Author Archives: Melissa Moy

Placard Topics Information for People Who Visit the Temple (Sanskrit & English) 1.    Races of Man 2.    Pandava Lineage’s (Heroes of Mahabharata) 3.    Time (Solar & Lunar) 4.    28 Hells 5.    Comparative Calendars of Different Secular and Religious Groups [Modern (1998 CE), Jewish (3565 in … Continue reading →

Written by Glenn J. Kaufman: April 26, 2003 Introduction About mid-way through my fieldwork at the Divya Dham Hindu temple in Woodside, Queens, I happened to read Shashi Tharoor’s new novel “Riot” (2001) about communal relations in a village in India. … Continue reading →

Written by Vikas Malhotra: June 16, 2003 INTRODUCTION As Doug and I ascended the subway station steps into Woodside Queens, I became excited at the prospects of visiting the Hindu temple which was to be the focus of our project. … Continue reading →

Written by Daniella Ross: May 4, 2005 Initially designed as the sister temple to the Geeta Mandir in Queens, the Divya Dham temple emerged in 1993 as distinct from the traditional Hindu temple. The large and diverse collection of murtis, images … Continue reading →

Written by Daniella Ross: May 4, 2005 There has been a considerable amount of fieldwork study done on the temple by Columbia students in the last three years. Various aspects of the temple, including the vision and history of its … Continue reading →

Written by Julia Garro: April 15, 2005 [1] Be Yoga is an expansive institution, running five yoga studios in the New York area: midtown, downtown, and upper Westside Manhattan, Nassau and Westchester, as well as another studio in Tokyo, Japan.  … Continue reading →

Written by Prita Lal: May 1, 2005 The Arya Spiritual Center is an Arya Samaj temple located in Briarwood, Queens.  The devotees of this temple are of Indian descent but are predominantly migrants from the Caribbean, particularly the country of … Continue reading →

Written by Prita Lal: April 8, 2005 Introduction The Arya Spiritual Center is located in Briarwood, Queens.  This Arya Samaj temple was founded in 1990 by Caribbeans of Indian descent.  Before then these devotees of Swami Dayananda, founder of the … Continue reading →

Introduction: I am a Hindu, a resident and tax-payer of New York City and a long-term Vedanta student at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (AVG). In addition, I was among the first people that Ms. Moritis interacted with on her initial visit … Continue reading →

We would like to thank Dr. Hawley for conducting this course and giving his students an opportunity for direct exposure to some of the various aspects of Hinduism. Knowing the benefits and challenges of field work in the study of … Continue reading →