Solving a given problem, she explains, requires propitiating the right planet with the right ritual at the right temple. Hinduism’s emphasis on astrology helps explain why many people gladly resort to this suboptimal system, according to Vasudha Narayanan, a religion professor at the University of Florida. The convenience offered by sites like ePuja and Shubhpuja may be their biggest selling point, but it also risks making a ritual feel less meaningful: What’s a devotional experience without some effort, inconvenience, and, well, devotion? Kumar acknowledges that an in-person temple visit is better but says, “We are the second-best way.” Although he’s surprised to see an “unbelievable number” of non-Hindus arranging pujas-he estimates that they account for 20 percent of his business-he doesn’t find their use of the service offensive. Once, however, a customer in Brazil asked for a puja that would guarantee a speedy divorce Kumar suspects he wasn’t Hindu.
The company has since facilitated about 50,000 pujas for customers in 65 countries, according to Kumar, who says one of the most common requests is for help securing a marriage. ‘Where is this internet? Can I touch it, feel it?’ ” But once they grasped it, most priests were willing to perform pujas for anyone who wanted them. Explaining the concept was a challenge, he says: “They don’t understand what the internet is. Shubhpuja even allows customers to Skype into rituals as they’re being performed.ĮPuja’s network now includes 3,600 temples, according to the company’s founder, Shiva Kumar, who spent four years driving around India persuading priests to partner with him. Just select a puja and temple, pay a fee, and the company gets a priest to perform the ritual. Another such company, Shubhpuja, has marketed itself as a way to “connect to God in one click.” The offer appeals to Hindus-both in India and abroad-who don’t have the time, money, or physical ability to travel to the temple with the best reputation for resolving their particular problem. In recent years, tens of thousands of Indians have turned to ePuja and other prayer-by-proxy companies, whose smartphone apps and websites make summoning a godly intercession as easy as ordering a pizza. So I started doing this on a regular basis.” For about $15, the start-up would have a puja, a Hindu devotional-prayer ritual, performed on his behalf at one of its many in-network temples.Ī few clicks later, Ganne had arranged for a ritual at his favorite temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and located in Tamil Nadu. His search results led him to the website of a new company called ePuja. H ow can I get a divine intervention for my career? That’s the question Ravi Ganne, a young investment banker in Bangalore, typed into Google seven years ago.
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