Hindus welcome Lord Subramanya

A Hindu god visited Halifax on Sunday.

To music and dancing, hundreds of his devotees took turns pulling Subramanya on a chariot down Cork Street, up around Young and back to the Vedanta Ashram Hindu Temple.

“Poor or rich, everyone takes turns pulling the chariot in front of God,” said Valarmathy Kaliaperumal, one of the hundreds of volunteers who keep the temple running.

“Which means that they are all equal in front of God.”

For both the temple and Nova Scotia’s rapidly growing Indian diaspora, Subramanya’s first emergence here was momentous.

The chariot procession celebration of Vaisaki, Tamil New Year, Vishu and Ugadi comes on the temple’s 50th anniversary.

It was also a public display down quiet, elm-lined streets of their faith and the presence of one of this province’s largest and most rapidly growing immigrant communities.

The Vedanta Ashram serves the spiritual and social needs of more than 30,000 Indian immigrants to Nova Scotia.

“When we landed in Halifax, this was the first place we came,” said Bala Raghunathan of arriving with his wife and teenage son six years ago.

The networking engineer who, like most immigrants, came for work, didn’t want his family to leave the culture and values of home half a world away.

The temple, which in its early years often struggled financially and to keep its doors open one day a week, is now packed Monday through to Sunday.

“There’s free food for everybody who comes, we don’t care if you’re religious – everyone is welcome for dinner,” said Raj Verma, chairperson of the temple.

She explained that everything is volunteer- and donationbased, guided by the premise that when you serve your community you are also serving God.

Subramanya’s red-oak chariot was built over 45 days in the temple by a team of volunteers based upon designs they’d seen back home.

“We have a lot of talented people here,” said Verma.

AARON BESWICK ■ THE CHRONICLE HERALD Hemitha Kumar says prayers at the Vedanta Ashram Society Hindu Temple in Halifax on Sunday.

AARON BESWICK ■ THE CHRONICLE HERALD The Vedanta Ashram Hindu Temple relies completely on volunteers. Cooking lunch for Sunday’s celebrations were Lata Kale (left to right), Garima Seth, Rani Kumar, Dev Mehta, Jaya Dutta, Brauna Patel, Dhar Mesh, Bala Raghunathan and Raj Verma.

AARON BESWICK ■ THE CHRONICLE HERALD Traditional Hindu dancers Akshitaa and Ananya began Subramanya’s chariot procession down Cork Street in Halifax on Sunday.

AARON BESWICK ■ THE CHRONICLE HERALD The Vedanta Ashram Society Hindu Temple held a chariot procession for the God Subramanya on Sunday. It drew hundreds.

AARON BESWICK ■ THE CHRONICLE HERALD Krishnan Subramanian leads prayers at the Vedanta Ashram Society Hindu Temple on Sunday.