CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The south Texas Hindu community started as a handful of families back in the 1970’s and has grown to over 500 families in the Coastal Bend.
Bhakti Sooda, president of the South Texas Hindu Society says, “it’s wonderful to see our community grow, and not just grow, but grow in to prominence and be supportive towards each other and the city of Corpus Christi too.”
Today the Corpus Christi city council honored the Hindu community by proclaiming October 15 through November 15 to be Hindu Heritage Month. This is the first time the celebratory month will be officially recognized by the city council.
“We're very proud here at the city of Corpus Christi to celebrate diversity and this month is about the Hindu heritage,” said Mayor Paulette Guajardo at the council meeting.
Sooda says this month was chosen because October and November are significant for the Hindu religion. During these months they celebrate the festival of lights, their biggest festival every year.
The Corpus Christi Hindu community says this is an exciting first step to become a bigger part of the Coastal Bend community.
“I would like our community to be a little more involved with the overall community and this helps bring us to the spotlight for other people to learn about us and for us to be a part of the community,” says Sooda.
The south Texas Hindu community has two temples in the Corpus Christi area. There is the Sri Venkateswara Temple on Mckinzie Road and BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir on Lantana Road. They say anyone is welcome to visit and learn more about their religion.
