Honoring a Sacred Life

Anjali Devi Patel was born on February 19, 1946, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, to Ramanlal and Savitaben Desai. She grew up in a household steeped in devotion, where the morning began with prayer and the evening ended with stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Anjali absorbed these traditions not as obligations but as gifts, and she spent her life passing them on. She married Mahendra Patel in 1968 in a traditional Gujarati ceremony in Ahmedabad, and the couple immigrated to the United States in 1974, settling in Edison, New Jersey, which would become home to one of the largest Gujarati communities outside India. Anjali embraced her new country while holding tightly to her roots. She learned to navigate American supermarkets while still grinding her own spices. She helped her children with their homework in English while teaching them Sanskrit prayers at bedtime. Anjali was a devoted member of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, where she volunteered in the kitchen, taught children's religious education, and organized the annual Diwali celebration for over twenty years. She was known throughout the community for her cooking — her dhokla, her undhiyu, and her mohanthal were legendary — and for her ability to make any gathering feel like a family reunion. She was a mother of extraordinary patience and a grandmother of boundless joy. Her grandchildren called her Dadi and knew that her home meant warm food, gentle hands, and the sound of bhajans in the morning. Anjali faced her final illness with the serenity of a woman at peace with her life and her God. Anjali Devi Patel departed this world on August 8, 2026, at the age of 80. Om Shanti.

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