.jpg)
The BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey has been inaugurated and now the largest modern Hindu temple in the USA and outside India. The temple is spread over 185 acres.
All you need to know
The Construction
Construction of the temple, devoted to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, commenced in 2011 and was successfully completed this year and it is designed to last a thousand years.
It was a collaborative effort of 12,500 volunteers hailing from various parts of the globe. Notably, one of its distinctive attributes is the largest elliptical stone dome ever built.
About the temple
The temple design includes one main shrine, 12 sub-shrines, nine shikhars (spire-like structures), and nine pyramidal shikhars.
To construct the temple, 1.9 million cubic feet of stone was used and it was brought from over 29 different sites around the world that includes “granite from India, sandstone from Rajasthan, teakwood from Myanmar, marble from Greece, Turkey and Italy and limestone from Bulgaria and Turkey".
A remarkable Hindu Architecture
There are 10,000 statues in the temple and elements from Indian architecture and culture have been used to construct the temple.
Globally, BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardhams are landmarks of Hindu art, architecture, and culture and serve as spiritual and community hubs, open to people of all faiths and backgrounds.
A mesmerizing design
The temple design includes one main shrine, 12 sub-shrines, shikhars, and pyramidal shikhars. The stone used in the construction was sourced from Europe and sent to India where it underwent intricate craftsmanship.
The temple also has the Brahma Kund, a traditional Indian stepwell containing water from over 300 bodies of water from around the world, including holy rivers of India and all 50 states of US.
Second largest temple
This temple comes after the Angkor Wat of Cambodia which is a 12th century Hindu temple and considered as the largest religious monument in the world. It spread across 500 acres and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The only reason for that is Angkor Wat is an inactive temple site and worshiping of idols is not practiced there anymore, rather with time it got converted to a Buddhist site.
Comments