hinduism in pittsburgh. 237
bol, not an image, nor a conduit to the supreme, but wholly, completely there.
Thus he is totally present in Tiru Venkatam, India, and this is important; but even
more important, this lord is now perceived as abiding in a local shrine at Penn
Hills. The devotees in Pittsburgh, like the alvars who celebrated it, see the lord as
being physically close to them, sanctifying the land they live in. Just as the earlier
poet Auvanyar wanted it, they now live in a town with a temple, a temple on a hill,
just as it is in Tiru Venkatam. Tiru Venkatam is hailed in literature as a piece of
heaven on earth,^10 and the temple at Penn Hills, a piece of Tiru Venkatam in
America.
The concept of sacred land is not just abstract for the devotees of the American tem-
ple. They see the terrain where the lord dwells in Penn Hills as being physically very
similar to the Tiru Venkatam hills. One of the earliest brochures of the community says:
It is a beautiful wooded area located on a hill and offers a panoramic view of the
surroundings. According to numerous visitors, the hill with lofty trees is remi-
niscent of Tirumala. A small stream flows along the path leading to the temple
site.^11The Tiru Venkatam temple in India is reached after crossing seven hills; and the
words “seven hills” are associated only with that particular temple. The Penn Hills
temple calls its official bulletin Saptagin Vani,“The Voice of the Seven Hills.”
While the American temple is not located on seven hills, it is constructed on one ver-
dant hill, and this similarity is close enough for the devotee.
In fact, it is not just Penn Hills, but the greater Pittsburgh area that seems to be
geographically similar to the sacred land of India. The excitement of the Penn Hills
temple bhakta,drawing upon puranic lore and recalling the importance of Prayag
(the sacred place in India where the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and the underground
Sarasvati meet), and also the deity Sangamesvara (“the lord of the meeting rivers”)
in Karnataka, is seen in this statement issued in 1986:
Pittsburgh, endowed with hills and a multitude of trees as well as the confluence
of the three rivers, namely, the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the subterranean
river (brought up via the 60-foot-high fountain at downtown) to form the Ohio
river is indeed a perfect choice for building the first and most authentic temple to
house Lord Venkateswara. The evergrowing crowds that have been coming to the
city with the thriveni Sangama of the three rivers to worship at the Temple with
the three vimanas reassure our belief that the venerable Gods chose this place and
the emerald green hillock to reside in.^12