Prayers ring out in Kamala Harris’s ancestral village

Typically a day of intense hand-wringing for many U.S. citizens, Tuesday’s presidential election is also an event followed by those around the world. As Americans flock to the polls to have their votes counted amidst one of the most polarizing elections in the country’s history and a global health pandemic, in India prayers can be heard for the Democratic vice presidential candidate’s success.

Kamala Harris, who is both Black and South Asian, has spoken on numerous occasions about the influence her Indian heritage has had on guiding her values. Her grandfather P.V. Gopalan was a civil servant who served both in India and abroad and inspired her with his stories about fighting for the rights of Indians to secure their independence and freedom from British rule. 

Gopalan was born in Thulasendrapuram more than 100 years ago, a small village located an eight-hour drive away from the southern Indian city of Chennai — now a place where residents are rooting for the Democratic Party’s victory. 

The residents of Thulasendrapuram came together to perform a special ceremony at the village’s main temple in hopes of bestowing Harris with good luck for today’s presidential election. Harris’s aunt Sarala Gopalan recently explained the family’s connection to the village to Indian television media company NDTV, saying, “The Thulasendrapuram temple God is my father’s family deity. Whenever there is a marriage in the family or a special occasion, we visit the temple.”

An inscription on the temple even has Harris’s name engraved besides those of many other donors, acknowledging her financial contributions in 2014.

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It was here that residents living in and around the village gathered for special prayers, one local politician conducting an “abhishekam,” a religious practice that involves pouring milk over a Hindu idol while verses are recited.

R. R. Kalidas Vandayar, a businessman and the head of a cricket association in the nearest town, told the New York Times that he plans to offer food to more than 150 people to seek their blessings for Harris. 

Meanwhile, a group called Hindu Sena (or Hindu Army), which claims to have the support of 5 million Hindus, says it hopes President Trump will be elected for a second term in hopes that he will keep India’s main rivals, Pakistan and China, in check.

“India can fight terrorism only if Trump is around, and both China and Pakistan will stay restrained as long as he is the president,” the group’s founder, Vishnu Gupta, told Reuters. “We wish Harris well because of her Indian ancestry, but vice presidents are not as powerful.”

Regardless of her direct political power, should Harris take home a win during today’s presidential election, the vice presidential candidate has already made history when she was chosen as Biden’s running mate. Harris is the first Black woman to run on a major political party’s presidential ticket, and if elected, she would also be the nation’s first female vice president, as well as the first Black and first Asian American vice president.