Sri Lakshmi Temple

The vision of a Hindu Temple in New England appeared in the minds of a few people in 1978. Driven by this divine inspiration, an ad hoc committee was established in March 1978 when every member seeded $ 101 to assiduously pursue the goal of building the temple. A formal constitution was drafted and an application for incorporation was duly filed with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The early days of the organization were devoted to establishing its by-laws and on discussions on the scope and nature of the project of building the temple. Foremost in the minds of everyone was the desire that the temple should be a place of worship for all the Hindus living in and visiting this area. At a meeting on August 12, 1978, the committee decided to dedicate this temple to Goddess Sri Lakshmi as the presiding deity, since most of us have come to this country in search of the prosperity and happiness bestowed by the grace of Mahalakshmi.

The inaugural function of New England Hindu Temple, Inc. was conducted with Mahalakshmi Pooja and Diwali celebrations on October 28, 1978 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Melrose, Massachusetts. Exuberance and excitement filled the hearts and minds of everyone in the large congregation as they witnessed and experienced an authentic pooja service to Sri Lakshmi and it filled their spiritual need. This was easily seen as pledges and donations started coming in even before securing the non-profit status. Non-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service was secured on November 28, 1978 for tax-deductible contributions. The place of congregation was soon changed to Needham Village Club which was more centrally located.

In the summer of 1981, about twelve acres of land in the town of Ashland, Massachusetts were acquired for constructing the temple. services of Sri Ganapathy Sthapathy from the Institute of Architecture and Sculpture in Tamil Nadu were sought to design the temple according to the Agama Sastras. He visited in November 1982 and provided detailed plans for the temple. In early 1983, M/S MacNevin and Kerivan Engineering, Inc. of Wellesley was engaged to prepare the engineering design and drawings which were submitted to the Town of Ashland for approval. The land was cleared in the fall of 1983 and in the following spring the excavation work was carried out by Guigli & Sons. The contract for the foundation and structural work for the building was awarded to Kaikunte Engineering Corporation in Sharon in the summer of 1984. The ground breaking ceremony was observed on June 19, 1984 with a grand celebration of Ganesh Pooja.