The Destroyer at Dehra Dun
February 21, 2012
I had expected much more. From outside, the Hindu temple in Dehra Dun, northern India, was ornate and impressive. But as Anand Samuel and I entered the temple, it was just a big room with cold concrete flooring. (We had removed our shoes before entering.) There were no priests, no teaching, no choirs, although music played outside all day long over loudspeakers. Painted flowers and Hindi signage covered the walls inside, warning adherents not to offer money to Shiva, the "Destroyer," and not to be flippant in their acts of worship but to take them seriously.