India Post News Service
FREMONT, California: From youths performing Indian classical dances and songs to priests conducting Hindu rituals, the week-long Maha Kumbhabhishekam festival at Fremont Hindu Temple became the centre for several spiritual activities from June 12 to 16.
The elaborate ceremonies, which began June 12 and concluded June 16 with Maha Kalyanam “will homogenize, synergize and unite the mystic power of the deities”, said Govind Pasumarthi, religious chair. The Maha Kumbhabhishekam at Vedic Dharma Samaj, also known as Fremont Hindu Temple, the oldest Hindu temple of California, was performed June 15 according to the tenets of Agama Shastra.
The Maha Kumbhabhishekam, the rededication of the temple, is performed once every 12 years. Sanctified vessels containing sacred waters were carried to the top of the temple spire or Gopuram and poured over the shining spires called kalashas.
Eight Hindu priests from different parts of California joined the four priests at the temple to perform more than 30 rituals over the five-day period leading up to the Maha Kumbhabhishekam ceremony June 15, a ritual to “energize” deities at the temple. Thousands of devotees thronged the temple to witness the week-long event.
