
DATE: Monday, June 16, 1997                 TAG: 9706160045

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: KEEPING THE FAITH IN CHESAPEAKE 
SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  194 lines

GROWING SPIRITUALLY THE REDEDICATION OF A HINDU TEMPLE IS A MILESTONE FOR A CITY AND A FAITH.

By the numbers, Chesapeake is one of the fastest-growing cities in Virginia. But it's also expanding its horizons, as more faiths come to call the city home.

For the region's Indian community, the rededication Sunday of the Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads means that families will once again have a place to worship together. To educate their children. To pass on traditions learned in India to a new generation born in Virginia.

For Chesapeake, the rebuilt temple's dedication signals a change in the life of the city.

Chesapeake, one of the fastest growing cities in the state, is also growing more diverse.

Perhaps known best around the country as the home of the Christian Coalition, Chesapeake now has the only Hindu and Buddhist temples in southeastern Virginia. Both temples draw worshipers from as far away as Northern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads, first built in 1991, burned down in 1994, said temple chairman Ram Dahiya. A new temple, serving about 2,000 people, has been built on the site of the original, on the banks of a branch of the Elizabeth River just south of a steel bridge. The temple's weeklong dedication ceremonies concluded Sunday.

Seven marble, hand-carved Indian deities were installed Saturday. At the ceremony, priests attended to the deities' needs by bathing them in holy water and dressing them in elaborate headdresses.

Earlier in the week, to prepare for Saturday's climactic installation, 108 women proceeded through the temple carrying jars of holy water on their heads. On Thursday, temple members carried the deities around the temple, to familiarize them with their new home. The following day, the congregation burned incense in four fires, called kundas, in order to burn away all feelings of anger, laziness, lust, greed, pride and jealousy, said temple priest Acharya Ravindra Nagar. Priests then used the holy water Saturday to bathe the deities in order to soothe the pain of any lives - including the lives of insects - lost during the deities' installation.

Men attending to the deities, which were placed on a white marble altar in the sanctuary, wore traditional Indian garments called dhotis. Women wore gold-trimmed saris of fuchsia and plum made of raw silk. Many women wore gold necklaces adorned with nine precious gems, representing the planets.

If the weeklong celebrations seemed elaborate, temple members said, there was good reason.

``This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us,'' said temple member Saileela Venkatesan. ``It's like the day of your wedding.''

In the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple has been open for three years. The Giac Hoa Buddhist Center, near the Cargill Inc. grain elevator, serves as many as 450 Vietnamese people, said Ngoc Xuan ``Adam'' Nguyen, one of the founding members.

Most of the temple's members live outside Chesapeake in cities with larger Asian populations, such as Virginia Beach and Newport News. So why Chesapeake?

Both congregations were attracted to Chesapeake for the amenities that have drawn many homeowners and businesses, as well as dozens of foreign corporations.

``There's more land here,'' said Ram's wife Chandra Dahiya. ``There's no land in Virginia Beach, and if there is, you pay an arm and a leg for it. There's more privacy here, too. In Virginia Beach, it's so built up that everything's very crowded. Here, we have a little more control.''

The Hindu temple, set off a quarter of a mile from Dominion Boulevard, is surrounded by tall trees that hide it from the road. The temple's large plate-glass windows overlook water and tall marsh grasses.

The land just beyond the temple's boundaries, however, is marked by landfills, gravel pits and tractor-trailer truck stops. The community doesn't mind the industrial appearance of its surroundings, however, Chandra Dahiya said. They could never have afforded 10 acres of land anywhere else.

The Giac Hoa Buddhist congregation has cultivated a much smaller patch of ground - barely 2 acres - for its temple and for the modest home of its monk, the Venerable Thich Thong Kinh. Buddhists built their sanctuary adjacent to Interstate 464 in South Norfolk, within sight of the Jordan Bridge and Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. The Vietnamese community first had to demolish a burned-out house on the property before beginning construction of its small temple with its Oriental-style red roof.

The temple communities also were drawn to Chesapeake for its central location in southeastern Virginia with convenient interstate highways, temple leaders say.

The temple's congregants commute to the city for Sunday services. Many also come to Chesapeake to work. Several Hindu temple members own businesses in Chesapeake. And the fledgling temples are beginning to reach out to their neighboring communities, inviting schoolchildren to visit and making plans to organize free medical clinics.

Some religious and civic leaders point to the city's Hindu and Buddhist communities as evidence Chesapeake is becoming less homogeneous.

``It shows that Chesapeake is becoming more international, more cosmopolitan,'' said Vinson Synan, dean of the Regent University School of Divinity and a Chesapeake resident. ``I walk around my neighborhood, and it looks like the United Nations.''

Chesapeake remains overwhelmingly white, middle class and conservatively Christian, however, Synan said. The city's population is 71 percent white and 27 percent African American, according to city statistics. Only 2 percent of the city's residents belong to other ethnic groups.

But Chesapeake is also home to 53 foreign companies, representing 14 countries, said Mayor William E. Ward, and immigrants are playing increasingly important roles in the city's economy.

The temples ``reflect the openness and tolerance of Chesapeake,'' he said. ``As we become more a part of the global community, people will see us as less of a typical Southern town.''

The opening of the temples follows several general growth trends.

Chesapeake's dramatic population growth is fueling the creation of houses of worship of many denominations. Traditional Christian churches continue to move to Chesapeake as the population grows, Synan said. The First Baptist Church of Norfolk, which now draws many church members from Chesapeake, plans to move from the Kempsville area to Greenbrier. And the Catholic Diocese of Richmond recently carved a new parish in the fast-growing Hickory area in southern Chesapeake.

Hampton Roads is also attracting more immigrants.

Virginia ranks eighth in the nation as an immigrant destination. In 1990, Virginia had 130,000 Asian-born residents, according to the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, the state's official keeper of population statistics. Asians make up almost half of Virginia's foreign-born population.

``Chesapeake is growing by leaps and bounds,'' said Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer, who spoke at the Hindu temple's dedication Thursday. ``I think it's simply the next chapter in Virginia's long history of religious tolerance and diversity.''

Indian and Vietnamese immigrants have had a strong presence in Beyer's stomping ground of Northern Virginia for years, said Beyer.

In Virginia, Muslims now outnumber Episcopalians, Beyer said. The only Islamic mosques in Hampton Roads are in Norfolk.

While Eastern religions thrive in Chesapeake, the city has no Jewish synagogue. Most Jews live in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, said Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach. Even those Jewish families that have moved to Chesapeake and Suffolk retain close ties to their former congregations in other cities, he said.

Zoberman does not envision a Jewish temple in Chesapeake any time soon. Chesapeake will probably never attract an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, since Orthodox Jews walk to sabbath services. Housing in Chesapeake is too spread out to allow residents to do much walking.

Zoberman welcomes the Eastern temples. He knows what it's like to lack a house of worship. For 10 years, Zoberman's congregation met in a Catholic church.

``It's so nice in our community to have this window on the larger world,'' Zoberman said. ``Each of our religious institutions is so important for the common good. It's so much more stimulating spiritually when a city has that kind of cosmopolitan flair.''

New houses of worship encourage religious tolerance, Zoberman said.

``Through my own involvement in the community, people have come to know Judaism and Jews better,'' Zoberman said. ``These temples will give people a new appreciation for their (Hindus' and Buddhists') ideas and ideals. What an opportunity for learning we have now. I really celebrate it.''

Synan agreed that the Hindu and Buddhist temples will help educate local residents. Regent University students studying comparative religions, as well as those looking to become missionaries, will have nearby resources, he said.

But not everyone in Hampton Roads will rejoice in the growth of non-Christian denominations.

``Many Christians will be disturbed that there's a growth in Eastern religions in their midst,'' Synan said. Some ``Christians would rather they convert to Christianity. I'm sure many churches will see this as an opportunity for evangelism.'' MEMO: For more information about the Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads,

visit its web site at http://www.tez.net/tildehindutemple/

Related story also on page A1. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

Prakriti Verma, 5, of Yorktown, stands with family members during

prayers last week at the Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads. Six days of

ceremony to open the temple ended Sunday. Members hope their way of

life will be passed on to their children.

From left, Sarla Bain Patel of Newport News, Angoori Devi Goyal of

India, and Leela Bain Patel of Chesapeake, watch as a red flag

symbolizing love is raised over the rebuilt Hindu Temple of Hampton

Roads last week.

Religious teachers Sri Raghava Bhattar, left, and Bhatt Ghanshyam