Hindu Temple of Santiago
Santiago, Chile
- Deities
- Hindu deities (unspecified in available sources)
- Traditions
- other
- Worship status
- active
- Darshan hours
- Not documented in available sources; consult the local Hindu community/temple management for current timings before visiting.
- Best time to visit
- Year-round; Santiago has a Mediterranean/semi-arid climate, so spring (September-November) and autumn (March-May) offer milder temperatures than the hot, smoggy summer months.
- How to reach
- In Santiago, Chile's capital and largest city, home to the country's largest Hindu community; reachable via Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport and the city's metro/bus network.
Location
Search for "Hindu Temple of Santiago" on Google MapsThis temple's exact coordinates aren't confirmed yet, so the link above searches by name and city rather than pointing to a verified spot.
Santiago, Chile’s capital, is home to the country’s largest Hindu community — an estimated 2,372 of Chile’s roughly 4,530 Hindus as of a 2024 count, the great majority of Sindhi descent. Migration of Indian-origin families to Chile began in small numbers in the 1920s and grew substantially from the 1970s onward, drawing arrivals not only from India but from other parts of the Sindhi diaspora as far afield as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
A Hindu Temple of Santiago serves this community, led by a Brahmin priest named Mahraj Ravi Kewlani. Its existence and active status come to light through an unrelated source: the Wikipedia biography of Paula Narváez, a prominent Chilean politician and diplomat (Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, former Minister Secretary General of Government), which notes she regularly worships there. No dedicated source describing the temple’s founding, architecture, or presiding deity could be located this pass; those details should be treated as unconfirmed pending further documentation.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked the English and Spanish Wikipedia articles on Chilean politician Paula Narváez (Permanent Representative of Chile to the UN, former Minister Secretary General of Government), both of which state in near-identical language that she 'regularly attends the Hindu Temple of Santiago, directed by the Brahmin priest Mahraj Ravi Kewlani' ('Asiste regularmente al Templo Hindú de Santiago, dirigido por el sacerdote brahmán Mahraj Ravi Kewlani'). Also cross-checked Wikipedia's 'Hinduism in Chile' article, which independently confirms Santiago holds Chile's largest Hindu population (roughly 2,372 of the national 4,530 as of a 2024 count, predominantly of Sindhi origin, with migration beginning in the 1920s and expanding from the 1970s) but does not itself name this or any other Santiago temple.
For review
- The temple's name and its officiating priest (Mahraj Ravi Kewlani) are documented only as an incidental biographical detail in Wikipedia's article on a Chilean public figure who worships there, not in any dedicated article about the temple or about Hinduism in Chile; no founding date, address, presiding deity, or architectural/institutional history could be located this pass.