Information on Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple (New Delhi) - History & Architecture

The Akshardham Temple is essentially an enormous temple complex located in Delhi. The temple houses around 20, 000 statues and is popular for its arches, delicately carved pillars and floral motifs. The Akshardham Temple is also known as Swaminarayan Akshardham or Delhi Akshardham. The temple complex exhibits millennia of long-established Indian as well Hindu spirituality, architecture and culture. The temple is situated on the river banks of Yamuna which is also adjoining to the village of 2010 Commonwealth Games in the eastern part of New Delhi.

Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple Delhi Architecture

The temple complex, Akshardham Temple was enthused and erected by the spiritual chief of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, Pramukh Swami Maharaj. It is learnt that around 3,000 unpaid assistants of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha offered a helping hand to the 7,000 artisans engaged in the construction work of the Akshardham Temple. The temple which sits at the midpoint of the complex was constructed in accordance with the Pancharatra Shastra and the Vastu Shastra. The temple complex was erected within a time span of just 5 years owing to the huge devotional endeavours of the 11,000 artisans as well as volunteers. The inauguration ceremony of the Akshardham Temple complex took place on 6th November in the year 2005.

The temple complex includes over 100 acres of land which has been converted into lawn and highlighted with carved pavilions accompanied with fountains. The expenditure behind the construction of the temple complex amounted to approximately 2 billion rupees and it took almost 2 long years to complete the Akshardham Temple. The Akshardham temple is labelled to be the biggest temple complex in the country. The temple has been built based on India's architectural science and rules out the use of iron, steel or any other material forms apart from stone. Approximately 6000 tons of pink coloured sand stone was used in the structure and were sourced from Rajasthan.

Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple Delhi History

The central or the main temple is exclusively made of stone and the additional complex marks or highlights demonstrations pertaining to occurrences in the Indian history and Swaminarayan's life. The main temple includes a statue of Bhagwan Swami Narayan wrapped with gold and is 11 feet in height. The complex of the temple is supposed to be swathed with detailed flora and fauna, musicians, dancers and deities. The name Akshardham was obtained from two different words namely 'Akshar' and 'Dham'. "Akshar' stand for the endless and 'Dham' means home. Therefore, Akshardham together, stand for the home of the gods or divine, the endless. It is essentially the home of undying values, virtues as well as beliefs that are found to be cited in the ancient scriptures relating to Hindu mythology.

This particular temple is learnt to exemplify the Indian culture for a period of 10,000 years. It vividly highlights the quintessence or fundamental nature with regard to India's earliest form of architecture, spiritual significances along with traditions. The experience of visiting the temple is believed to be an informative journey all the way through the wonderful values, art and their combined efforts towards harmony, development and happiness of mankind. The temple complex provides an insight into the country's age old heritage with the aid of diverse shows such as Nilkanth Kalyan Yatra, Yagnapurush Kund, Yogi Hraday Kamal, Sahajanand Pradarshan, Sanskruti Vihar and Bharat Upavan.

Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple Delhi Tourism Significance

The Akshardham Temple has been incorporated in the Guniness World Record in the year 2007 for being the biggest comprehensive Hindu Temple in the world which entices people to visit it. The IMAX theatre and a striking musical fountain in the temple complex are known to be popular crowd pullers. It needs worth mentioning in this regard that the whole temple complex remains closed on Mondays.