An Elephant Gets a Bath in Queens Hindu Ritual

Chris Karmiol

May 9, 2004

The sign reads "No Shoes Beyond This Point, " so the slight, dark-skinned man leaves his shoes on a rack in the cold air and walks barefoot across the snowy path, up the steps to the Hindu Temple Society of North America, on Bowne Street in Flushing.

Inside the temple, ornately constructed with sculpted designs and images of Hindu gods and goddesses, about fifty barefoot worshippers sat cross-legged on the white marble, red-carpeted floor. The seated worshippers chanted at quick speeds along to music, almost non-stop, following along with a voice broadcasting over the temple's sound system. The sweet, musty smell of incense fills the air, along with the sound of their chants.

They were set to witness this temple's central ritual.

In one corner of the temple a handful of worshippers stood with their eyes shut tight, hands in prayer position held up to their foreheads, murmuring to themselves as they stared at a statue of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, heavily adorned in garlands of flowers and set back into the temple wall.

In the other corner a family knelt down together in front of a statue of the god Vishnu, bringing their foreheads down to the floor. "Husband" of Lakshmi, Vishnu, the four-armed, blue-skinned god, is one of the trinity of Hindu gods, and is known as the sustainer of life.

Near the temple's entrance, a young boy smashed a coconut open in a metal basin to use as an offering. Several women walked around the temple's inner perimeter, hands held in prayer, appearing deep in concentration. One woman continued circling the temple for more than an hour, silently praying to each of the temple's idols. A man picked a tiny girl up in the air to reach a chain that rang a large bell hanging from the ceiling.

But the main attraction at the Hindu Temple Society, the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha sitting on a throne, was center stage, and most worshippers' eyes were on him as they sat on the floor chanting.

"He's the son of Lord Shiva," said Hindu worshipper P. N. Venkatachalam, a banker from Mumbai who was in town visiting his children, "and he's supposed to remove all the obstacles in life."

Hindus worship various gods, Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu being the principal three, a "holy trinity" of the religion. They all get their due at the Hindu Temple Society, but Ganesha is the main god here, and he is believed to have great power over the outcomes of worshipers' endeavors.

For that reason, the four-foot tall, black granite statue of Ganesha is treated luxuriously. At the temple's Sunday morning service the Ganesha statue underwent its daily milk and coconut water bathing, a purification ceremony, followed by adornment in fine silk costumes.

Hinduism, the third largest religion in the world, has most of its American followers in New York City and New Jersey. The religion does not have a central ritual, although this temple does, and Hindu devotees worship many gods.

The purification and adornment of Ganesha, at the Hindu Temple Society, are both a performance and a chore. They take place inside a black granite temple-within-the-temple, which is open in front. Seated observers watch the ritual performed through an ornate silver frame, as if looking at an artwork or through a mirror.

A chubby, bare-chested Hindu priest wearing white fabric wrapped around his waist performed the ritual, which entailed pouring gallons and gallons of plain water and coconut water and milk, and applying flowers, yogurt, honey and holy ash on the deity. The nearly two-hour-long ceremony took place before congregants who entered casually during all phases of the ceremony. In other parts of the temple, smaller, personal religious prayers and rituals occurred while the temples masses chanted. Devotees occasionally rang one of the bells hanging from the temple ceiling.

"Ringing the bell is an auspicious thing," said G. P. Padmanabhan, who gives temple tours. "They're telling him [Ganesha], 'I'm here, I've come to offer."

The purification ritual entailed several stages in which the priest doused the Ganesha statue in water, poured from a metal vessel. He used different vessels for the different stages of bathing, and after he bathed the statue in water and coconut water he covered it in milk and yogurt and rinsed it off again.
In between rinsings, the priest held a small camphor lamp up to the statue and circled it in fire. He held the flame out to the crowd, who raised their hands in prayer and bowed. It's considered auspicious to "bathe" oneself in the flame that helped purify Ganesha.

The priest placed flowers on the statue's forehead with care, then covered it in white powdery ash. Throughout the ceremony, Ganesha was bathed and rinsed more than a dozen times.

The ritual follows Hindu holy scripture, the Vedas, which have been passed down orally for generations.

Simultaneously, and to the side of the main Ganesha purification ritual, the bathing of the god Shanmuka, Ganesha's brother, took place. While not center stage, this ritual was broadcast over video monitors throughout the temple.

By the end of the Ganesha's purification, about 150 people had crowded into the temple and even more continued coming and going. The temple's chanting reached a climax and then ended, while other prayer activities and singing continued in different areas of the temple.

The priest pulled closed a curtain over the shrine where he had bathed the statue. It remained shut while two priests walked among the worshippers. They sprinkled the faithful using a flower dipped in a vessel of water.

The curtain opened some fifteen minutes later to reveal Ganesha, now dressed in fancy silk clothing, garland necklace and a silver headdress and accessories.

The priest, now wearing a more colorful turquoise waist wrap, carefully placed flowers on the statue's forehead, tusk and down his trunk. The worshippers sang along with the ringing of bells and drumming. The priest used a silver-handled silk fiber fan to "comfort" the statue.

Finally, as the music reached its loudest and most upbeat tempo, the priest circled the statue using a six-flamed camphor lamp, while he rang a hand bell. At the end of the ceremony, the music stopped and worshippers moved closer to the statue to say their prayers.

"They are purified and the gods get pleased," Venkatachalam said. "That's a tradition."

The next day, as in every morning at the Ganesh Temple, Hindu devotees repeat that tradition.

(Updated May 9, 2004)