Adapting the Hinduism of India to Northern Nevada
Patrick McNabb visits the Reno Hindu Temple to talk to the local priest there, as well as to other local Hindus who don’t go to the temple, who all maintain but have to adapt their culture.
I take off my shoes as I enter the temple. Before I am able to conduct my interview with Priest Raman, the priest of the temple here in Reno, I watch as he approaches the altar to say his prayers. After he lights a candle, he thanks me for wanting to share his culture and we begin discussing Hinduism as a whole. He tells me of the common misconception about Hinduism. “Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life. That is why we see God in everything. We call this Sindhu,” he said, right off the bat.
Since childhood, I have always been very curious when it comes to exploring the world. I had always wanted to learn about every nook and fine detail that different cultures have to offer. One of the main things that fascinated me about the world was the vastly different religions in different geographies. I grew up Christian, but as I grew older I strayed away from those beliefs to open myself up to anything that was different from what I grew up in. Hindu beliefs and culture have always intrigued me. Fortunately, the Hindu people in Reno have been gratuitous of my curiosity.
India is the second most populous country in the world with 1.2 billion people and speakers of at least 28 languages. This affects how Hinduism is worshiped in India.
“People who live in the eastern part of India will worship differently than people who live in the south, north, or east,” Raman explained.
Each of these different sectors of India celebrate different things. For example, in Bengal (a state in eastern India), Hindus there celebrate the Goddess of Durga, the goddess of protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. This celebration is known as Durga Puja. This is different from the celebrations of people in Odisha, another state in eastern India, who celebrate Lord Jagannath, the “Lord of the World,” during February and March.
In Reno, the temple brings together families from all over the subcontinent of India. This means that in the temple, there are many people coming together in order to worship in their own individual ways, due to the differences that are found in coming from different parts of India. “You’ll be surprised, we have almost 1,200 families and everyone follows their culture. It is not the same food, it is not the same dress, it is not the same oil. In Reno, we have got people from all over India,” Priest Raman said.
The temple here allows Hindus from different regions to come together to celebrate and worship in their own ways without having to sacrifice their beliefs. Instead of sacrificing their beliefs, Priest Raman says that they are now able to share their different beliefs with other Hindus at the temple.
After our interview concluded, Priest Raman asked to chant a poem for me. “The meaning of this comes from our scripture. What I chanted is the basis of our faith. All it says is ‘you see god in everything, everything in this world is very sacred.’ All you have to do is find who you are as an individual. That is how you reach God.”
However, not all Hindus in Reno attend the temple. Deepali Patel, an elementary education major at the University of Nevada, Reno, shares with me why she doesn’t go to the temple: “I don’t attend the temple because of my work and school schedule. It is hard for me to make it there when balancing two jobs and classes.” This has not stopped Patel from practicing Hinduism in Reno for 13 years despite challenges.
“I practice Hinduism from the eastern Indian ethnicity. This means that for me, being a woman can be very challenging,” she said. “The culture that I identify with is very overprotective of women and can also be very negative toward females in general.”
Another UNR student, Kalyan Chakravarthy, a student who is working on his Ph. D. in atmospheric science, shared with me medicinal traditions of his culture. When Chakravarthy gets a cold instead of rushing to the doctor’s office to get cold medicine, instead he uses turmeric and steam in order to medicate himself. This practice is common for Hindu people and Indian people as a whole.
He tells me that in India, there has been a rise of “anti-Hindu” or an antinationalist group that is trying to rid the books of the culture that once was found inside the pages. Chakravarthy tells me that there is a group in India that is trying to forcefully convert Hindu people to a different religion. “I believe you should believe in what you want to believe in. These people are forcing others to stop believing in Hinduism,” Chakravarthy tells me.
Chakravarthy tells me that in Reno, the Hindu community has come together to help teach the Hindu youth of the traditions that their culture has. He explains to me that he came to the United States when his son was still very young. “Because of how young my son was when we came to the United States, he doesn’t know his mother tongue,” he lamented. “The community in Reno is trying to help with that.”
Chakravarthy is also unable to reach the temple when it is open. As a student and a teacher’s assistant, he is very busy with work and school. Instead of visiting the temple, he does rituals at home with his kids.
Discrimination is also something that many Hindu people face in their everyday lives. For Patel, the discrimination came in the form of racism while she attended high school. “The high school that I went to had a very large population so I relatively stood out from everyone else,” she said. “On a day to day basis, I witnessed a lot of gang violence. Oftentimes, some of my classmates wanted to or tried to fight me due to me being Hindu.”
Priest Raman believes that this discrimination could be because of ignorance.
“I wouldn’t call it as discrimination, I would more call it ‘we don’t celebrate it this way, we celebrate it that way,’” he said.
