Source: picayuneitem.com
BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI, June, 2010: With 16 tiers of Hindu script etched into its concrete ceiling, the ornate, cream-colored temple is an eye-catching structure at the end of a winding road near Brandon, a growing bedroom community just outside Mississippi’s capital city.
Members of the Hindu Temple Society of Mississippi hope the new 3,500-square-foot structure, built according to ancient rules of temple design called “Agama Sastra,” will draw throngs of worshippers and tourists to the site in the heart of the Bible Belt.
Dr. Sampat Shivangi, a local physician, said more than 1,000 visitors were expected this week during a dedication ceremony. “We feel we are so lucky we can see the gods installed and given life,” said Shivangi. “New temples are not usually built in India. They stand for 5,000 years.”
Shivangi said artisans from India spent four years constructing the temple from natural materials such as granite, wood, straw and marble at a cost of about $3 million. The money was raised by the temple’s devotees, who have grown in number from about 20 families in the 1970s to more than 1,000.