{"id":6947,"date":"2016-06-14T03:45:57","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T03:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=6944&amp;preview_id=6944"},"modified":"2016-06-14T03:45:57","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T03:45:57","slug":"hindu-temple-opens-after-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=6947","title":{"rendered":"Hindu temple opens after 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tg-tlc-storybody\">\n<div class=\"tg-tlc-storybody_intro\">\n<p>TOWNSVILLE is now home to Queensland\u2019s first Hindu temple outside the southeast corner, after 10 years of planning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Spokesman for the Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Cultural Centre Dr Shashidhar-Venkatesh Murthy said it had taken 10 years to deliver the temple with raising funds, hiring architects from India and development approval delays contributing to the lengthy process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis temple requires traditional architects and we had to look at the purity of the land and the direction of the temple,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The temple is located in a converted shed in Gumlow, which is fitted out with altars and idols from India.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Murthy said the temple would mean Hindus no longer had to travel to Brisbane to get married or celebrate important festivals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTemple visits are a part of our culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people have had to travel to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne even.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo many people have contacted us from Mackay, Ayr and Cairns and said they\u2019re planning to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Murthy said having a temple priest based in Townsville would also mean the community wouldn\u2019t have to fly one in for rituals.<\/p>\n<p>More than 200 people attended the opening in a grand celebration of Indian culture.<\/p>\n<p>Member of the culture centre committee Ajay Rane said the temple opening was a wonderful celebration of Indian culture and religion in North Queensland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a proud Australian citizen and am delighted that I am able to celebrate my Indian culture and spirituality with my friends and community in the dedication of the temple,\u201d Professor Rane said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is another step forward for multiculturalism and inclusivity in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not the end of the journey, with plans to build to build a bigger temple on the 0.8ha site in future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is still a temporary temple,\u201d Dr Murthy said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.townsvillebulletin.com.au\/news\/townsville\/hindu-temple-opens-after-10-years\/news-story\/c6a901701d6d005fd0f1ff68850bc51f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hindu temple opens after 10 years | <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.townsvillebulletin.com.au\/news\/townsville\/hindu-temple-opens-after-10-years\/news-story\/c6a901701d6d005fd0f1ff68850bc51f\">Townsville Bulletin<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOWNSVILLE is now home to Queensland\u2019s first Hindu temple outside the southeast corner, after 10 years of planning. Spokesman for the Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Cultural Centre Dr Shashidhar-Venkatesh Murthy said it had taken 10 years to deliver the temple with raising funds, hiring architects from India and development approval delays contributing to the lengthy process. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1153],"tags":[1597,1351,1302,187],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}