Hindu Society of North Carolina (HSNC)

A Brief History Of The HSNC A group of approximately twenty Hindu families in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area organized the Hindu Society of North Carolina in 1976 in order to develop a community for Hindus, conduct prayers and rituals together, and teach their children about their Hindu heritage. Dr. G. D. Sharma, whose home was the site for the first Hindu rituals in the area, led the group and has served as the volunteer priest for the community. They met in community halls, homes, and other temporary locations until 1980 when they purchased a former Jehovah’s Witnesses church on Ashe Avenue in Raleigh. As the community grew and that first location became too small, they purchased land in Morrisville, a nearby town, and built the Hindu Bhavan, which opened on the 20th of December 1986. In 1999, they broke ground for a social hall behind the Bhavan, completed in 2001. The social hall provides additional space for community events, classes, and meetings. Affiliations The parent organization for the Hindu Bhavan is the Hindu Society of North Carolina, founded in 1976. The Jain Study Center of North Carolina also uses the facilities and has installed an image of Mahavir Jain alongside the Hindu deities. Likewise, numerous regional associations, including the Triangle Gujarati Association, Maharashtra Mandal, Hindi Vikas Mandal, and the Bengali Samaj, hold functions at the Bhavan. A few families from the two area Sikh gurdwaras and from local mosques come to the Bhavan occasionally for special events. Mission and Purpose HSNC is an umbrella organization for the various Hindu and allied religious communities in Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) in meeting their religious, cultural and spiritual needs. Provide a place to worship and practice the religion. With the help of community- arrange, support and encourage activities that fulfill religious, cultural, linguistic and spiritual needs of current and future generation, and promote India’s rich heritage.