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Sect builds temple to rival pyramids
Celebrities back giant complex in India
It is being trumpeted as one of the biggest religious stone structures in the world, rivalling the Great Pyramid at Giza, and has a legion of famous backers. It is thought that Sir Paul McCartney is one of those who has been approached.
Supporters of the multi-million-pound Akshardham Hindu temple complex in India say they expect to play host to dignitaries including former presidents Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton at the opening next month.
The temple, on the outskirts of Delhi by the banks of the sacred River Yamuna, has risen almost unnoticed in the West, despite the involvement of many Asian volunteers from Britain, some of them on gap years before university.
This is partly intentional. “There has been a great deal of secrecy because the people behind it want it to be seen in all its glory when it is finally unveiled,” said a source involved in the building work.
Insiders claim that McCartney, the former Beatle, has made generous donations to the temple. They say that Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian-born steel tycoon and Britain’s richest man, has also contributed. The London-based billionaire Hinduja brothers have been invited to the opening ceremony in the first week of November, which coincides with Diwali, the Hindu festival of light.
A massive security operation will be in place for the event because a sister temple owned by the Swaminarayan sect, the group behind the Delhi scheme, was attacked by Islamist terrorists in 2002, resulting in more than 30 deaths.
This weekend 7,000 builders, stonemasons and polishers were working round the clock to complete the complex, which covers 30 acres. Devotees claim that it has been built to withstand earthquakes and will last at least 1,000 years.
Saffron-robed monks supervised proceedings from 4×4 cars — an indication of the sect’s wealth — as volunteers tended lawns the size of football pitches.
Although the raw materials for the temple are estimated to have cost more than £50m, it is difficult to place a true price on the project because much of the labour has been carried out by volunteers.
At the heart of the site is a palace-like monument built from at least 12,000 tons of pink sandstone and white marble from Rajasthan. Topped with a series of domes, it is 129ft high, 275ft wide and 315ft long. Almost every square inch of the exterior has been decorated with carvings of Hindu deities and Indian flora and fauna, including elephants.
“It’s hugely impressive and a commanding structure,” said one observer. “But the monument is more for show and will not actually be used for any religious ceremonies.” These will take place in a much smaller, but equally elaborate, marble temple.
The complex also boasts at least two exhibition halls, including a Disney-inspired boat ride that will take worshippers on a visual journey through India’s cultural heritage.
The second hall will depict Indian moral values in a sound and light show. One source said that visitors will be able to experience a trip through portrayals of “heaven and hell”.
Other features include an Imax cinema, a canteen capable of feeding 5,000 people in one sitting, a research centre for “social harmony” and meditation gardens dotted with fountains and bronze sculptures.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the 83-year-old spiritual leader of the Swaminarayan sect — which has about 1m followers across the globe — is believed to have overseen every detail of the temple complex.
Ten years ago he presided over the opening of the sect’s temple in Neasden, northwest London, which at the time was the largest Hindu structure outside India.
Visitors to the Neasden temple — which stands on a plot of just 1? acres and reportedly cost ?3m to build — have included Tony Blair, Sir Richard Branson and the Prince of Wales.
The Hinduja brothers are believed to have been significant benefactors to the Neasden temple. They later donated ?1m to sponsor the Faith Zone of the Millennium Dome. Peter Mandelson, who was once in charge of the dome, had to resign from the cabinet in 2001 because of his role in helping one of the brothers in an attempt to secure a British passport.
McCartney, who first dabbled in Hinduism in the 1960s when the Beatles visited India, is believed to have asked the Neasden temple to provide vegetarian catering for his wedding to Heather Mills in Ireland in June 2002.
Clinton has also had dealings with the Swaminarayan movement in the past, meeting Pramukh Swami on at least two occasions. In 2001 he visited the sect’s temple in the earthquake-torn Indian state of Gujarat.
“It is even more beautiful than I had imagined,” Clinton said at the time.
“The Taj Mahal is definitely beautiful but this place, along with beauty, has a beautiful message.”
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