Chants, prayers in Riverdale for the dead in Mumbai

Priests led chants and tossed sacred rice on carved deities. At least 174 candles perched on gold plates flickered at their feet.

The candles burned for the victims slain in a terrorist attack on two upscale hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai last week.

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Joey Ivansco/jivansco@ajc.com

Mahalakshmi Choragudi lights a candle to represent each of the people who died in the 60-hour siege in Mumbai last week.

• Photos: Vigil in Riverdale

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Roughly 75 congregants braved a rainy-day drive and 20 barefoot steps on cold wet concrete Sunday afternoon to attend a memorial service at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta.

Among them were several non-Hindus who felt compelled to participate in the Riverdale service.

“Being Jewish, we feel a sense of loss,” said Karla Tievsky, wiping away tears.

Tievsky and her husband, Seth Kirschenbaum, said they attended simply because they had read about the event in the newspaper and felt drawn to it.

P.V. Rao, an Emory University physics professor and a Hindu, read sacred texts and urged members of the congregation not to succumb to fear, because the terrorists cannot destroy them.

Reading from the Bhagavad Gita, Rao said, “The soul … is never born, it never dies, nor having once born does it again cease to be. Unborn, eternal, permanent and primeval, it is not slain when the body is slain.”

Rao said of the terrorists, “We want to pray that their kind are converted to a peaceful way.”

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin sent chief of staff Greg Pridgeon to the event. State Sen. Valencia Seay (D-Riverdale) also came.

Probably none of the attendants was directly affected by the Mumbai attack, according to P. Ravi Sarma, president of the Hindu temple. Yet several felt they were connected to the tragedy, in part because of intense news coverage of the 60-hour ordeal.

“This has been happening for years,” said Vijay Chennur of Marietta, referring to the decades of violent clashes between Muslims and Hindus in his home country.

Chennur said this attack was different, though, because it was meticulously planned and included the seizing of buildings and the taking of non-Indian hostages. “This time, the conflict went global,” he said.

Chennur was joined by his wife Nandini and his 12-year-old daughter Gautami.

The Chennurs led the congregation in devotional songs.

With Vijay Chennur, playing a harmonium, they sang a song to Vinayaka, the elephant-faced lord, to remove all obstacles from the community.

Then, they sang to Krishna to bring light into the world.

And just then, the rays of a setting sun broke through the clouds and streamed through windows of the temple.