“Can you hear it?” Sarah Cohen whispers upstairs in the Paradesi Synagogue during Jewish prayers. Something is happening next door at the Hindu temple.”
Indeed, the strange liturgy fusion between this congregation and the one neighboring is difficult to overlook.
“We often hear their music and prayers,” she says, a Star of David pendant dangling from her sari. “They can also hear us.”
The Paradesi synagogue was built here 400 years ago, following a royal mandate that it be built next to an ancient Hindu temple. Although the arrangement may appear strange to Westerners, it is a way of life for Indians.