A Hindu Goddess Arrives To Bless Embassy Row

by NPR WorkforceJune 30, 2013 7:20 AMFocus TO THE Be economical with the truthWeekend Make Sunday2 min 38 secPlaylistDownloadTranscriptThe goddess Saraswati now looks down upon Diplomatic Row in Washington, D.C.Sarah Ventre/NPRDiplomatic Row - or else household as Massachusetts Possibility - in Washington, D.C., is ornamented with flags of every nation, flying in veneer of great group buildings.In veneer of the embassies, offering are repeatedly statues of federation heroes. Winston Churchill graces the good sense of the British Diplomatic. Apart the Indian Diplomatic, Mahatma Gandhi looks as even though he's in full stage, clad in loincloth and sandals.And now, there's a Hindu goddess. Saraswati moral at home. She stands in a garden in veneer of Indonesia's group, baking white and gold, with her four arms upraised.Indonesian Ambassador Dino Patti Djalal says the hallucinate was to stand out from the other embassies."I think about this is tart what we looked-for to do with Massachusetts Possibility," he says, "add whatever thing that would salsa it up."Saraswati is the goddess of learning and wisdom, Djalal says. At her feet are three children studying. It was crafted by three Balinese sculptors in three weeks.Her dub is innocent. "This would be the self-same dub that you would see in Hindu goddesses more or less Bali," Djalal says. "A swathe of organized... blessing colonize who are seeing her."Whereas Indonesia is home to the biggest family of Muslims in the world, Djalal chose a symbol of the Hindu religion for the group in Washington."One of the greatest extent huge, if not the greatest extent huge, islands in Indonesia is Bali," he says. "And Bali is a Hindu enclave in Muslim-majority Indonesia. And I think about it says a lot about our idolization for self-righteous make available that the statue in veneer of the municipal with the biggest Muslim family is a Hindu statue."Set off.