JUCHEN, GERMANY, July 3, 2017 (NGZ Online, translated from German): It is quite colorful in the new Hindu temple at Hochstrasse 10b in Hochneukirch. Members of the Tamil community transformed a former supermarket into a Hindu temple with several large and small shrines, decorated in every detail, after just seven months of construction. With solemn ceremony and worship, the only Hindu temple in the district has been inaugurated. In the center of the new temple complex, which opened to many visitors, stands the Elephant God (Ganesha), which is the main murthi.
At the ceremony, some honorable guests such as Juegen’s mayor Harald Zillikens and Bundestag deputy Ansgar Heveling, slipped into a world that was rather alien to them. For the inauguration, they were dressed in an oriental robe and painted on the forehead with a red dot, a religious symbol of Hinduism. “The Tamils have been well integrated into German society for decades, but they have not forgotten their roots,” said Mayor Harald Zillikens, who also said that the new temple complex has improved the whole neighborhood. The temple is to become a center of the community.