As a Pravasi-Indian, in the process of our daily life, we find little time to interact with our near and dear ones. Prayer times are quick and sometimes super-quick, no where close to what we observe our parents doing. We have pooja rooms and deities and often set time aside for pooja.
In the vagaries of life, we sometimes feel compelled to call upon the Almighty, and there are times when we feel necessary to reach out to a particular deity in a temple. Sometimes we are advised to do so by a learned person or pundit. At this point, we hit a cement wall.
We are fortunate, if we have close family or friends living near the temple or willing to go the extra mile to the temple. However, with the fast-paced life and increased geographical distance, we are further and further separated from even these family and friends whom we are lucky if we can meet once in a year or two.
For our children, growing up in a different culture, our devotions often seem to be idiosyncrasies that they politely put up with. The alienation is further enhanced, with cousins, whom they would have grown up with, being in different countries and hardly interacting. A classmate or neighbour is closer than your own blood relation.
This initiative is to help connect pravasi Indian families with their roots through devotion towards temples. We are compiling details of all temples starting with Kerala,
- their offerings to the deity,
- the needs for contribution or renovation
- the rich tradition, history and culture
- the festivals and their significance
- and more….
We are hoping to identify disadvantaged and devout local residents to connect with the pravasi devotee to be able to go to the temple and submit offerings, or participate on behalf of the family, where possible.
We are encouraging senior school and college students and interested devout residents to provide information regarding the temple. Our team will validate the information to the best possible and publish. We are hoping this to become a community activity and encourage all devotees to suggest correction and improvements where required. Contributions are accepted in efforts only.
We are presently for operational convenience, operating as an initiative of In3ator and hope to form this as a society with an independent and transparent management in the near future. We do not accept any donations in monetary form and instead encourage all donations, including offerings to be made directly to the concerned temple. Where ever possible, we will share the account details for the temple. We do not expect to charge any donations or convenience fees directly or indirectly.
We invite Pravasi Indians to become members. Membership will be in the form of annual and life members. Life members together will elect the office bearers of the proposed society. This membership fees will be used towards expenses of running the initiative and working towards making temples closer to the pravasi devotees. Other relevant initiatives that promote culture, traditions and learning of our ancestors will also be encouraged.
At present 975 temples in Kerala have been identified out of which,
- 141 Ayyappa temples
- 408 Siva temples
- 240 Vishnu temples
- 6 Dhanwantari temples
- 62 Murugan/ Subramaniam temples
- and others
Activities so far undertaken include,
- Identification of an initial list of 2000 temples (950+)
- Collect partial information of nearly 200 temples
- Set up a website with required functionality
- Identified 5 volunteers to reach out to temples in their area
- Prepare Invitation to members
A more complete and current list is available here.