Hindu Temple of Atlanta Temple

In the late70’s a small group of like minded people pondered about having a temple in atlanta. Drs.S.P. Reddy, B.K. Mohan, Shailendra and Hari Upadhyaya met on a few occassions and felt that there should a temple in Atlanta. In 1982 (on new year’s eve) during post dinner chat at Dr. Vanapalli’s house several members heard each others views. Drs. Vanapalli, S.I. Naidu, I.J. Reddy and S.K. Naidu agreed to join in the effort. A quiet campaign commenced and Drs. Aruna Prasad, Raghava Reddy, Dronavalli, Mani, Kulkarni, Palghat Mohan and Kuppuswamy were on board.

After initial deliberations and after visiting Nashville temple which was then located in a small house, a decision was made to proceed with the project. They thought they each can contribute $10,000 and they can accomplish this goal, happily pray and provide a place of worship for our community and our children. Nativity? You bet. They searched for land and looked at five different pieces of land. Decided on current property because of its elevation and proximity to highways and biways. Fifteen of us bought the land from Mrs Jewel P. Quinn for the temple. The land was zoned for temple, thanks to philanthropic minded chairman honorable Charles Griswell and his excellent team of county commissioners.

Then they realized that the funds they thought were adequate, were only spent on buying the land itself. Dr.S.P. Reddy, Dr. Vanapalli and others actively worked on raising funds. The enthusiasm in the community and generous donations made us forge ahead with the project.

The Hindu temple has two complexes – one complex with Lord Venkateswara as the presiding deity and the other with Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. In addition to the presiding deity, both complexes have shrines for other deities. The architectural style is a typical south Indian architecture.