Devotees at a local Hindu temple expressed sadness and anxiety over the state of their homeland yesterday as parts of Mumbai, India, remained under siege in a terrorist attack that left at least 119 dead.

About 50 devotees, from as far away as New Jersey, gathered in the morning at Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills for a special service to pray for victims of the attack and for peace throughout the world.

The attacks, which temporarily shut down India's stock market and targeted mostly British and American businessmen, were compared by some to those of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States.

"It's like hitting the World Trade Center," said Ipshita Ghosh of Millburn, N.J., who was at the temple last night to pray. "You're hitting the financial center."

"They've attempted to create fear and they're trying to destroy the business climate," said Subba Reddy, secretary of the board of directors of the temple. "They're trying to undermine the progress that India is making in terms of government."

Like many others, Amit Azad of Columbus, Ohio, feared it would scare away foreign investment, upon which much of the country's recent growth has been built, and tourism.

"It could destabilize the country. It sends the message that India is not a safe country to invest, or to tour," he said.

Mrs. Ghosh's husband, Goutam, a wealth adviser for Citigroup, had no doubt that the economy would take a huge hit. He worried about the longer-term consequences of the attack and that a strained economy could exacerbate tensions between ethnic groups and spark violence.

"The repercussions of this will be immense. A lot of innocents will be harmed," he said.

The country has been plagued by series of smaller attacks, including in his hometown of New Delhi, and he complained that the government has been complacent and has not done enough to prevent the attacks.

"India has fallen far short of its responsibility," he said. "They have not been protecting their citizens."

Mr. Reddy said that the attacks may serve as a wake-up call for India to step up its security.

"I think it will energize people to do something about it," he said.

Though the country has seen terrorist attacks before, the immensity and organization of this attack frightened some. Even those whose families lived far from Mumbai said the attacks made them increasingly anxious about the safety of their relatives.

"It looks like these attacks are everywhere," said Vatsala Narayan, the temple's facility manager, whose family lives in Chennai, on the opposite coast of the country. "The fear is everywhere."

Uttam Naidu, a software engineer in Pittsburgh who has family in Mumbai, said he frantically phoned relatives to make sure they were OK.

"The magnitude is concerning. It's becoming bigger now," he said.