The largest Hindu temple in the US opens its doors in New Jersey’s township of Robbinsville.
BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardam, chiseled in India and brought to the US by boat, was inaugurated on Sunday but will be accessible to the general public on October 18th.
A scholar in religion and media, Yogi Trivedi, said: “It is probably one of the largest mandirs in the world. It is definitely the largest one outside of India. It is about 190 feet high and it is about two million cubic feet of stone. Now that stone is taken from seven different countries. It travels through ship to India, where it is hand-carved and it is dry assembled. So we know that it’s going to work once it gets here. It’s disassembled, coated, brought here, and then assembled here like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
He continued saying: “This particular mandir, the part that you see behind me was started in 2014. So that’s about almost eight, nine years to build a build that this mandir behind me.”
“One can look out for these beautiful Italian marble images that are about seven feet tall, and statuettes that are about seven feet tall. And they are just. Each of them is a masterpiece. There are about 78 of them inside. One has to see the refinement of that marble. It’s almost as if they come to life. Many of them are standing with musical instruments or beautiful scholarly texts,” he added.
“And, you know, people often ask me, oh, what is the price or what is the cost of this temple? But it’s so hard to calculate because everyone that you see behind me that is helping put this mandir together or preparing for the festivities tonight. All have taken time off from work and they have contributed their time, energy and resources in helping this come together,” he explained.
“If you think of the Indian American or Hindu American population in America, most of them, about 35 to 40 percent of them are in this region of the northeastern part of the United States. So from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C.. So you think of the strategic location of the temple. It’s equidistant between Philadelphia and New York and Washington, D.C. and Boston. So it is the perfect sort of location,” he noted.
Source: Roya News