Richmond Hill Hindu temple offers prayers for victims of Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks

At least 250 people were killed and hundreds were injured on Easter Sunday in Sri Lankan churches and hotels.

NRU
May 2, 2019
Sheila Wang

“Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!”

The Hindu mantra that means peace echoed across the Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple in the evening of April 26 as the devotees attended a special memorial service with “Moksha Pooja” to seek the blessings of the Lord for Salvation.

More than 100 Hindu devotees came together and chanted their prayers for the victims of the bomb attacks on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. At least 250 people were killed and hundreds were injured in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings in Sri Lankan churches and hotels.

“No matter which part of the world it is, it affects all of us,” said Kidambi Raj, a senior member of the Hindu Temple Society of Canada.

Raj was joined by a number of dignitaries including Richmond Hill councillors David West, Castro Liu, Richmond Hill MPP Daisy Wai, Richmond Hill MP Majid Jowhari, as well as York Regional Police officers Amaree Watkis and Alice Tsang.

The crowd took a two-minute silence to mourn for the victims.

They then lit up oil lamps one by one and walked with them in hands around the statues of gods as part of the memorial service to seek the Lord’s blessings to those hurt physically and mentally for a speedy recovery.

The Hindu Temple Society of Canada was chartered in 1973 as a nonprofit religious institution in response to a need for community worship among people of Sri Lankan/South Indian origin.

There were more than 1,300 residents in Richmond Hill who identified as Sri Lankan, according to the 2016 census.

The construction of the temple did not begin until 1988 with the support of a great number of volunteers.

The temple complex is said to be the largest Hindu Temple in North America built and run under the Agama Sastra traditions as specified in the scriptures.
Hinduism is the oldest religion in Sri Lanka with more than 12 per cent of the population currently practicing it.