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.
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.
