AUROVILLE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, January 1, 2007: (HPI note: a longer report and many photos of the temple are at URL above.) Sri Karneshwar Nataraja temple located on the beach at Pudhukuppam, 12 kilometers north of Auroville, was inaugurated by Dr. Karan Singh and his wife Smt. Yasho Rajya Lakshmi on September 30, 2006. Dr. Karan Singh, Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, being a devotee of Lord Shiva already built in 2000 a smaller temple on the beach near Auroville. The tsunami of 26th December 2004 destroyed it and Dr. Karan Singh asked Satprem Maini from the Auroville Earth Institute to rebuild a new pyramid temple. The new temple has been rebuilt on the same place. The Great Pyramid of Egypt is the origin of the concept and the proportions of Sri Karneshwar Nataraja Temple are based on the proportions of this Great Pyramid. The proportions of the latter generate also the pointed dome which houses Lord Nataraja. The pyramid is oriented exactly towards the magnetic North so as to generate its maximum energy. The height of the pedestal, on which stands Lord Nataraja, is such that his third eye is located at one-third from the base of the pyramid, as this point has the most powerful energy of the pyramid. In accordance with Indian tradition, there are three paths for pradakshina, the worshipful circumambulation: around the statue of the Deity within the sanctum; immediately around the temple and around the complex itself. The entrance faces south, in line with the Indian tradition of Shiva as Dakshinamurthy, the Teacher of the South.
Dr. Karan Singh is the son of the last Maharaja of Kashmir. Building temples is part of his family responsibility. His great-grandfather, Ranhir Singh, who ruled from 1860 to about 1880, has become known as one of the greatest temple builders in Indian history. He built more than a 100 Hindu shrines and temples, mostly in Kashmir. Amongst them is the Raghunath temple, dedicated to Sri Rama, Vishnu’s eighth incarnation. “We Singhs are descendants of Sri Rama, who is our traditional family Deity. The Raghunath temple complex, the largest in North India, houses the samadhis of the Singh dynasty,” says Dr. Karan Singh. “For years, I’ve had a vision of building a pyramidal temple dedicated to Lord Nataraja. The pyramid is sacred to the Egyptians and Nataraja to the Hindus. For the first time in history, the pyramid and Nataraja have been brought together. The temple has been constructed mainly for the purpose of Dhyan (meditation) and there will not be many rituals like in other temples,” says Dr. Karan Singh.