Hinduism in Los Angeles made its first significant impact in the late 19th century when wandering Hindu
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
(1863 –1902), a disciple of
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...
, came on his second visit to the United States.
Swami Paramananda
Paramananda (1884–1940) was a swami and one of the early Indian teachers who went to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion there. He was a mystic, a poet and an innovator in spiritual community living.
Biography
Bi ...
, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, founded the Vedanta centres in Los Angeles and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
Hindu temples have emerged in the US in the urban areas in the same manner as in India. Los Angeles has witnessed the building of new temples in its suburbs, as the result of a significant community of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s living in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
and the surrounding counties. The
Los Angeles Hindu Society is based at the
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
Hindu Temple, which claims to "promote the religious, social and cultural activities and the spiritual well-being of the Hindu community in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
History
Background
The earliest history of awareness of Hinduism in the United States was in the early nineteenth century through the translated books of
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
text of the Hindus, which were very well received by noted scholars like
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
and
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
in the field of
transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
. This was followed by the visit of
P. C. Mozoomdar, a scholarly teacher from India, to
in 1880. When he returned along with Swami Vivekananda to attend the
1893 World Parliament of Religions, he was overshadowed by
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
with his great oratorical skill. The beginning of Hinduism's influence on the US is attributable to Vivekananda who established the
Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the ''Ramakrishna Movement'' or the ''Vedanta Movement''. The mission is named after and inspired by th ...
(a non-sectarian organization that does not subscribe to caste distinctions) in India after visiting New York and Los Angeles in 1895.
19th century
During his first visit to the US, Vivekananda established the
Vedanta Society
Vedanta Societies refer to organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta, the ancient religion based on the Vedas. More specifically, they "comprise the American arm of the Indian Ramakrishna move ...
in 1894. His urge to live as a
sanyasi
''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' As ...
(renunciation of worldly pleasures) made him convert two of his disciples as sanyasis, Madame Marie Louise and Herr Leon Handsberg, and changed their names as Swami Abhayananda and Swami Kripananda respectively so that they could continue the work of the mission of the Vedantha Society. This society even to this day is filled with foreign nationals and is also located in Los Angeles. He then traveled in August 1885 to Europe for the next few months and returned to the US in 1985. Vivekananda became the catalyst for establishing the Vedanta Societies, the first Hindu group in America in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Vivekananda sent
Swami Saradananda
Saradananda (23 December 1865 – 19 August 1927), also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Ma ...
from India to assist him in the work of his Vedanta Society and deputed him to New York first and then toured many places in the US giving lectures. In Los Angeles, Vivekananda delivered a series of lectures at several notable locations, and gave lectures on the concept of “The Way to the Realization of the Universalization of a Universal Religion” and others. He spent a month at the "Home of Truth" and noted that of all Americans, “Californians are specially fit to understand the ''raja-yoga'' of intuitive meditation which he labeled Applied Psychology”. Thereafter, many Vedanta centers were founded in California under the stewardship of C.F. Patterson. To keep up with the pace of development he recalled
Turiyananda
Swami Turiyananda or "Hari Maharaj" as he was popularly known as, was a direct monastic disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century Hindu mystic from Bengal. He was one of the earliest missionary to be sent by his leader and brother disciple Sw ...
as one of his disciples to California. During this period of his stay in Los Angeles, Vivekananda was gifted a large area of land by one of his devotees, which was a forested hilly terrain about 12 miles from Lick Observatory, an area of 160 acres, to build a retreat to house Vedanta students. He called it a Peace retreat or ''Santi Asrama''. Turiyananda trained students here in the art of “meditation and austere monastic life of India.” After the death of Vivekananda, it was
Paramhahamsa Yogananda who took over the control of the Vendantha centers from 1920 and stayed in the US permanently. In 1925 he instituted the Yogananda Satsang. The American headquarters of the Vedantha Society (one of the twelve) in USA is located in Los Angeles. There is a Vedantha Press in Hollywood which publishes Hindu scriptures and translates texts to English.
20th century-present
The renaissance of Hinduism was followed by
Baba Bharati, a hermit who lived in the US for five years from 1904 to 1909 and established his cult in various parts of the country. He established the
Rama Krishna Temple
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...
in Los Angeles, which had 5,000 followers. His teachings centered on the theme of preaching "eternal Hinduism unadulterated by the West".
The next to make an entry to the Los Angeles Hinduism scene was yogi
Hari Rama
Hari ( sa, हरि) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress ...
. He preached Hinduism only for a brief period from 1925 to 1 September 1928 and established his National headquarters of the
Benares League
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tr ...
in Los Angeles. His main activity centered on yoga but interspersed with some teachings related sociology and theology with the “professed aim of communal and international brotherhood.”
However, the success of Hinduism had a setback when the
Asian Exclusion Act
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...
was introduced in 1924. Nonetheless,
Swami Yogananda
Swami Yogananda ( bn, স্বামী যোগানন্দ, translit=Sbāmī Yōgānanda) was a disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century mystic. He took his formal initiation from Sarada Devi, the "holy mother" of Ramakrishna Order ...
came to the US in 1920, founded the
Self-Realization Fellowship
Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and legally incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in 1935, to serve as Yogananda's instrument for the preservation ...
, and introduced techniques of
Kriya Yoga. He trained
Benedict Lust
Benedict Lust (February 3, 1872 – September 5, 1945) was a German-born American who was one of the founders of naturopathic medicine in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Biography
Lust was born in Michelbach, Baden, Germany.Anonymou ...
, a specialist in naturopathic medicine. Prior to this
Ramacharaka and
Yogendra
, image = Shri Yogendra.jpg
, caption = Yogendra in his early years, sitting in Siddhasana
, religion = Hinduism
, founder = The Yoga Institute (1918)
, known_for = Pioneering modern yoga
, alma_m ...
had also contributed to the spread of yoga throughout the US.
Following the introduction of the new
Immigration Act 1965, there was a flurry of Hindu religionists who invaded the US. Several movements came into existence throughout US such as the
Maharishi Mehesh Yogi of the
TM movement and
Swami Bhaktivedanta of
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known Colloquialism, colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Gaudiya Vaishnava Hinduism, Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was found ...
(ISKON),
and
Swami Satchidananda
Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian yoga guru and religious teacher, who gained fame and following in the West. He founded his own ...
, founder of the
Integral Yoga Institute. This was followed by the temple building boom in the east in the 1970s, which was followed in the 1980s and 1990s in other urban centers such as Los Angeles, and many other centers. The miraculous feat of milk offered to Hindu gods being supposedly "taken" by them was also witnessed at the Norwalk and Chatsworth temples.
Occurrences of anti-Hindu acts have been reported in Los Angeles. According to the Hindu Temple Society in Los Angeles, the board members meet frequently and discuss the issue of hate crimes against Hindus and has noted that the City Zoning Regulations are adversely interpreted against their temple.
Temples
The American Hinduism community is to a large extent built around the traditional temple culture. The three dominant traditions followed in temple building, known in Hinduism as ''
sampradaya
''Sampradaya'' ( sa, सम्प्रदाय; ), in Indian origin religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, can be translated as 'tradition', 'spiritual lineage', 'sect', or 'religious system'. To ensure continuity and ...
'', are; the worship of Vishnu by the
Vaishnavites
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
in his several incarnated forms of Krishna, Rama, Venkateshvara and so forth; worship of the Lord Shiva and his consort
Parvathi
Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi in ...
including their children
Muruga
Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...
and
Ganesh
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...
; and worship of
Shakthi
In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...
in the form of
Devi
Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.
The conce ...
,
Durga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.
Durga's legend centres around co ...
,
Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
, Lakshmi and many other formats. In the initial years, the temples were ''sampradaya'' specific while over the years the temples have been built with a multi-religious focus within the same structure or as any annexe structure. The temples in Los Angeles belong to both categories; the Malibu temple is devoted to Venkateshwara while many others are of the mixed type.
Malibu Hindu Temple
Situated in the hills above
Malibu, in
Calabasas, the
Malibu Hindu Temple
Malibu Hindu Temple is a Hindu temple built in the traditional South Indian style, and dedicated to the worship of the Hindu god Venkateswara. It is located in the Santa Monica Mountains, in the city of Calabasas, California, Calabasas near Malib ...
, established in 1984, was the "first big Hindu temple" in Los Angeles. The Malibu Hindu Temple is a mountain spiritual retreat. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu god
Venkateswara
Venkateswara, also known by various other names, is a form of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. Venkateswara is the presiding deity of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, located in Tirupati, Sri Balaji District, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Etymology ...
and is fully functional. The priests of the temple live within its precincts. It caters to Southern California's Hindu population.
The temple was the venue for a small scene in the movie ''
Beverly Hills Ninja
''Beverly Hills Ninja'' is a 1997 American martial arts comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff. The film stars Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Nathaniel Parker, with Chris Rock, and Robin Shou. The m ...
'', in 1997, starring
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...
. In 1998, a song sequence was recorded around this temple in the Tamil film ''
Jeans
Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...
''. In January 2006, pop star
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...
had her 4-month-old son blessed in a large ceremony by the Hindu priests of this temple. The event was covered worldwide by the media.
Other temples
While all states in the US have one or more Hindu centers of worship, California tops the list with 296 centers. Of these there are many Hindu temples in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
. These include the Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles,
Culver City
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...
;
Hare Krishna Temple, Los Angeles; Radha Govinda Gaudiya Matha,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
; RamKabir Mandir,
Carson
Carson may refer to:
People
*Carson (surname), people with the surname
*Carson (given name), people with the given name
Places
;In the United States
* Carson, California, a city
* Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois
*Carson, Iowa, a city
* ...
; Swami Narayan Hindu Temple,
Whittier;
the Sri Ashtalakshmi Sametha Venkateswara Swamy Temple,
North Hollywood
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
.
Brief features of a few other Hindu temples are given below.
The
Sanatana Dharma Temple has the main Hindu deities deified in a row and regular religious and cultural festivals are part of the temple schedule.
On the east side of Los Angeles is the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, spread over an area of 4 acres of land. The ''
navagraha
Navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The term is derived from ''nava'' ( sa, नव "nine") and ''graha'' ( sa, ग्रह "planet, seizing, laying hold of, ...
'' (idols of nine planets) ceiling in the temple is a special feature.
The oldest temple in southern Los Angeles, the Radha-Krishna Temple contains idols of Radha and Krishna and also of Ram Parivar (Family of God Rama) and also of Lord Shiva, which setting is in line with current trend of mixed ''sampradaya'' temples.
Another temple promoted by the
Sindhi community is the Sindhu Temple. It has idols of Radha, Krishna, Ram Parivar, Lord Shiva and
Parvati
Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...
, all Hindu gods and in particular the Sindhi god
Jhulelal and also
Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated wor ...
.
References
Bibliography
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*
*
*
*
*
* {{cite book, last=Wuthnow , first=Robert , title=America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxltPmukv0gC&pg=PA64, date=1 July 2011, publisher=Princeton University Press, isbn=978-1-4008-3724-3
Hinduism in California
Religion in Los Angeles