ஸியாட்டலில் கோலாகலமாக நவராத்திரிவிழா

ஸியாட்டலில் கோலாகலமாக நவராத்திரி விழா நடைபெற்றது. அனைவரும் கலந்துகொண்டனர்.


Local Hindu festival a supreme gathering
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times religion reporter
JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Flowers and other brightly colored decorations adorn a statue of the Hindu goddess Durga.

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Lakshminarayanan, left, a priest at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center, gives a blessing to a worshipper during Navaratri.

Hindu beliefs

Hinduism is diverse, with beliefs, philosophies and practices that vary widely by region and among numerous sects. But, in general, Hindus hold these beliefs:
God: Hindus worship many gods or deities, generally believing they are manifestations of one God or supreme being. Major gods include Vishnu, Shiva and the Mother Goddess.

After Death: Hindus believe that all souls undergo repeated cycles of life and death. Generally, they believe that good actions in one life lead to being reborn into a better situation in the next; bad actions can lead to being reborn into a worse situation or as a lower life form.

Purpose of Life: The spiritual goal to achieve enlightenment and liberation from the repeated cycles of life and death. At that time, one enters a state of bliss and becomes one with God.

Sources: beliefnet.com, The Illustrated Guide to World Religions, Ganapathy Krishnan
For 10 days and nine nights, there's more than the usual feasting and chanting going on at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in Bothell.

Since Oct. 11 and through Sunday, many local Hindus are celebrating the supreme Mother Goddess, commonly called Durga. The festival is generally referred to as Navaratri (nine nights) or Dussehra (10 days).

In the Puget Sound area, Hindu families generally mark the occasion by worshipping at home altars and coming to the temple for special worship services on several of the 10 days.

On a recent night during Navaratri/Dussehra, dozens of local Hindus gathered at the temple, chanted, gave offerings of flowers and fruit and went to the front to pray before the deities.

Hinduism is a diverse religion, with beliefs and practices varying widely by region and sect, so there are many interpretations of Navaratri/Dussehra.

Some see the festival as celebrating the nine forms — each with a different name — of Durga. They say each night of the festival is dedicated to worshipping a different form, each known for different things. Durga, for instance, is generally known as a warrior goddess, a destroyer of demons. As Parvati, she is known more for benevolence.

"You feel like you're praying to nine different goddesses," said Bapayya Vallabhamemi, a software engineer from Bellevue.

Some say the festival celebrates three forms of the Mother Goddess: Durga; Lakshmi, who represents prosperity and good fortune; and Saraswati, who represents wisdom and knowledge.

Ramachandra Joisa, a volunteer at the temple, devotes three days to worshipping each of the three forms.

For Joisa, looking at the symbolic meaning of each goddess is important.

For instance, when praying to Durga, "we look at the demons as internal enemies to ourselves: anger, delusion, craving, arrogance, jealousy," Joisa said.

Just as Durga slew her demons, people are encouraged to slay their internal demons.

And during Navaratri/Dussehra, some also celebrate the hero Rama's victory over the demon Ravana. As told in the epic "The Ramayana," the prince Rama is exiled with his wife, Sita, and Sita is captured by the demon king Ravana. After a lengthy battle, Rama kills Ravana and is reunited with Sita.

It's on festival days such as these that the evidence of growth in the number of local Hindus is most prevalent.

At the Vedanta Society of Western Washington, another Hindu community, more than 750 people attended the Durga worship service at their big temple in Arlington last fall, said Swami Bhaskarananda. That's a jump from some 15 years ago, when about 200 people came to their smaller temple on Seattle's Capitol Hill.

More than a decade ago, before Bothell's Hindu Temple and Cultural Center were built, local Hindus gathered for festivals and monthly services at a rented facility in Bellevue. About 150 people would come; some monthly services drew only 20.

After the temple opened in 2003, more and more people came. Weekend services draw up to 250 people.

And festival days — especially if they fall on weekends — can get downright crowded.

A recent festival honoring the deity Ganesha drew about 2,500 people.

"There were lines threading outside the temple, into the parking lot," said Ganapathy Krishnan, a Woodinville resident who volunteers teaching Sunday School at the temple.

Much of the growth has happened within the past decade, with Microsoft and other tech companies hiring engineers from India, temple members said.

Vishwa Gaddamanugu, president of the temple's executive committee, thinks there are about 50,000 Hindus in Washington, with about 44,000 of them in the Puget Sound area.

The growth has been large.

"But large is relative," Krishnan said. "It's still a small minority."

Because of that, many local Hindus want to make sure they don't lose their culture.

The Bothell temple and cultural center is as much about religious worship as it is about preserving cultural heritage.

"When we go to temple here, one of the reasons we go is we like to expose our children to Hinduism," Krishnan said. "If you don't take them, they grow up not knowing what their roots are all about."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com