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AKSHARDHAM

Lord Swaminarayan was born in Chapaya in UP, and took a 7 year pilgrimage to Gujarat to preach his religion. He built 6 temples, the first being in Kalupur at Ahmedabad, and his followers built a series of others. There are numerous important pilgrim spots for the million followers of this faith all over the world, including Gondal, Gadhada, Sarangpur etc.

Akshardham Temple

The Swaminarayan temple of Gandhinagar is a modern complex, built in traditional Indian architectural style from 6000 metric tons of long lasting pink sandstone, from Rajasthan, and carved by expert artisans from Bansipahadpur.

The temple is set in the multi-acre garden, called Sahajanand van, with intricate sculpture of Hindu Gods, beautifully landscaped garden, cafeteria and amusements. Gold leaf copper sculpture of lord Swaminarayan faced by similar gold leaf sculpture of Gunatinand Swami and Gopalanand Swami. The interiors have beautiful columns and rosewood, and rise up to a high dome.

Akshardham Temple

The first floor galleries are a museum portraying the 500 parahansas, a letter to his guru, Ramanand, a piece from an old tree from Chapaya, his pure wood shawl, recreation of his old home, a diorama of the lord on a horse and other displays. The galleries outside, have a state-of-the-art exhibition using Chez Integrovision shows, audio-visuals, multi-media, dioramas of the life of lord Swaminarayan and from the Hindu epics, fibre optics etc to introduce readers to the concept of the Akshardham movement, founded in 1907 Ad to promote the preachings of Lord Swaminarayan and a number of charitable causes.