About:

The Hindu community of Hampton Roads can be really proud of completing 24,000 square feet of Temple Complex on 10 acres of waterfront land. It is indeed rare for a small community consisting of some 500 families to accomplish such a feat. The Hindu religion is not simply a religion of rituals, since it integrates culture and religion into our daily lives and our Temple Complex will provide a focal point for the religious as well as the cultural activities of our community.I would like to give a brief history of this incredible project and would like to thank all the people who have helped its success. First and foremost, we need to thank all the contributors who have donated generously to the Temple. These people have made this project possible.

Right at the outset, I want to emphasize that it was a team effort. We were lucky to have people on the Board of Trustees* who had foresight, vision, and maturity. This effort for building a Hindu Temple started on June 15, 1985, when some fifteen members of our community had a meeting, presided over by Swami Chinamayananda, and committed donations of more than $60,000.00 in their first meeting. Soon after, more people joined this first group of people and they together formed the VIP Associates and bought 30 acres of land for the Temple site. VIP Associates donated the entire 30 acres of land to the Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads once its bylaws were incorporated. Many of the current board members have been involved since the inception of this project. Fund raising effort continued for several years. It was decided to build a Temple Complex that can accommodate a large gathering during cultural events since the board felt that these events are an integral part of our religion. In order to accomplish this task, it was decided to sell 20 acres of land and keep 10 acres for the Temple. Sale of this land was offered to the highest bidder from our community and we were lucky and are thankful that Dominion Chesapeake Associates consisting of 20 members of our community agreed to buy the land for $400,000. Our community should be very thankful to the people who bought the land, an event that sparked the construction of the Temple in 1990.