MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES, October 12, 2005: A 42,000-square-foot Hindu temple is under construction on 20 acres of former farmland in Maple Grove at a cost of over US$8 million. The traditional-styled temple, built on Vaastu Shastra guidelines will serve Minnesota’s Hindu community of nearly 20,000 people. At present, Minnesota Hindus have a temple in former Methodist church in Northeast Minneapolis and the Geeta Ashram, located in Brooklyn Park.
The new temple is a gift to the next generation, said temple organizers. Besides the main worship area, the temple complex will provide classrooms for religion, language, yoga and dance including multipurpose rooms for special events such as weddings. Around the perimeter of the room will be 16 “mini-temples,” as Byron Byraiah, the project manager refers to them. Each of these temples, will house a Hindu icon. Worshippers can use them for individual prayer and often will leave offerings such as flowers, fruits and sweets. Byraiah said the temple worked closely with the city to match the Hindu architecture guidelines to city building code requirements. Maple Grove City Administrator Al Madsen said, “There was some matter of we educating them and they educating us.” Madsen said the temple will be a great addition to the city, bringing in visitors from the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin. Much of the architecture, interior design and engineering work were done on a volunteer basis by members of the Hindu community.