Janice L. Semmel
Special for The Republic
Dec. 22, 2007 12:00 AM
The Ekta Mandir, which means Unity Temple, will celebrate its grand opening today in west Phoenix.

Instead of a ribbon-cutting, Mayor Phil Gordon and others will unveil and open the doors of the Hindu and Jain temple at 2804 W. Maryland Ave. Festivities including a brief worship of the idols and a cultural program of hymns, recitations and dance will be from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m.

On Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 8:30 p.m., the celebration will include worshipping the idols and reading verses from the Hindu and Jain scriptures. It will end with an evening worship, recognition of the priest performing the rituals and a cultural program.

The temple sits on 4.5 acres thanks to the contribution of 50 families in partnership with the Arizona Indo-American Cultural and Religious Foundation.


With contributions from 200 families, the newly formed non-profit organization, Bharatiya Ekta Mandir of Arizona, built the 12,310 square feet temple at a cost of about $5.6 million. BEMA borrowed about $2.1 million toward construction of the temple, said Jagdish Sagar, BEMA board of director's member, with about $1.2 million still outstanding.

"Our goal is to make the temple debt free as soon as possible," Sagar said.

Tempe member Hemant Patel said: "This is a community temple built for the community by the community, and we want the funds raised for the temple to stay in the temple."

Prior to the opening ceremony, Kalpana Batni, Ekta Mandir publicity committee member, said a priest performs a religious ritual called a Puja. The temple allows about 500 members to worship at one time according to Prakash Deshmukh, who estimates at least 30,000 Hindus live in Arizona.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1222phxtemple1222.html