हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Swaminarayan Akshardham, New Delhi

The great stone mandir of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha on the bank of the Yamuna, carved from pink sandstone and white marble without any steel. Guinness World Records named it the world’s largest comprehensive Hindu temple in 2007.

Built: 2000–05, BAPS under Pramukh Swami Maharaj; opened 6 November 2005Where: DelhiDeity: Bhagwan Swaminarayan, with Radha Krishna, Sita Rama, Shiva Parvati and Lakshmi Narayan28.61° N, 77.28° E
  1. 1968
  2. November 2000
  3. 6 November 2005
  4. December 2007
Photo: Vinayaraj · CC BY-SA 4.0

01A guru’s wish on the Yamuna

Yogiji Maharaj, the BAPS guru, wished in 1968 for a mandir on the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi; his successor Pramukh Swami Maharaj saw it built. Work began in November 2000, and in five years some 11,000 artisans and volunteers raised a mandir 141 feet high, 316 feet wide and 356 feet long, on the old Vastu and Pancharatra rules, with no steel in the structure. The main monument has 234 carved pillars, nine domes and some 20,000 carved murtis of devatas, rishis, acharyas and bhaktas. Around its base runs the Gajendra Pitha, a plinth of 148 life-size carved elephants.

02Under the central dome

Under the central dome sits an 11-foot gilded murti of Bhagwan Swaminarayan in abhaya mudra, with the gurus of his line around him; shrines of Radha Krishna, Sita Rama, Shiva Parvati and Lakshmi Narayan stand in the corners. The mandir was opened on 6 November 2005 in the presence of President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The grounds hold exhibition halls on the life of Swaminarayan and on Bharat’s heritage, a boat ride through Indian history, and a stepped tank, the Yagnapurush Kund, where an evening fountain show is held.

The life of this place

  1. 1968Yogiji Maharaj expresses the wish for a mandir on the Yamuna.
  2. November 2000Construction begins.
  3. 6 November 2005The mandir is opened.
  4. December 2007Guinness World Records lists it as the world’s largest comprehensive Hindu temple.
Visiting

Next to Akshardham Metro station on the Blue Line; closed on Mondays. Phones, cameras and bags are not allowed inside and must be deposited.

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