Arumugam Paskaran is a Hindu priest in the Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple in Hamm-Uentrop. Consecrated on 7 July 2002, the Kamadchi Ampal Temple is one of the largest Dravidian temples in Europe, with a congregation of 3,000 Hindus from the surrounding region. The temple was founded on the initiative of Arumugam Paskaran, who came to Germany in 1989 in the wake of the civil war in Sri Lanka. After using private spaces at first for various ceremonies, the steadily growing Hindu congregation moved from building to building, until construction work on the new temple was begun in the year 2000. Today, the Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple is not just a meeting point for many of the Hindus living in Germany. It is also a symbol of how that which is different and occasionally foreign can be integrated into one’s own culture.
In his lecture, Arumugam Paskaran will speak about the ties that exist between the temple, the Hindu congregation, and the surrounding, mostly Christian community. Using a variety of examples, he will describe the everyday interactions between the two cultures and how they both enrich one another.