Sri Lakshmi Temple

Widely credited as New England’s first traditional Hindu temple, Sri Lakshmi Temple began in 1978 when Hindu Indian immigrant families in the Boston area started gathering for worship at a Knights of Columbus hall in Melrose, Massachusetts, under the banner of the newly formed New England Hindu Temple, Inc. (NEHTI). Members pledged $101 apiece toward a permanent home, and twelve acres on Waverly Street in Ashland were purchased in 1981. Groundbreaking followed on June 19, 1984; a first consecration was held in September 1986, and the temple’s grand consecration and opening took place in May 1990, in a ceremony where priests from India, Britain and the United States ritually combined water from the Ganges with water from the Mississippi, Missouri and Colorado rivers. Designed by the Tamil Nadu sthapati Ganapathy Sthapathi according to Vastu Shastra principles, the temple is dedicated primarily to Lakshmi, with shrines to Ganesha, Balaji, Nataraja, Parvati, Subramanya (with consorts Valli and Deivaanai), the Navagrahas, Hanuman, Ayyappa and Garuda. Continued growth in the New England Hindu community drove further expansions in 2005 and 2018, the latter adding roughly 16,000 square feet including a new auditorium, library, commercial kitchen and dining area.