New Hindu temple near Sioux Falls to serve the Dakotas

TEA, S.D. (AP) - A Hindu temple opening this weekend near Sioux Falls will be the first of its kind in the Dakotas, according to its founders.

The Hindu Temple of Siouxland will open Sunday to serve Hindu communities across the region, the Argus Leader reported. Organizers are planning an opening ceremony with ancient Hindu rituals to consecrate the new $585,000 temple in Tea, a town surrounded by farmland southwest of Sioux Falls.

“Hindu rituals performed on this auspicious day are believed to endow the temple deities with divine power and bless the community in which they reside,” organizers said in a release.

More than 400 families in the Sioux Falls area practice Hinduism, in addition to smaller communities scattered across the state in Yankton, Watertown and Brookings, said fundraiser Manohar Velpuri.

But the nearest temples are in Minneapolis and Omaha, Nebraska, Velpuri said.

Organizers have been fundraising for the new temple since 2009, he said. The temple was set to complete in August, but recent rains delayed construction.

Velpuri grew up in India and moved to Brookings to earn his doctorate at South Dakota State University. He moved to Sioux Falls in 2012 and has always wanted a place where his daughter could learn about Hinduism, Velpuri said.

“I always wanted to take her and show her our culture,” Velpuri said. “That was the main interest, to have a temple in town, so we can teach our kids.”

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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com