Week 277: Do Hindus do Langar?, Triggering Hinduphobes, Aesthetic
04/06/2025 - Modern Hindu Content
Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: Hindu notions of serving and feeding people, Triggering Hinduphobes, and an aesthetic!
Comparative Religion: Do Hindus do Langar?
Relationships between diaspora Sikhs and Hindus have gone down the toilet in recent years, and Sikhs and Sikh groups have been at the forefront of promoting Hinduphobia, whether through physical attacks on Hindu temples, attacks on Hindus in public places, promoting conspiracy theories about “transnational repression”, advocating for caste bills meant to throw a spectre on Hindu Americans, opposing the rescue of beleaguered Hindu minorities, promoting Hinduphobic slurs, allying with folks harassing the Hindu community, slandering Hindu politicians, and threatening the Hindu community, amongst other things.
One thing Sikhs will claim with a straight face is that Hindus have no concept of clarity, contrasting it with the Sikh concept of langar (a concept that itself bears the influence of Sufis and Hindu temples) - a free meal provided at gurudwaras to anyone who attends. However, the Hindu notion of annadanam (offering of food) is alive and well across Hindu temples. Below is the ever-knowedgeable Angirasasreshtha directly refuting a Sikh attacking Hinduism on this dimension with a reference to the Shiva Mahapurana (one of Hinduism’s 18 purana texts).
Another commenter cites the Rig Veda itself.
and another commenter notes that a Jatt Sikh academic himself concedes that the notion of langar bears heavy influence of Nath Yogis (the sampradaya that Yogi Naraharinath featured in Week 276 belonged to)
Hindu Post article on annadanam: https://hindupost.in/dharma-religion/annadaan-hindu-tradition-of-feeding/ - in here they note 10 large temples with famous annadanam, which are reproduced below. Annadanam is commonplace amongst Hindu temples across India.
Shegaon Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Temple Trust, Maharashtra: around 25,000 to 30,000 devotees are fed Mahaprasad at Shegaon alone.
Puri Jagannath Mandir, Odisha: The kitchen feeds 25,000 devotees on a normal day and up to a lakh on festive days. Devi Mahalaxmi Herself is believed to cook in the kitchen.
Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Jammu: The board serves meals to lakhs of pilgrims who trek to the Shrine. Bhandaras are held at checkpoints set up on the way to the Mandir.
Udupi Dharmasthala Manjunath Mandir, Karnataka: At a time, 2500 devotees are served food in the dining hall. More than 10,000 devotees are fed daily.
Tirumala Tirupati Mandir, Andhra Pradesh: the famous Bhagwan Balaji Mandir feeds thousands if not lakhs of devotees every day through its free Annadaan seva.
Vaikom Mahadeva Kshetram, Kerala: The Mandir not only does Annadaan seva daily but also calls out thrice at night before closing the temple to see if any person is hungry and needs to be fed.
Kukke Subramanya Mandir, Karnataka: The Subramanya Mandir in Karnataka feeds thousands of devotees daily.
Kashi Annapurna Mandir, Uttar Pradesh: The Kashi Annapurna Annakshetra Trust runs free Annadaan for devotees.
Shirdi Sai Sansthan, Maharashtra: The Sansthan provides meals to more than 40,000 devotees every day.
Panchkula Mata Mansa Devi Mandir, Haryana: The mandir has a dedicated hall to serve meals to the devotees every day.
Meme Highlight: Triggering Hinduphobes
Aesthetic: Borneo Hindu Temple
Pura Jagat Hita Karana in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Timur
