Praying, With Fire

Hundreds of Hindus started 1999 with their own brand of fireworks Friday, feeding food to a Hindu fire god and praying for blessings in the year to come.

The temple was sweet with incense and filled with the effigies of two dozen Hindu deities festooned with silk scarves and strings of lights.

Hindus follow their own lunar calendar, but celebrating the Gregorian new year has become tradition for many Indians throughout the world ever since British colonial rule.

Friday’s celebration began with the temple pandit, or priest, passing out pastries to his congregation.

“At new year we give out sweets to feed the outer body and to also sweeten the mind and the heart,” said Pandit Harendra Bhatt. Robed in yellow, Bhatt blessed sacrifices to the deities and led chants of the Vedas--the oldest Hindu scriptures, while fending off cellular phone calls and congregants kissing his socked feet.

Sue Chandra, an Indian born in the South Pacific nation of Fiji, came with her Catholic husband to warm the neck of the god of sacrifice and love, Saiba Ba. Chandra bowed before the statues of gods assembled inside the perfumed hall, held her hands over a small flame--signifying inner knowledge--and stood to offer as a sacrifice to the deity a fine golden scarf.

Adorning the walls were representations of other Hindu deities like Brahma, god of life and birth, Shiva the destroyer and Lord Krishna, the incarnation of the god Vishnu.

After saying their private prayers and making offerings, members went outside the temple to where the pandit sat with his congregation to feed a sacrificial fire with butter, fennel, jasmine rice, oranges and other offerings.

“We are invoking the god of fire, Agni,” said Bhatt.

A flock of doves, perhaps drawn by the scent of the celestial stew, perched themselves in nearby trees and power lines. Occasionally, the birds swooped down on the group, punctuating their chants with the flutter of wings.

The celebration marked the third year since 150 Hindus purchased the geodesic dome at 18700 Roscoe Blvd. in Northridge from a Christian congregation. Now more than 800 Hindus regularly pray at the temple, which was paid off last summer.

Temple leaders say the congregation is growing so quickly that they may soon begin looking for a larger home.