu temple.

“It’s a religious ceremony, an opportunity for Indians to get together and actually celebrate the way they would in India,” said Sheila Boyington, who has sponsored the event for 10 years with her family.

The festival marks the birth of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh.

About 500 people sat in the center of the temple, women on the left side and men on the right, and watched silently as the Boyington family and the chief priest, Anklesh Dave, performed the traditional rituals in front of the altar of the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha decorated with yellow and orange flowers.

“We perform rituals that involve offering really pure things to the god; things like milk, yogurt, honey and flowers, all of the pure things the earth has to offer,” said Mrs. Boyington.

A group of about 10 women sat in a separate circle cutting fresh apples and bananas as the men led the bhajans, or hymns, with a tabla, a popular Indian percussion instrument, and a harmonium, a free-standing musical keyboard similar to a pipe organ.

At the end of the rituals both men and women dispersed to the entrance of the pink and golden temple to take a slice of apple or a banana followed by a traditional Indian dinner.

Despite the fact that Grace Geevarghese is a Christian and not a Hindu, she attends the celebration with her husband because they come from India and have a lot in common with the worshippers, she said.

“Although I didn’t understand all (the words), we all worship God, we are created by the same God but in different forms we worship. It’s people coming together,” she said.

Mrs. Boyington said celebrating such festivals is important to maintain Hindu traditions “not only to keep ourselves grounded but also for our children so they understand their heritage.”

Dipali Patel, who has lived in Chattanooga since 1989, said the Indian community feels very lucky to be able to celebrate the festival locally.

“Not everybody gets to celebrate this occasion. We are very lucky here, it’s a great thing,” she said.

Although the celebration is smaller than it would be in India, the local Hindu community has done a good job putting it together, she said.

The Hindu temple Gujarti Samaj of East Tennessee will celebrate its 25th anniversary later this month.

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