By IANS
New Delhi : Thousands of devotees who thronged the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple here Thursday were greeted with huge hoardings announcing the Guinness certification for the world’s largest Hindu temple.
On Dec 17, the management committee of the Guinness World Records handed a double treat to the temple when it was adjudged the “world’s largest comprehensive Hindu temple” and also found a space in the record books for the head of the Swaminarayan Sanstha – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, under the category “Most Hindu temples consecrated by a single person”.
Almost 10 days after the feats were acknowledged most authoritatively, the temple Thursday afternoon was a sea of devotees with busloads of pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and tourists on package deals from the eastern and the southern states, along with hordes of school children on vacation trips.
Most made a beeline to the marble sanctorum with its imposing bronze statue of the founder, the surrounding icons of Hindu god Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi in all their avatars. The spiritual slide shows were also big draws.
The Akshardham made it to the Guinness list on the sheer strength of its size and the ornate handcrafted architecture in pink sandstone and marble that conforms to the ancient architectural traditions of vaastu shastra, and does not make use of any structural steel.
Chief spokesperson of the temple J.M. Dave said: “The shrine is unique because the structure does not make use of steel and iron. It is totally crafted in stone.”
The temple is spread over an area of 86,342 square feet, is 356 feet long, 316 feet wide and 141 feet high, and was built by 11,000 artisans, he said.
Inaugurated on Nov 6, 2005 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the temple was built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Gujarat-based religious sect founded by seer Neekanth Varni (1781-1830). The organisation has 713 shrines spread across five continents.
It is home to the idols of all the 24 avatars (incarnations) of Hindu god Vishnu, not the usual 10 as is believed. The temple, according to officials, has 208 sculptures of the almost all Indian deities like the Radha-Krishna, Sita-Ram, Parvati-Mahadev, Laxmi-Narayana, Revati-Balram, Savitri-Brahma, Nar Narayan and Aksar-Purushottam.
It draws 8,000 visitors on an average everyday. And the number has shot up since the Guinness honour.
Narrating the history of the temple, Dave said the temple is the culmination of the 39-year-old dream of seer Yogiji Maharaj, who foresaw a grand spiritual movement on the banks of the Yamuna.
“In 2000, we were told by our spiritual teacher that a temple had to be built on the banks of the Yamuna. Initially, we gathered 1,000 stone crafters. They were not enough and so we then told them to bring all their male relatives, teach them the art of crafting stones, as the skill is inherited, and hired them as artisans.”
“We now have a pool of 7,000 stone artisans, barring the masons and carpenters, who hand-craft the ornate stone pillars for all the Akshardham temples worldwide,” he said.