Diwali in Hamm, Germany

On the 17th of October, Hindus worldwide celebrated the Diwali, which commemorates the victory of good over evil, when Lord Rama defeated Ravana and rescued his wife Sita from his custody. For this celebration, many European Hindus flocked to the Sri Kamadchi Ampal temple in Hamm, Germany. The group of Hindu believers began meeting in 1989 in a basement, and eventually moved up to a former bowling alley in the west of the city. Through growth of the group of believers, it was decided to build a great temple in May 1999 and the finished temple, garnished with shrines including more that 250 characters, was inaugurated in 2002. The Sri Kamadchi Ampal temple is currently the largest Tamil Temple in Europe and its history is closely connected with the migration of tens of thousands of Tamils who fled from Sri Lanka. In Germany, there are currently about 60,000 Sri Lankan Tamils and about 45,000 of them are Hindus.

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