01A rupee for the land
The story told in Jaipur is that the Maharaja let the Birlas have the land below Moti Dungri for a token rupee. Work began in 1977 under the direction of Ghanshyam Das Birla’s family and the temple opened on 22 February 1988. It stands on a high plinth, so that from the road it seems to float above the city, and it is built wholly of white marble: sanctum, tower, hall and porch. Shri Lakshmi-Narayan stand in the sanctum, with Ganesh at the entrance. Statues of the founders, Braj Mohan Birla and Rukmani Devi Birla, sit in pavilions facing the temple with folded hands.
02Glass, verse and lamps
Inside, stained-glass windows show kathas from the Puranas, and the walls carry verses from the Gita and the Upanishads in Devanagari. On the outer walls, among the devas and rishis, are carved the great teachers of the world: the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Christ and others, as the Birla temples like to do. At dusk the whole building is lit, and the white marble turns gold against the fort of Moti Dungri behind it; Janmashtami here is one of Jaipur’s busiest nights. A small museum below the temple shows the building of it and the family’s collections.
The life of this place
- 1977Construction of the temple begins.
- 22 February 1988The temple opens for darshan.
The temple is on JLN Marg near Moti Dungri, a few minutes from the Moti Dungri Ganesh temple. Come at sunset to see it lit.
