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New Jersey To Unveil World's Second-Largest Hindu Temple Outside India On October 8

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New Jersey To Unveil World's Second-Largest Hindu Temple Outside India On October 8

New Jersey To Unveil World's second-largest Hindu temple outside India (Image:www.baps.org)

New Jersey in US is all set to inaugurate the world”s second largest Hindu temple constructed outside India in the modern era on October 8. The temple will be open for public from October 18.

The Akshardham temple is located about 90 km south of Times Square and 289 km north to Washington DC, New York in Robbinsville Township in New Jersey. It has been built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham organisation, and is dedicated to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a Hindu spiritual leader of the 19th century.

Currently the temple allows visitors during some particular hours but it will remain closed between September 30 and October 17 for a series of private events.

  • The BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham has been built by an army of more than 12,500 volunteers from across US in over 12 years from 2011 to 2023.
  • The temple measures 255 ft x 345 ft x 191 ft and spans over 183 acres.
  • Designed according to ancient Hindu scriptures and Hindu culture.
  • The temple includes 10,000 statues and statuettes, carvings of Indian musical instruments and dance forms.
  • The structure incorporates one main shrine, 12 sub-shrines, nine shikhars (spire-like structures), and nine pyramidal shikhars.

  • The temple is designed and constructed in a way to last a thousand years.
  • It has a Brahma Kund’, a traditional Indian stepwell, containing water from more than 300 water bodies from around the world, including the holy rivers of India and all 50 states of the US.
  • Four types of stones are used in construction – limestone, pink sandstone, marble, and granite – These will enhance the strength and lasting of the temple.
  • Limestone required were taken from Bulgaria and Turkey; Marble from Greece, Turkey and Italy; Granite from India and China; Sandstone from India.
  • Nearly two million cubic feet stone was used so far in the construction.

The temple, according to reports, is possibly the second largest after 12th-century Angkor Wat Temple Complex in Cambodia. The Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple in the World spreading over 500 acres. The temple is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

“Our spiritual leader (Pramukh Swami Maharaj) had a vision that in the Western hemisphere there should be a place which can be a place for all people of the world, not only for Hindus, not only for Indians, not only for certain groups of people; it should be for all of the world where people can come and learn some values, universal values based in Hindu tradition,” Swami Aksharvatsaldas from BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha told PTI in an exclusive interview.

“It was his wish, and it was his Sankalp (pledge). According to his Sankalp, this Akshardham has been built with traditional Hindu temple architecture”, he added.

BAPS interventions includes sustainable practices like a solar panel farm, a fly ash concrete mix, and the planting of over two million trees worldwide in the past few decades.

Includes inputs from sources.

 

Topics
Akshardham BAPS BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham organisation Hindu Temple New Jersey NJ Robbinsville Township Timeline News Times Square USA world's second largest Hindu temple

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