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My first encounter was Tuesday evening, October 16th, 2002 at 815pm. My visit was to The Durga Temple located off of the Fairfax County Parkway in Virginia. The Dussehra - Ravan Dahan celebration was taking place and I thought that would be a great time to visit. I have never visited a Hindu place of worship so I asked a friend to come along and share with me. We arrived at exactly 8:15 PM and the temple was already packed with people. As we approached the front door we noticed people taking their shoes off and washing their hands. Trying to fit in the best we could we also took off our shoes. The celebration was already under way as we made our way into the temple. The priest was chanting and the worshipers were chanting back to him. This was the opening prayer and it only lasted about 5 minutes if that. After the initial prayer people began to walk around the temple. So we decided to make our way to the back left hand corner of the temple to observe. When we finally sat down I had a chance to really look around the temple. There were many statues in the front with Shri Durga Mata in the center. There were also color photographs of additional Gods around the temple as well. People were beginning to look at us and we couldn't have stood out more if we actually tried. At that point I realized that I needed to go and talk to the members to get a better understanding of what was happening. The first person I talked to was a young man. He was very willing and open to speak with me. As many people were dressed in Hindu clothing with bright colors and many layers, this young man was not. I began to ask several questions starting with "why do you take off your shoes and wash your hands before entering the temple"? He explained to me that it was a way of cleansing and paying their respect to the temple. He was a very nice young man but didn't speak very clear English so I only asked him two more questions. As we continued to talk he explained to me that this was a special night and that they were killing and releasing evil, Ravan Dahan. He indicated to me that if I walked outside the temple I would see a bon-fire actually burning a statue of this person. However, before I actually witnessed that activity I felt there was more to accomplish inside. I thanked the young man and began to walk the temple and take additional notes. As I walked the temple I noticed many people making their way to each individual deities and praying. I thought this was very strange that they just didn't pick a place in the temple and pray to them all. They actually walked to each figure and sometimes placed their hands on the statue and crossed over their bodies with the same hand. Sort of making a cross from head to shoulders to chest. When I saw that I thought it was very familiar to a Catholic church. The Gods looked so extravagant to me. They had very unique outlines and were very decorative. I noticed each had some sort of symbol. For example, Shri Ram Davar had incense, an apple and carnations; Shri Shir Parivar had incense, a small statue and a tub with water; Shri Radha Krishna Ji has a coconut and incense; Shri Hanuman Ji had incense, a bell and a bag with something in it that was not clear to me. I made note of each but was unable to ask what the significance of each was.
I noticed a middle aged man sitting with what looked like friends of his. I approached him and asked if I could ask him some questions. He was very friendly, spoke very good English and was very willing to chat. He explained to me that this particular temple was built for Durga and the statues that were there represent the temple. The others were just color photographs and had the temple been built for those then the roles would be reversed. I asked him why the people were giving the priest money and food and he said the money was for the temple and the food was for the people. They use the money to buy more statues of Gods, upgrade and make repairs to the temple. The food is for the public as they host dinners during the week for people to enjoy. This included the homeless, guests and people not of the temple or religion. At this time I thanked him for speaking with me and thought the time was right to go outside to witness the burning. As my friend and I left the temple we noticed that the place had emptied quite a bit. Most had already said their prayers and celebrated the death of fear and were on their way home. So we put our shoes back on and walked around to the back of the temple. We noticed that the statue was already burning and people were standing around watching. Just when we were about to leave we noticed a few people with bows and arrows. We asked what those were for and apparently they were used to set the fire on evil. I thought that was so odd as I have never heard of such an ignition. We decided that the visit was complete and it was time to head out ourselves. As I left the temple and rode home in my car many thoughts and feelings rushed through my head. It was a very uplifting experience and something quite different than anything I have ever seen before. The strong smell of incense burning in the temple had given me an instant headache but it did not ruin my visit at all. I really enjoyed the temple and the people. I enjoyed seeing a religion so very different from mine. I do have to say what confused me the most were the amount of Gods and Goddesses. As I mentioned this to my friend on the way home she told to me that someone in the temple asked what I was doing. My friend indicated a project for school and the lady then commented "Hindu is very hard to understand. I am very new at this and find it very difficult. I hope she got enough answered to complete her project". I feel I did and my visit was definitely worth the trip. |
| Created by Laura Ellen Shulman |
Last updated: November 2002
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