Gateway Tower of Sri Venkateswara Temple Inaugurated in North Carolina, Making it the Largest Temple in North America
- On Diwali, Oct. 24, the Sri Venkateswara Temple inaugurated its 87 feet ‘Tower of Unity and Prosperity,’ in the presence of hundreds of devotees and elected officials including Gov. Roy Cooper.
The largest Hindu temple in North America is not in New Jersey or California but in Cary, North Carolina. This Diwali, Oct. 24, the Sri Venkateswara Temple inaugurated its 87 feet ‘Tower of Unity and Prosperity,’in the presence of hundreds of devotees and elected officials including Gov. Roy Cooper. Organizers told local media that the tower is the tallest of its kind in North America.”
Dr. Raj Thotakura, chairman of the temple told CBS17 that the tower “symbolizes the feet of the Lord.” He said when “when devotees come they bow at the feet of the Lord before they come into the raja gopuram and when they proceed into the temple they leave all their worries behind.”
The unveiling comes 13 years after the temple was dedicated in 2009, as reported by the Raleigh News & Observer. Approval for the extension was granted in 2019, and construction began in April 2020, “right at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic,” Lakshminarayanan Srinivasan, general secretary of the temple’s board of trustees told the daily. He mentioned the “donate a brick” program,” which invited members of the Indian American community across the state and the country “to donate whatever they could to help see through the tower’s completion — around $2.5 million from more than 5,000 donors.”
According to 2021 census estimates, over 51,000 Indian Americans lived in Wake County and 57,000 in Wake, Durham and Orange counties combined.
News reports note that the multi-million dollar tower inauguration showcases the growth of the Indian community in the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Indian American Impact notes that the state is “home to robust and rapidly growing Asian American communities, where populations have surged by 68% in the last 10 years.” It estimates that over 425,000 Asian Americans live in in the state “with Indian Americans making up the largest ethnic group.”
According to 2021 census estimates, over 51,000 Indian Americans lived in Wake County and 57,000 in Wake, Durham and Orange counties combined. The Census also revealed that the Indian American community in Morrisville comprised 46% of the town’s population, while an estimated 19,903 Indian Americans live in Cary.
Addressing members of the community after unveiling the tower, Gov. Cooper thanked temple leaders for inviting him to inaugurate the religious tower and said he was thrilled to attend the tower’s unveiling on a particularly auspicious day, Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. “What a wonderful day this is, especially in times of trouble. Mr. Chairman, I liked the way you said, walking into this temple with reverence and leaving your worries on the outside for just a while,” Cooper said. “That’s something we all need to do, but then we can always leave the temple with even more determination than ever to address those worries, and to make sure we’re doing something about it.”
House Speaker Tim Moore, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht and Morrisville Mayor T.J. Cawley also attended the event and addressed guests.
The temple has additional expansion plans, News & Observer notes, “including an assembly hall that would be built next to the temple.”