| Healing Stone – Shiva Lingam at Wahiawa Dipankar Sengupta Honolulu April, 2022 It was a Sunday morning, about 11:00am, in the summer of 1989 in Wahiawa, a plantation town about thirty miles away from downtown Honolulu. A cool breeze was blowing from the Wahiawa lake. A HVB (Hawaii Visitors Bureau) marker for the Healing Stone was displayed next to the street. A handful of young Indians were busy putting up a 16 by 20 feet tent, meant for sheltering against rain and sun. A puja for Lord Shiva would be starting soon. Devotees had started arriving, most of them families with small children. Three men clad in dhoti, with bibhuti on their forehead, were awaiting the arrival of the chief priest. Dr. Ramanath Sharma, the chief priest, was a professor of Sanskrit at the University. The three men who would assist him in performing the puja were Dr. Ramanathan, Dr. Shankaran – both professors at the University and Mr. Srinivasan, a graduate student. The tent was erected in front of a concrete sanctum surrounding three lava stones. The middle one, approximately 5 feet tall and shaped like a surfboard and partly buried in the ground, was known locally as the Healing Stone. For those people gathered together on that Sunday morning, it was also the lingam symbolizing Lord Shiva. The three men discovered and identified the Stone as a Shiva lingam when they chanced to visit Wahiawa sometime in 1988. They were impressed by the stone’s similarity with Shiva lingam. They invited Subramuniya Swami of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery to visit the site. From the various marks prescribed in Hindu scriptures for recognizing a lingam, the Swami authenticated the Stone and recommended its puja. Word soon spread around the Indian community in Hawai’i. *** The Healing Stone had its own history in the context of Wahiawa. It had originally been lying on the riverbed of the Wahiawa stream flowing nearby. The long basaltic stone had probably become dislodged from the hills running alongside, and was carried by the stream until it came to rest along the bank. Not far from there was a cane field surrounding a cluster of shade trees known as the Kukaniloko birthstone site: a sacred site where the children of Hawaiian chiefs of the highest ranks were delivered ceremonially. George Galbraith, an early settler and a landowner in the 1890s lived in Whitmore village near Wahiawa. It was believed that one night the stone came to him in a dream, wanting him to move it somewhere else. Galbraith then had the stone hauled from the river bed and placed among the Kukaniloko birthstones. The Daughters of Hawai’i, representing daughters of Protestant missionaries born in Hawai’i, was founded in 1903 to preserve and protect Hawaiian heritage. In 1925, they rededicated the heiau (Hawaiian Temple) at Kukaniloko and ceremonially placed leis on all the stones. Workers from the nearby pineapple fields began to visit the heiau and reported miracles about the stone. They left offerings in reverence and burnt fires in front of the stone. However, this was concerning to the Daughters of Hawaii and in 1926, they decided to remove the stone from the grounds of the Kukaniloko since it had no connection with the birthstones. The stone was carried in a bullock cart and relocated to an abandoned cemetery with scattered graves and weeds growing on uneven land. The Stone’s location was next to Wahiawa lake near the Ka’ala Elementary school on California Avenue. The Stone remained at that site, where the Indians were gathered in 1989 to worship its enduring powers. *** The chief priest arrived and after sprinkling water around the lingam, he started chanting the mantras for the puja. A group of devotees began singing bhajans. After the puja was over, the assembled devotees gathered in a nearby park for a potluck lunch. Then, they dispersed. *** Because of its unique shape and its location in the graveyard the stone attracted the attention of the people living nearby. Some believed that the stone was inhibited by the Hawaiian Healing God Lono. Nearly all were convinced of its healing power. The healing power of the stone was attributed not so much by the Hawaiians but by many immigrants of other religious faiths from Japan, China, Philippines, Korea, Puerto Rico and much of Europe. People from all parts of the Hawaiian islands flocked around the stone in large numbers. Some rubbed their bodies against the stone, some rubbed oil or powder on it, and others offered food, drinks, candy and money in hopes of a cure. There were special celebrations at night. Food, water bottles, lei stalls, joss stick peddlers, and refreshment booths created a carnival atmosphere around the town. The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran articles highlighting the gatherings. The euphoria went on through the 1930s. Eventually, however, residents complained to the Health Department regarding the refuse left by the worshippers, and their fear of disease from so many people touching the stone. With the outbreak of World War II and the accompanying gas shortage, curfews, and long working hours, the number of visitors to the Healing Stone declined. The site around the stone remained unclaimed until the area was later developed and the graves removed. The THC Financial Corporation, now defunct, bought the land. Mr. Clifford Shin, a real estate broker, represented the corporation. On the tiny parcel of land where the stone stood three Japanese women built a shrine around the stones in October 1947 and chiseled their names on a stone plaque near it. *** Among the three Indian men helping with the puja, Dr. Ramanathan was the most enthusiastic. He wished to continue worshiping the lingam on a regular basis. The congregation of devotees at the site needed an organization to regulate the puja. A meeting was held at the University for all who were interested. Mr.Jerome Wallace, a fine arts painter and Charlie, a person of Hawaiian descent proposed the name LOTUS (Lord of the Universe Society) for the organization. According to Hindu beliefs there is only one supreme being who may be worshiped by any faith in any manner. The naming of the organization suggested the universality of God; the Healing Stone becoming Shiva lingam. The following office bearers were elected at the meeting: Dipankar Sengupta (President), Jerome Wallace (Vice President), S. Ramanathan (Secretary), and G Srinivasan (Treasurer). LOTUS was registered as a non-profit organization. The constitution and bylaws were written, and a lease was signed with Mr. Clifford Shin to use the site. LOTUS decided to perform the puja on the third Sunday of each month on a regular basis. The first major undertaking was to create an environment for all to gather and worship. Ground was leveled and a concrete floor poured. Funds were raised and applications filed with the City and County to build a permanent structure. The City and County rejected the application on the ground that the site lacked minimum Building Standards – size of lot, parking facility etc. LOTUS had to be satisfied with providing temporary shelter like a tent, which could be erected and brought down on the same day. There was no electricity or permanent water supply at the temple site. An agreement was reached with the nearby church to allow for the use of their water. The temple floor and sanctum walls were tiled with marble and the surrounding area landscaped. Ashu and Poonam Sawhney, a young Indian couple, sponsored and helped in importing the marble from India. The same Makrana marble as seen at the Taj Mahal was used. The stated purpose of LOTUS organization as recorded in the Articles of Incorporation of the State of Hawaii is “to promote and enhance the understanding and practice of spiritual, cultural and philosophical ideals through devotional activities and discourses at the historic Healing Stone in Wahiawa.” True to its purpose, the organization hosted spiritual discussions with Dr. Sharma, himself a Paninian scholar. It sponsored artists from India and the mainland U.S. to perform live concerts, followed by vegetarian dinners prepared by the women of LOTUS. In 1997, LOTUS celebrated the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, and hosted the honorable Indian Ambassador and other dignitaries of the State. When Papia Sengupta became President in 2005, she extended the activities of LOTUS. Volunteers helped in cleaning the Ronald McDonald House of Charities; Hindi classes began for children; and, funds were raised to help people affected by natural disasters In Haiti, India, Nepal, and elsewhere. LOTUS also started organizing the two biggest Indian religious-cultural events: Diwali (Festival of Light) and Holi (Festival of Color). The Anniversary day was observed in April of each year to commemorate the inauguration of the puja. In 2000, LOTUS began publishing a newsletter, Samachar. It included feature articles and other submissions including poetry written by members of the community. In 2015, Samip Mallick, the Director of SAADA (South Asian American Digital Archives) proposed digitizing and archiving Samachar on their website for posterity to learn about Indians in Hawai’i, to which LOTUS agreed. The last publication of Samachar was in January, 2011. In 2011, a few men belonging to a Hawaiian group objected to the use of any oily substance on the Healing Stone, as was used in Abhishekam (ritual bathing of the lingam), an integral part of the puja before invoking God. Abhishekam is performed with seven ingredients: water, yogurt, ghee, honey, sugar, coconut water and panchamrita. Each time after placing an ingredient on the lingam it is washed away with water. The group of men observed the procedure and were apparently satisfied. A few months later a few men came to the Healing Stone site one morning with a bulldozer and shovels and removed the Stone. The members of LOTUS realized in shock about what happened; the Stone that they worshiped as Shiva lingam was gone. The group of men did not want to discuss ways to mitigate their concerns and decided that the removal of the Stone was the only solution. After much deliberation, LOTUS decided to procure a Shiva lingam from an agency, which imported stone artifacts from India. The stone sculpture resembling the lingam seen at most Shiva temples in India was ceremonially installed inside the sanctum on August 12, 2012 and the Shiva puja continued as it had for decades before. As it did with the generations before, adversity would always present itself and LOTUS would stay the course of love, peace, harmony, and divinity in return. In November 2019 Dr Balaraman became president of LOTUS. During the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, he oversaw efforts to maintain as much consistency as circumstances would allow. The Sunday puja was conducted by Dr. Dharm Bhawuk, the new priest, and could be viewed via Zoom. Virtual performances were held for the Diwali festival, and monthly email communications began. *** The historic Healing Stone is no longer on California Avenue in Wahiawa, and the HVB marker is long gone. Anyone who visits the site now will see the marble sanctum behind an enclosure and may worship the Shiva lingam inside the sanctum if he or she so desires. |
Editorial Post Script: This historic journey is well represented pictorially on this webpage.
