DALLAS — At Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, priests are chanting mantras of hope and encouragement.
“It’s the removal of ignorance, darkness,” explained Prakasa Rao Velagapuei, from Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple.
After a difficult year-and-a-half, millions of people around the world - and thousands here in the Dallas metro - are celebrating Diwali, the Hindi holiday known as the celebration of lights.
“It was a sad time for most of us, now it’s a joyous occasion,” Velagapuei said.
Bazaars - from malls across India, to the Dallas area - are filled up with shoppers. They’re buying colorful garments, then presenting it to the Hindu gods.
“They feel enlightening, happy. They want to have the presence,” Velagapuei described.
Here at this Frisco temple, for the first time, they’re expecting about 1,000 people. They will be shuttling folks back and forth.
The celebration this year is a sign for many that it’s the light at the end of the tunnel, as India, where Diwali originated, reports the lowest numbers of coronavirus cases since February.
“We have moved forward from the whole COVID, and we are opened up, and seeing so much of positivity,” said Jayesh Thakker from the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple.
“When they come here, they feel the peace," Thakker said.
The temple has started operating on their normal hours.