In the town of Dunbar, a unique cultural event took place in the Shree Durga Shiva Vishnu Temple. Sri Puthige Matha of Udupi, India, visited the temple and remained there from Sept. 20 to 22 to perform various rituals worshiping the Hindu deities.
“He was predestined at age 12 as the 30th Pontiff of the 750 year old illustrious and everlasting Indian vedic traditional lineage of Jagadguru Shri Madhwaachaarya, the founder of the famous vedic philosophy of Dwaith’’ read an online flier on SDSV’s Whatsapp page. Because my mother is on the India Center board, we were fortunate to go both on Sept. 20 and 22 to meet him.
The reason this event was important was that it marks an important part of the influx of Indian Americans coming to West Virginia. For the past several years, Indian immigrants have been moving to West Virginia due to the booming medical and tech industry in the state. According to the state’s most recent survey of Hindus in 2014, 309 people identified as Hindu.
The SDSV temple is currently the only Hindu temple in Kanawha County. However, the India Center in Southridge occasionally hosts religious festivals and the Hindu Worship Society. The India Center also hosts the Balvihar program, which teaches young Hindus about their faith, history and culture.
