Times of India
NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 23, 2005: Four years after its first brick was laid, the sprawling pink sandstone and white marble Akshardham temple complex on the banks of Yamuna will finally throw open its gates to visitors on November 8. Begun by the BAPS Swaminarayan sect in 2001, the temple will be officially inaugurated on November 6. ”We have not yet decided on who will be inaugurating it, but the date has been fixed,” said a media official.
“Most of the construction is complete. Only some of the polishing and wood work is still on, which will be over before next month,” said Sadhu Vivekjivandas. The temple is already attracting visitors. Some hotels have also started offering packages for the inauguration. “Devotees from all over the country, who had fasted and sacrificed for the completion of the temple, are allowed to visit it after a permission from the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). This week, we have had devotees from Gujarat and Punjab,” he added. “I have come here for the puja abhishek ceremony. My family had decided to give up on sweets till the temple is complete. Now, we have come for darshan as the work is complete.” said Sujata Shet, whose family has come from Gujarat. While the authorities refused to give any details on what lies behind the gates — to avoid rush of visitors before completion — they hinted that the campus will be a confluence of the ancient and the modern. It’s all about Indian values and traditions, they said. There is an IMAX theatre for showing films on the sect, two exhibition halls and a restaurant modelled on an Ellora cave. Surpassing its Gandhinagar original, the new temple is more elaborate. It has a sprawling water body and the carvings on the 130-ft-high temple are reminiscent of those in Badrinath, Somnath and Konark.