Yet another Hindu temple has been vandalised in the United States with graffiti, this one in the lake Highlands suburb of Dallas, Texas. The walls and door of the North Texas Hindu Mandir were found spray-painted with hateful signs and symbols of devil worship.
CBS11 television network reported that the number ‘666’ and an upside down cross were found spray-painted on the temple door. “That was a big shock, really,” it quoted Krishna Singh, a temple board member, as saying.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Karen Snorton, treasurer of the small temple that came up in 2002. Both Hindu worshippers and non-Hindus living in the neighbourhood found the desecration appalling, and have offered to join hands and help clean the defaced property.
Dallas police are investigating the incident. Vandals also posted the MS-13 sign on a temple shed, representing the Mara Salvatrucha transnational criminal gang. “Either they’re linked to the gang or maybe just a bunch of teenagers wanting to be a part of the gang,” said Snorton.
Temple authorities said they plan to build a fence, improve lighting and install surveillance cameras. “To me, it’s really horrifying because I don’t know who would do this to a church,” said nine-year-old Gracie Reed.
“The sentiment of the neighborhood is that we all find it appalling,” said Ted Hoffman, who lives across the street, telling CBS that neighbours have offered to help with the cleaning operation.
The temple, serving the Hindu population in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, also supports community charities like food banks for the poor and an organisation that helps victims of child abuse.
It is the third incident of vandalism at US Hindu temples in recent months. Two temples were vandalised in Washington State in north-west US in February. Miscreants had spray-painted ‘swastika’ and “Get Out” on one of the walls of the Bothell Hindu Temple in the Seattle Metropolitan area.
There have been similar incidents last year. A Shiva statue had been desecrated with black paint at the Vishwa Bhavan Hindu Mandir in Monroe, Georgia last August. The local sheriff’s office arrested two people in connection with the attack.
In Virginia’s loudon county, police have documented 17 separate incidents of anti-Hindu vandalism between July and October last year, according to Hindu American Foundation.