Today more than 200 Asian Indian businesses—restaurants, video rental stores, sari shops and more—enliven a two-block area in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. Their presence reflects the phenomenal growth of the Indian population in New York and the United States as a whole. In the past decade, the Indian population in this country has doubled, now totaling about 1,700,000 immigrants and American-born descendents. The heart of this community is the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, where one out of four of the nation's Indians resides.

Here as in India, Hinduism is their primary faith, but other religions, including Sikhism and Jainism, also have adherents. Many devout Indians worship every day, not necessarily in temples but at home and at work. As glimpsed in these portraits by photographer Steve McCurry, devotees can be found on Wall Street and in suburban New Jersey homes, in Manhattan restaurant basements and the corners of sari stores in Jackson Heights. Some pray for a day of prosperity and good business, while others seek a private moment to be in touch with the Divine.