“Pray that they will get a good match and will enjoy the blessings of a good marriage.” It is a heartfelt prayer for the first-generation Indian immigrant parents who have made their choice to settle in Detroit, but are as yet unsure what this will mean for their children and grandchildren.Īfter the wedding ritual, the community gathers in the spacious temple auditorium for a talent show in honor of Rama and Sita. “Please pray if your daughter or son is to get married,” he asks. As the wedding ritual concludes, the priest asks the whole congregation to join in prayer.
Here in the northern suburbs of Detroit, families with daughters of marriageable age will ordinarily sponsor this divine wedding as the family of Sita. The bestowal of the mangala sutra in every Hindu wedding is said to recall the wedding of Rama and Sita. For many Hindus, this necklace, like a wedding ring, is the symbolic marker of marriage. Kanyadanam aham karishye.” Then the mangala sutra, the auspicious wedding necklace, is placed over the head of Sita.
When the auspicious moment called the “Gift of the Daughter” ( Kanyadanam) arrives, the priest asks the whole congregation to join in repeating the familiar words, “I make the gift of my daughter in marriage. These two temple families are the sponsors of the rite, and they represent the families of Rama and Sita. Two families from the community are seated with the priests near the altar which bears the small images of Rama in a yellow silk dhoti and Sita in red silk sari and pearls. Today Rama’s birth is celebrated and his wedding to Sita is re-enacted. Rama is both worshipped and admired as a righteous king and a fully human incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
The images of Rama and Sita have been brought forward on the raised platform which serves as the altar of the temple. Four huge arching wooden trusses support the roof of the carpeted sanctuary where more than three hundred people are sitting for the “Wedding of Rama and Sita,” the divine couple who are hero and heroine of the beloved Ramayana. Modern in its design, Bharatiya set on a wooded hillside in the northern suburbs of Detroit. Bharatiya literally means the temple of India, highlighting the fact that this a pan-Hindu temple, not dedicated to a specific deity. In the Bharatiya Temple in Troy, Michigan, the Hindu community gathers for Rama Navami, the annual festival celebrating Lord Rama.