Latest Hindu News

NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 15, 2007: Lord Balaji of Tirumala is set to bless devotees iiving in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata with his presence. The followers of the Lord of Seven Hills, also called Lord Venkateswara, can have a darshan of their favorite God in their own cities. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the trust that runs the Tirupati temple, is to build, own and operate Lord Venkateswara temples in these three cities. In Delhi, the temple will come up on a 1.25-acre plot in Gole Market. The land for the construction of the temples is being finalized in Mumbai and Kolkata, TTD chairman B. Karunakar Reddy told Hindustan Times on Saturday. A London-based industrial house donated the land for the Delhi temple. Donations are also flowing in for the temple, Reddy said, adding that a "sum of US$238,000 has already been collected." It will be the first time that the TTD will be building and managing a Lord Venkateswara temple outside the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

PATNA, INDIA, April 18, 2007: Hindu priests are blessing children with polio drops instead of traditional holy water, sweets or fruits to help eradicate the crippling disease in Bihar, an official said on Wednesday. Impoverished Bihar is one of several states where polio cases have been reported, and last year more than 650 cases were reported across the country. "We are keen to wipe out polio and we thought involving temple priests would be a good idea as people trust and listen to them," said Gopal Krishna, a senior Bihar health official. Tens of millions of people in Hindu-majority India visit temples and accept holy water, fruits or sweets from priests after prayers. Health officials in Bihar have trained hundreds of priests to give polio drops to immunize children, Krishna said. The state had stepped up the immunization drive after 11 polio cases were reported in children this year, he said.

TIRUPATI, INDIA, April 6, 2007: The Chittoor district unit of the Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi (KVPS) on Thursday welcomed the decision of the Tirumalar Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to provide entry for Dalits into the Venkateswaraswamy temple located in the Vemuru village in the Tirupati (rural) mandal. The Samithi's vice-president and the CPI(M) district secretary K. Murali also complimented the TTD for organising a Kalyanothsavam ritual in the Dalitwada and also making the temple priests stay in the same colony. In a statement, Mr. Murali particularly complimented TTD Board Chairman B. Karunakara Reddy for being instrumental in taking of the decision and urged him to take similar initiatives in respect of some more temples in the district which still practized discrimination against the Dalits.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, March 23, 2007: Jacksonville Hindus are delighted that a Hindu temple has been opened in their community. Now the 4,000 Hindus living in Jacksonville have a place to pray and worship. The news release explained, "On Friday, Hindu priests and others were busy readying the temple, which is located on Greenland Road in Mandarin. A ceremony was held outside on Friday as five priests from across Florida came to sanctify Jacksonville's first Hindu temple. With fire and water, Priest Kadambi Shrinatte Ji led the ceremony. Others gathered to pray."

Shrinatte Ji added, "They're praying for this divine event. All these prayers are going for this installation ceremony. So, these are all adding to the energy. We worship the different forms in our temples, different forms of the One Almighty. One almighty Supreme Being is being worshiped in the different forms in the Hindu religion."

The temples of Khajuraho are India's unique gift to the world, representing, as they do, a paean to life, to love, to joy; perfect in execution and sublime in expression. Life, in every form and mood,...