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KAUAI, HAWAII, July 31, 2003: San Marga Iraivan Temple, rising on the grounds of the 33-year-old Saiva Siddhanta Church monastery, (also home of Hinduism Today and HPI) is built of Indian white granite and formed by Indian stonemasons. It is fulfilling the vision of the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, known to his followers as Gurudeva, founder of the church and its monastery. Hindu pilgrims from around the world are arriving daily to worship at the edifice. The temple has been several years under construction and has at least seven more years before it is complete. Its designers intend it to last 1,000 years. Its concrete foundation, 68 feet by 168 feet and 3 feet thick was designed not to crack, even under the estimated 3.2-million-pound load of a massive granite temple structure. The granite is being hand-quarried by 70 stonemasons near Bangalore in India. Beams and blocks of stone are carved there, then shipped to Kaua’i. Final shaping and fitting is done on site by a team of Indian masons under the supervision of master builder Shanmugan Sthapati. The heart of the temple has a special chamber that will contain a 700-pound crystal called the Sivalingam, which now is in the monastery’s smaller Kadavul temple. San Marga Iraivan is a Chola-style temple of the southern part of India. It is dedicated to the Hindu god, Siva. “Gurudeva envisioned it as a place of pilgrimage,” said Gurudeva’s successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. “Hindus are encouraged to take a pilgrimage annually to a distant place. This is a convenient location for North American Hindus. Already we have lots of people coming every month.”

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