Chaplain to break ground

RENO -- A Northern Nevada chaplain plans to travel to Washington D.C. next month to give what is believed to be the first Hindu prayer ever read at the U.S. Senate since it was formed in 1789.

Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain in Reno, applied to the Senate chaplain's office earlier this year for permission to give the morning prayer that opens Senate business each day. He received word this week that he has been approved for the job July 12.

"It is an honor for me and for Nevada and for Hindus everywhere," Zed said.

Betty Koed, assistant Senate historian, said she researched the matter and has been unable to "come up with anything to suggest there's been another Hindu prayer."

"We can't say definitively, but we think that it's the first time," she said from Washington.

Koed said the Senate has kept track of the first prayers given by certain groups of people, including the first woman and first black. But she said there have been thousands of prayers given over the years, and the chaplain's office has not recorded all of them.

The Senate chaplain usually gives the prayer, but guests often step in to do the job.

Zed, spokesman for the India Association of Northern Nevada, decided to inquire about the possibility of giving the prayer after he became the first to read a Hindu prayer to the Nevada State Assembly on March 19 and then the Nevada Senate on May 7.

Zed, who also teaches classes at Truckee Meadows Community College on Hinduism and Hindu gods and goddesses, said he probably will include references to ancient Hindu scriptures, including Rig Veda, Upanishards and Bhagavard-Gita.

"July 12, 2007, will be an illustrious day for all Americans and a memorable day for us when opening prayers from ancient Hindu scriptures will be read in the great hall of democracy," he said.