Shrine Room

The Emory Interfaith Center Shrine Room contains four Dharmic shrines that were designed by Emory chaplains and students working together, donated by faculty, alumni, families, and friends, and hand-carved in Gujarat, India and shipped 8,000 miles to Emory. The Hindu Shine bears images of the sacred syllable Om in many of the alphabets of South Asia, and an image of the Hindu goddess of knowledge and music, Saraswati. The Buddhist Shrine contains an image of Buddha made in Sri Lanka, and the shrine bears many traditional Buddhist carvings, including the Earth goddess. The Jain Shine bears an image of the first Jain teacher Adinath Bhagwan and Jain symbols of nonviolence. And the Sikh Cabinet holds portraits of two Sikh Gurus as well as instruments used in kirtan.

The shrines are a destination for worship, prayer, meditation, and devotion that can be used by the campus community throughout the day and on holidays, and also moved to larger rooms for communal prayers and celebrations. They are also available as teaching aids for classes and have become a pilgrimage site for visitors to campus.