A New Hindu Temple in New Haven

Jittendra Shah helped to preside over an offering of more than 300 varieties of food sweetened and spiced with coriander and thyme, as New Haven families hailing from the Gujarat region of western India inaugurated their new temple in West Hills with a kind of Hindu version of Thanksgiving.

Without changing any features inside or out, the Gujarati Samaj, or association of area Hindu families from Gujarat, received government permission last week to change the use of the old Belvedere on Pond Lilly Avenue from banquet hall to formal temple and Hindu community center.

So on Saturday night a festive crowd with many in colorful saris and dhotis gathered to celebrate the feast of Annakut, which follows the holiday of Diwali, the Feast of Lights.

While Shah and two Brahmin priests who recently arrived from Gujarat presided upstairs over curries and chutneys and rotis and daals that ran off into the horizon, families moved about the banquet halls downstairs eating and socializing.

Their glittering shawls and saris complemented the glassy chandeliers and wall-to-wall mirrors of the banquet rooms.

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