Hindu Temple of Atlanta (HTA)

In the late70's a small group of like minded people pondered about having a temple in atlanta. Drs.S.P. Reddy, B.K. Mohan, Shailendra and Hari Upadhyaya met on a few occassions and felt that there should a temple in Atlanta. In 1982 (on new year's eve) during post dinner chat at Dr. Vanapalli's house several members heard each others' views. Drs. Vanapalli, S.I. Naidu, I.J. Reddy and S.K. Naidu agreed to join in the effort. A quiet campaign commenced and Drs. Aruna Prasad, Raghava Reddy, Dronavalli, Mani, Kulkarni, Palghat Mohan and Kuppuswamy were on board. After initial deliberations and after visiting Nashville temple which was then located in a small house, a decision was made to proceed with the project. We thoght we each can contribute $10,000 and we can acomplish this goal, happily pray and provide a place of worship for our community and our children. Naivity? You bet. We searched for land and looked at five different pieces of land. Decided on current property because of its elevation and proximity to highways and biways. Fifteen of us bought the land from Mrs Jewel P. Quinn for the temple. The land was zoned for temple, thanks to philanthropic minded chairman honorable Charles Griswell and his excellent team of county commissioners. Then we realized that the funds we thought were adequate, were only spent on buying the land itself. Dr.S.P. Reddy, Dr. Vanapalli and others actively worked on raising funds. The enthusiasm in the community and generous donations made us forge ahead with the project. The Hindu Temple of Atlanta was incorporated on October 19th 1984 Very early in the project Sri Sampatkumar bhattar and temple architect Padmasri Muthiah stapathi were consulted and the planing for the temple has begun.