Welcome to Richmond Hill (Canada) Hindu Temple's web site!

    The Hindu Temple Society of Canada welcomes you to the Cyber-abode of Richmond Hill Hindu Temple, near Toronto, Canada, the biggest of its kind in North America! This is where would you see such an ensemble of Hindu Deities, attended to by highly dedicated and qualified priests in a very traditional way, much akin to some of the famous temples in South India / Sri Lanka. Our objective is to provide you with basic and up-to-date information necessary to help you plan your next visit to the temple, whether from within Canada or abroad. This effort should be construed as a work in progress and so kindly let us have your feedback, so that we could do the utmost to improve. Kindly do send us your feedback and suggestions.

   We are delighted to inform you that as of December of 2003, we have started a Tamil section , as an ancillary to our main web site, for those who wish to view the pages in Tamil. This section is in its infancy, and currently is amalgamated with the English section. The aim is to ultimately separate the Tamil section into an independent web site. The Tamil section uses Dynamic Tamil fonts, which means there is no need for you to download and install additional language fonts. Also, we use state-of-the-art UNICODE encoding and hence the pages are searchable using keywords by search engines such as Google. We hope you enjoy our new addition.

    The Calendar as well as Newsletters section of this site require Acrobat Reader  which is available for free - please see Help section for downloading these. Many of the photographs and videos require a screen resolution of atleast 1024 X 768 Pixels.

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Monday, 13^th Feb 2012
Tamil month of Masi begins

Friday, 17^th Feb 2012
Ekādasi Vratham

Saturday, 18^th Feb 2012
Sri Venkateswarā Abhishékam, Pujā - 10:30 AM

Sunday, 19^th Feb 2012
Mahā Sivarāthri
Please see below for full details
Pradhosham - Sri Sivān, Sri Nandhikéswarar Abhishékam, Pujā - 6:15 PM

Mahā Sivarāthri on Sunday, February 19, 2012

Of the many Vrathās (Religious Observances) observed for Lord Siva, Mahā Sivarāthri is considered the supreme. There are five Sivarāthri observances – Nithya Sivarāthri, Paksha Sivarāthri, Mādha Sivarāthri, Yoga Sivarāthri and Mahā Sivarāthri. It is celebrated in the Tamil month of Māsi (Feb-Mar) with great enthusiasm and fervor every year. Of the 64 Forms of Lord Sivā, one Form is Lingodhbhavā. At the end of Pralayā (dissolution of the universe), Brahmā and Vishnu had an argument as to who was created first at the beginning of the universe. This argument slowly was about to erupt into a ‘war’ when a huge Linga appeared in the form of a Jyothi and a voice was heard which said that the one to find first the feet and the uppermost part of the Lingam was the one created first. Brahma and Vishnu, in spite of great effort, could not accomplish this task, so accepted their failure and surrendered to Lord Sivā. Lord Sivā then explained that Brahmā has been bestowed the responsibility of creating all the living beings and Vishnu sustains and nourishes them and that both are contained within Himself. He then blessed them saying that if one worships Him in the Linga Form on a Sivarāthri day, fasting and awake throughout the night chanting and singing His praise, would free the person from sorrow and obtain good health, wealth and happiness. 

Our temple plans to celebrate this extraordinary event in a grand manner on Sunday, Feb 19, 2012. A special Rudra Homam and Rudra Abhishekam will be held at 9:30 AM for Sri Chandramouleeswarar and Sri Thripurasundari. Additionally, between 8:30 PM and 5:00 AM (Wed/Thu), in four sessions (called 'Jāmam'), there will be Rudra Abhishekams, Navakalasa Abhishekam, Archanas, Puja, Vedic chanting, Bhajans and cultural events performed throughout the night. The Uttsava Moorthy will be taken around the temple in a procession as well. The schedule of events is detailed below. Those wishing to sponsor or participate in any of the events are requested to contact the temple office for further details. All are cordially invited to be present and participate in all the events on this special occasion and attain the blessings of Sri Chandramouleeswarar and Sri Thripurasundari.

Temple President's Column

     Let me at the outset wish you all a Happy New Year and Happy Pongal. I have previously advised you of the Board's plans for construction of two Rajagopurams and other related work. I am pleased advise that the Board has approved the Capital Budget, the Purchase Order for a major contract with a Vendor who has previously supplied us the two GRC Vimanams for Murugan and Perumal. In addition, we will be hiring silpis to assist our Shanmugam for painting of all the vimanams, reconstruction of vasanthamandapam, Ezthuntharuli mandapam and repairs/embellishments/improvements to Sivan, Navagraha and Ramar vimanams and sannadhis. You will have noticed that we have begun the construction of a new entrance to basement of the temple.The other construction work will start from January and will be done section by section minimizing inconvenience to the devotees.

The Board has approved the celebration of two Kumbabishekams - one for the Saivite deities and the Rajagopurams on June 29, 2012 and the other for the Vaishnavite deitis and Rajagopuram on October 24, 2012. Further details are being communicated by separate mail. The schedules have been approved Sivachariars and Bhattachariars and are fixed in such a way that our regular annual festivals for Ganesha, Murugan and Perumal can be conducted without any change or interruption.

In addition, the Board has approved the purchase of land on the est side of the temple. I am sure you will agree these are ambitious plans and we request your continued support and contributions.

We will keep you informed of developments from time to time. Thank you.

R.K. Moorthy, President, The Hindu Temple Society of Canada

Temple Monthly Calendar

Please click here to download Temple Calendar for the month of  February 2012 in Tamil.  The file is in PDF format.

Please click here to download Temple Calendar for the month of  February 2012
in English. The file is in PDF format.

Note: Please note that the Videos & Photos Album requires that you have Adobe Flash Plugin Version 9 or higher to view.

• Ganapathi Homam & 108-Conch Abhishékam - Nov 20, 2011
• 9th Annual Azhwars Uthsavam - Videos - Sep 09-11, 2011
• Sri Venkateswarā Annual 10-day Brahmothsavam - Videos - Aug 14, 2011
• Murugan 108 Kalasābhishékam and Moola Manthra Trisathi Homam - Videos - Jul 24, 2011
• Garuda Seva - Videos - July 09, 2011
• Sri Murugan Mahothsavam - Flag Hoisting - Video - June 23, 2011

• Video & Photo Archives of 2010
• Photo Archives of 2009