New York: With a 25-feet-tall installation at the Delaware Hindu Temple in the city of Hockessin the country got its tallest moorti (statue) of Lord Hanuman.
Costing more than a whopping $100,000 for construction and logistics, the handcrafted Hanuman statue weighing more than 30,000 kgs has been chiseled from a single block of black granite in Warangal, a town in southern India.
Donning bright orange shirts that read, “The Hanuman Project,” more than 300 families, temple devotees and resident priests organized the ten-day-long Sthapana or installation ritual.
Back in January, the moorti travelled from Hyderabad to New York by ship, and then by flatbed truck to Delaware, to the state’s largest Hindu temple.
Nagraj Bhattar, a priest from Bangalore who has been with the Hindu Temple of Delaware performed several rituals including purification of the deity with rice grains, water and flowers beds.
The priest and the devotees then performed the puja for divine intervention in these trying times. “We all believe that with the moorti coming to Delaware, Lord Hanuman will bring all the good things like when he brought the Sanjeevani. So that was the main objective of all the devotees and the priest,” Bhattar told ANI.
Once the moorti was installed, American Senator Chris Coons, New Castle County executive Matt Myer and Lt Governor of Delaware Bethany Hall-Long also stopped by to support the Indian community.
The president of the Hindu Temple of Delaware association, Patibanda Sarma, says the moorti was supposed to be celebrated by thousands of devotees. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there weren’t many gatherings held during the installation ceremonies. (ANI)
