December 23, 2025
We had scheduled a tour called "Food and Faith." We had done the food part (see previous post), and so now it was time for the faith part.
We began with this typical street scene:
Except it wasn't typical, at least not in India:
Established in 1814, the Central Baptist Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in Delhi. It is located on a VERY busy road in the Chandni Chowk market area where we had just eaten a lot of delicious food.
It is a pretty building with a colonnaded porch with arched openings.
The interior was smaller than it appeared from the outside and, without the Christmas decor, fairly plain.
Our next stop was a Sikh Temple just down the street--the Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib. On the outside wall is this memorial dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Sikh's ninth (out of ten) guru, who refused to convert to Islam and was beheaded near here on the orders of the Mughal emperor of the day on November 11, 1675. The building itself was constructed in 1783.
Because of the heavy traffic and the crowds, it was difficult to get a photo of the building. These two photos are the best I could do. On the left is the main temple, and on the right is Langar Hall, an extension of the main temple used for charitable purposes.
We had to take off our shoes and cover our heads:
We walked around the main worship room, where I don't think we were allowed to take photos (at least I didn't take any). There was some kind of service going on with a cacophony of singing and drums and high-pitched instruments, and we were allowed to walk around the perimeter of the room behind some ropes that kept us from wandering through the congregants. I pulled these images off the internet, but this is what it looked like when we were there too:
Then our guide took us outside to walk to another building named Langar Hall that was still within the complex. It was there that we discovered what Sikhism is all about. This poster was helpful . . .
Langar Hall is a giant restaurant, but not the kind of restaurant I've ever seen before. Here, volunteers work to make massive quantities of simple food. This group of women were rolling out balls of dough to make roti, the traditional Indian flatbread.
Bags of ingredients were piled all over the place.
This woman was sitting cross-legged on what looked like a coffee table peeling garlic.
After it is cooked, the food is served to tidy rows of people sitting on the floor in a large hall. Volunteers walk up and down the rows with big pots of vegetables, rice, and daal that they ladle onto the metal plates of the diners. Who can be served a meal here? ANYONE. There is no income requirement, no proof of need, no religious test. And they do this for about 8,000 people a day.
We noticed this large group sitting on the outside porch listening to someone speak. They don't look like a tour group, nor do they look like the people being fed inside. Maybe a pilgrimage of some sort? Or perhaps workers being trained for the next shift?
Next up was the Shri Gauri Shankar Mandir, a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva that is believed to be 800 years old. The legend is that a soldier who was severely injured in battle and near death prayed to Lord Shiva for help and promised to build a beautiful temple if he survived. Against all odds, he did survive, and he kept his promise.
After again removing our shoes, we entered the center hall.
Around the perimeter and down some hallways are statues of the Hindu gods, including Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati. Each alcove includes what is either a priest or a guard sitting on a platform in front of the display.
It makes getting a good photo challenging.
Almost all the Gods are adorned with yellow, orange, white, or red floral garlands.
As noted earlier, each cubicle had a guard. The one on the right below has his hand on the visitor's head and appears to be giving him a blessing.
Could this purple-skinned god be Vishnu? I have to remind myself that what is bizarre to me is normal, even holy, to someone else.
I don't know what this marble box is for, but it is one of the few finely-crafted items in the building. The intricate carvings are beautiful.
This reminds me so much of the little prayer candles in Catholic churches.
Again, it was difficult to get a good photo of the exterior.
Our final stop was at the sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, a Jain temple constructed in 1656.
Jainism shares some similarities with Hinduism, but is much older. It is, in fact, one of the oldest religions still practiced today. Jains believe the universe is eternal and so do not believe in a creator god. Like the Hindus, they believe in a cycle of rebirth, but they strive to detach the soul from the cycle by reducing their attachment to worldly things. Jains are extreme believers in the sanctity of life and try not to cause harm to any living thing (including mosquitos). While there are 966 million Hindus in the world, there are only 4.5 million Jains, and while about 80% of Indians are Hindus, only .4% are Jains.
We were permitted to go inside the temple (without shoes, of course), but no photography was allowed so I only have outside shots. I love this fountain with its carvings of many different animals.
Back in the van with our driver and guide, we headed towards our hotel for lunch.
The temple includes a famous bird hospital located behind the main building that was founded in 1930. It treats about 15,000 birds a year
A sweet, quiet dog was napping in the area where we took off our shoes and put them on again.
In defense of India, I expected to see lots of horrible bugs and rodents. This was the only one I saw.
I did enjoy seeing the small little temples of various religious faiths. The Methodist church was not too exciting, but it was very "unusual" for where we were.
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