Interesting Things About Akshardham Temple New Jersey

The Akshardham Temple New Jersey, also known as the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple, is a prominent Hindu temple complex located in Robbinsville, New Jersey. Some interesting aspects of the temple include its intricate and ornate architecture, which reflects traditional Indian craftsmanship. The temple is known for its beautiful sculptures, intricate carvings, and stunning stone architecture that captures the essence of ancient Indian art and culture. Additionally, the temple hosts various cultural and spiritual events, offering a space for religious and community activities

Thousands of Indian immigrants who believe in their spiritual heritage and are deep-rooted with divine faith, finally worked for designing the shape as America’s largest Hindu temple, BAPS Akshardham Mandir in New Jersey. Long after 12 long years of intensive and massive construction in wide five phases, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Robbinsville NJ was ceremonially inaugurated on October 8 under the auspicious presence of Mahant Swami Maharaj and all prominent Indian American community leaders. Post the inauguration, the grand structure, the temple welcomed its visitors from October 18 which was the fourth day of Navaratri 2023.

The grand spiritual structure is sprawling across over colossal 180 acres in Robbinsville, BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Mandir is believed to be the next to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Temple Complex regarding its size and area. It is proudly sustaining the honor to be the world’s second largest temple until the Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium that is speculated to be inaugurated in 2024. Authored in 2010 under the supervision of respected Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the New Jersey Indian Akshardham temple, though its incomplete structure and design, opened its door to welcome the devotees first in year 2014.

Akshardham New Jersey Interesting Facts 

The process and making of BAPS Swaminarayan Temple Robbinsville were an exciting marathon that lasted 12 years also involved over 13,000 volunteers from across the USA. The massive monumental construction thousands of miles away from India is one of the multifaced process that started from Europe to India and further to the US. Crafted and designed with chiseled Italian marbles acquired from different parts of Europe and surprisingly hand-carved in Rajasthan, the New Jersey temple is bigger and higher than the Akshardham Mandir located in New Delhi.

Let’s have a brief look on the interesting facts:

1. One of the most interesting things about the world’s largest Akshardham Temple, New Jersey is that 2000 craftsmen Rajasthan manually carved the marble stones supplied from Europe into marvelous pieces of art with tools like chisels and hammers and the pieces were assembled twice. The marble pieces were first assembled in India in order to check if they would fit precisely and then, they were later gradually numbered in an order to finally be organized and assembled in US, according to their chronological numbers.

2. The process of transportation was quite challenging as it was the two million cubic feet of marble stones travelling 21,500 miles from Europe to India to get hand carved and then reach America.

3. Inessential to mention that the temple is an aesthetically marvelous structure both from outside and inside in its whole form. The temple is enveloped with a massive mandap for external security and protection. The mandap which is 135-ft wide has delicate and intricate engravings on the pillars of 55 feet tall. The prime entrance gate of the mandap which is called Mayur Dwar, is the center of attraction of the temple. Robbinsville Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple’s Mayur Dwar is scrupulously adorned with 236 units of sculptures that include peacocks, monks, elephants, and devotees carved out of marble.

4. The sculptural beauty of the Mayur Dwar would leave anyone in awe for the artisans who garnered such achievement of this rare feat in the 21st century. It has encapsulated the cultural zeitgeist from the pre-Sultanate era when the Dravidian temple architecture flourished and well were highly acclaimed for their intricate designs and in-depth wall carvings stated by Sourav Agarwal, “the Editor of Travel Beats, a one-stop community portals for Indians in America.”

5. The mandap has been designed with a grand prayer hall which is extensively spacious enough to accommodate more than 1500 people at a time. Amongst the breathtaking spectacular features of BAPS Akshardham Temple, New Jersey, there are two heavily embellished domes, which is different and unique to India’s traditional stone architecture, that are specifically designed to last for a thousand years. Also, there is one primary shrine, 12 sub-shrines, along with 9 shikhars, and 9 pyramidal shikhars inside the grand temple complex.

6. Each single bit of the United Sates’ largest BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple design is articulated enough to narrate a story. A whopping 10,000 units of sculptures and figurines of nation India’s age-old cultural musical instruments, classical dance forms, and epic mythical characters on walls, pillars, panels, and ceilings portray stories of ancient Bharat and the Hindu religion scriptures. The prayer halls are ornated with life-size idols of saints and epic sages among India’s well known spiritual leaders.

7. An affiliate between the architectural core designs of north and south Indian temples, the Akshardham Temple of Robbinsville NJ holds a world-class research institute as well. Inaugurated in the month of June 2022, the institute is “the first-ever center of learning and research of Indian languages and Hindu sacred scriptures in the Swaminarayan culture and tradition in the United States”, with the vision of promoting the highest level of academic brilliance in all disciplines of study.

8. Like many ancient cultural temples across India, the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple has a huge Brahma Kunda (a sacred stepwell) at Robbinsville site in the northeast US. Surprisingly, the water of the kund has been gathered from more than 300 natural sources of water from all over the world, including the holy rivers of India and the water bodies present in 50 US states.

9. It is a one-hour drive from Newark to reach this largest grand construction, Akshardham Temple, New Jersey in the US which would not have been a reality without the fine craftsmen and 13000 remarkable volunteers of all ages, who generously and willingly spent 5-million-man hours on crafting such an intricate and colossal masterpiece. Indians from the New Jersey and other states volunteered to invest their precious time in all possible ways, including preparing meals for the artisans, and cleaning up the construction site, etc. Evidently, the temple is a symbol of unity and harmony and the completion of the construction, rounded the total cost of Robbinsville BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple, New Jersey up to more than $150 million.