Interview with Gunvant Bhakta of Triangle Area Hindu Temples
Did you know that Cary is home to the one of the largest South Indian Hindu temples in North America, and that the Town of Morrisville has its own cricket pitch? The Greater Raleigh area has a fast-growing Hindu and Indian community, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh is working with them on common interests. We spoke to Gunvant Bhakta of Triangle Area Hindu Temples (TAHTS) to learn more about this growing partnership.
Q: How long have you and your family lived in the Raleigh area?
A: We moved here from Texas in 1983. We’ve lived in North Raleigh for the last 41 years, so I consider us native North Carolinians. Our daughters were raised here, and they went to college here. One still lives in Cary. So, we have a long history!
Q: How has the local Hindu and Indian community changed in recent years?
A: When we moved here, Raleigh and North Carolina were considered to be the “Deep South.” At that time, we had only 50 families locally. We were getting together in someone’s house and mostly working with North Carolina State students. In 1980, we bought a small church building, and then we built the first temple in Morrisville in 1986. Since then, from 1990, Research Triangle Park expanded and brought a lot of different companies. That brought a lot of new employees in the information technology, research and pharmaceutical industries, and that was a big driving force in bringing a lot of Indian multi-discipline professionals here. It’s been big growth since then. We’ve also had more software companies like SAS and Red Hat employing many Indian professionals. From one Mandir (temple), we’ve grown to eight mandirs! In a 40-mile radius, we have approximately 5,000 Hindu families. People are really making their home here because of the good climate, good education, universities and overall growing and safe area. But our community is still smaller and doesn’t have the fragmentation of a bigger city.
Q: Why did you want to partner with the Jewish Federation?
A: I first became connected with the Jewish community through Temple Beth Or. I’m also part of Triangle Interfaith Alliance (TIA), so I met Jewish representative Judye Jacobs. She gave me information about upcoming festivals. From there, I’ve attended the Inter-Faith Community Seder the last several years. I met with Mark Goldhaber and Phil Brodsky in December 2023. They asked if we could talk and bring our communities together for open dialogue.
Jewish Federation is considered the “umbrella organization” for the Jewish community, connecting all the synagogues. Triangle Area Hindu Temples (TAHTS) functions the same way. I’m responsible for community outreach. As I told Mark, the Jewish community got a head start in this area and we have a lot to learn from you.
We wanted to connect the Hindu and Jewish faiths because they are the oldest faiths in the world, and there are many more commonalities than differences. We’ve seen and experienced brutal history, and also survived. We were also connected with Jewish communities in India. Both communities being minority religious communities are natural partners.
Q: What have the Jewish Federation and Hindu organizations worked on together so far? What do you hope to work on in the future?
A: We saw antisemitism rise after October 7th. When something happens in the Jewish community, there are also often incidents that happen in the Hindu communities. We decided to have community leaders get together. We had first gotten together with Rabbi Daniel Greyber of Beth El for dinner in Durham and we talked openly about the concerns of our both communities. After that, I talked to Mark about inviting the Jewish community from Raleigh for dinner at our temple. We had 45 people over for dinner, and we discussed openly our faith, beliefs, supporting in good and bad times and the issues we face. Balancing being an open and welcoming facility with security was a major concern for all of us.
Afterwards, Temple Beth Or asked me to come talk about Hinduism for their Religious School. Then we invited their Jewish students to come to our temple BAPS. It was a good exchange, and they asked incredible questions.
We held a walk-a-thon at a BAPS in Morrisville, and representatives from the Jewish Federation came. We had questions about how to improve our security. We had a meeting with our leaders and Jewish community leaders at Beth Meyer Synagogue, which led to a follow-up security meeting at our temple recently. Bruce Gourlie, the Jewish Federation’s regional security advisor, came to give us presentation, training and advice on what we should train on and how to improve security on our campuses. We had over 20 people from all temples attended and the information was well received. Overall, it shows that our mutual relationship is growing and we continue look for ways to make a stronger partnership as minority religious communities.
Q: What would you like our Jewish readers to know about the local Hindu and Indian community?
A: I think our Hindu community and our Mandirs (temples) are open and welcoming. It’s always been known that we Hindus are tolerant, welcoming, and peaceful. Temples are the same way, and you can visit anytime during open hours. We also want to share that the Hindu community wants to have a good relationship with all faith organizations. Our community has no historical antisemitism. We also have good relations locally with the Muslim community and other faiths from India. We have Hindus from other countries and Jains join us and worship together.
We will continue to celebrate major festivals together and work with the Jewish community on local community service projects, security, and anti-hate programs together. Our community would like to be partners, and work with you. It’s not just something that started in this country, but over in India. We are natural partners.
