A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory

THULASENDRAPURAM, India (AP) — The temple reverberated with rhythmic Sanskrit and Tamil hymns, as a Hindu priest held a flame before the god. As this tiny South Indian village gathered to pray for Kamala Harris, a gaggle of reporters jostled for space and camera angles.

There's little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America's first leader with South Asian roots.

As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.

“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” said M. Natarajan, the temple priest that led the prayers in front of the image of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva.

Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in the village, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, more than 100 years ago. As an adult, he moved to Chennai, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.

Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram and she has no living relatives in the village, but people here still venerate the family that made it big in the U.S.

“Our village ancestors' granddaughter is running as a U.S. presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” Natarajan said.

The village's sudden fame has helped bring money into the village. Recently, construction began on a water storage tank with funds donated by a local bank. Village residents say it will carry a plaque with Harris’ name.

Harris’ late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. After moving to the U.S. to study, she married a Jamaican man, and they named their daughter Kamala, a Sanskrit word for “lotus flower.”

Other than trips during her childhood, Harris hasn’t visited India much — particularly not since becoming vice president — but she has often spoken emotionally about her ties to her late mother’s country of birth. On Tuesday, she released a campaign video highlighting her mother, who arrived in the U.S. at age 19 and became a cancer researcher.

Titled “Mother,” the video ends with a narrator saying: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”

Harris has often talked about how she was guided by the values of her Indian-born grandfather and mother. She has also spoken of her love of south Indian food, especially a type of steamed rice cake called idli.

Harris’ name is engraved in a list of donors — her aunt Sarala Gopalan gave money to the temple in her name — along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the election.

On Tuesday, the village temple also received rare international visitors: two American tourists and one from the U.K., all wearing black t-shirts that said “Kamala Freakin Harris.”

Manikandan Ganesan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said Harris’ bid for the presidency has made the village famous. He hopes Harris will eventually visit them.

“Even if she mentioned that she would visit our village, it would make us very happy,” Ganesan said. “Her victory itself will be a big source of happiness for us.”

Village residents also prayed for Harris’ victory in 2020, and set off firecrackers when she became the U.S. Vice President.

For women of the village, the candidate's journey is a source of inspiration.

Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar said Harris embodies a significant step toward female empowerment in places like Thulasendrapuram, where a majority of women continue to face discrimination and gender inequality.

“From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the U.S. presidential election — this brings happiness for us,” Sudhakar said. “The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”

Local villagers and international tourists receive blessings from a priest after participating in special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

A villager prays in front of the idols of Hindu goddesses after special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Villagers participate in the special prayers for the victory of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, at Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Villagers plant paddy in a field in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Manikandan Ganesan, right, a local shopkeeper, packs vegetables for a customer at his grocery store outside Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

A villager washes clothes at a pond adjacent to Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

M. Natarajan, head priest of Sri Dharmasastha Hindu temple points out the name of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on a plaque, displaying names of donors written in Tamil language who donated for the renovation of temple, in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

An aerial view of Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar prepares a Kolam, a traditional art work using colored powder, that reads "Greeting America, our wishes for Kamala Harris' victory" for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Villagers tie a banner featuring Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris outside a temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

From left, Fiana Jones of United Kingdom, Devony Evans and Sajron Silalenka of United States wearing tees and cheer for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris outside a temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Harris, in Tamil Nadu state, India, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

PHOENIX (AP) — From heartbreak and devastation to outrage, Emily Pike's tragic death is stirring heavy emotions and putting the spotlight to a crisis that has long plagued Native American communities, where a disproportionate number of people have been killed or have gone missing.

In the case of the San Carlos Apache teenager, she disappeared from her group home on the edge of a Phoenix suburb in late January.

Authorities posted her picture on social media, saying she was missing and had possibly run away. Just a couple inches shy of 5 feet tall, she was wearing a pink and gray shirt.

It was nearly a month later that sheriff's deputies in a neighboring county reported finding and identifying Pike's remains. It was more than 80 miles from where she was last seen.

Since then, news of her brutal death has reverberated through Indian Country and beyond. A crowd was expected to gather Thursday at an intersection in Mesa, near her group home, to honor her life and to press for changes that might help curb the violence.

Advocates say the crisis stems from colonization and forced removal, which marginalized Indigenous people by erasing their culture and identity. Limited funding, understaffed police departments and a jurisdictional checkerboard that prevents authorities from working together have only exacerbated the issue.

Pike's case has drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands of people through social media. Some have shared photos of themselves, their mouths covered with a red handprint that has become emblematic of the movement to end the violence. Posts included the hashtags #NoMoreStolenSisters, #SayHerName and #JusticeforEmily.

In Wisconsin, organizers planned for their own candlelight vigil. Fliers in Colorado encouraged people to wear red, and Daisy Bluestar, a Southern Ute tribal member on Colorado's Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force, posted a video about Pike with the hashtag #ColoradoStandsWithYou.

The girl's basketball team at Miami High School in Arizona wore jerseys with “MMIW” and a red handprint on the back.

“We’re all mourning this terrible loss of a precious young girl. Emily really has become everyone’s daughter, granddaughter and niece,” said Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Titla herself has three female relatives who went missing and were killed. She said the community has come together to honor Pike and to demand justice. This shared solidarity comes from a desire for healing from historical and generational trauma, she said.

“It affects so many people," Titla said, “and I think the reason is because we all know someone — it could be a relative, it could be a friend, it could be in our own tribal community.”

Pike's remains were found northeast of Globe, Arizona, the Gila County Sheriffs Office said.

Like many others, her case involves multiple agencies. Gila County is working with Mesa police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mesa police typically don't investigate runaway reports, but the agency did list Pike as missing on its Facebook page two days after the group home reported she was gone.

Arizona's Department of Child Safety requires notification of a child's missing status to occur within a day of receiving the information. However, that requirement doesn't extend to tribal social services, according to Anika Robinson, president of the nonprofit foster care advocacy group ASA Now. Pike was in the custody of San Carlos Apache Tribe Social Services, which could not be reached for comment, at the time she went missing from the group home in Mesa.

Mesa police reported Pike as missing to the National Crime Information Center the evening of Jan. 27. Police have said it would have been up to the group home to contact her case manager who then would have contacted Pike's family or tribe.

The girl's mother, Steff Dosela, has said in interviews that she didn't hear about her daughter’s disappearance until a week later.

Robinson questioned why it took so long. “Imagine what probably had already transpired by that week,” she said.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2023 created a task force to identify policies for addressing the high rates of disappearances and killings among the Native American population. A final report is due in 2026.

Washington, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming also have created task forces dedicated to the crisis.

President Donald Trump during his first term created the nation's first task force to begin looking at the problem, dubbing it Operation Lady Liberty. The Biden administration followed with a special unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. attorneys' offices in key areas began taking a closer look at unsolved cases, and top officials held listening sessions across the nation. Just last month, the federal government launched an initiative to help solve missing and unidentified person cases.

Tiffany Jiron, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, said more comprehensive law enforcement training that address jurisdictional challenges, increased funding for tribal programs that provide shelter, mental health resources and legal aid to impacted families and survivors and strengthened alert systems are among the policy solutions that advocates should continue to fight for to address the systemic crisis.

“As an Indigenous people, we are not invisible,” she said. “We deserve just as much attention from law enforcement. Our cases are involving real people, real families, real children.”

People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

A tribute to slain Native American teen Emily Pike adorns a fence near a vigil in her honor in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)