The Swaminarayan Temple of Akshardham at Gandhinagar in India

The Swaminarayan religion has developed a lot, off late in India as well as in the USA. The Swaminarayan temples are added in every major cities of the world at a very rapid rate. One such famous and most beautiful Swaminarayan temple is at Gandhinagar in State of Gujarat in India. This temple has lots of attractions for all ages of people in addition to the temple of Lord Sahajanandji. This Swaminarayan temple at Gandhinagar is known as Akshardham.

Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat State. It is located around 20 miles from Ahmedabad. It is very well connected by the road from all the major cities of Gujarat State. The nearest airport is Ahmedabad only that is very well connected by air from Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities of India. Akshardham at Gandhinagar is built in the basic theme of Ramayana and Mahabharata. This temple is built in the traditional design of all Swaminarayan temples. The most beautiful statue of Lord Sahajanand is established here. The foundation stone of this temple was put on 14^th December, 1979 and the temple was opened for the public on 30^th October, 1992 by the H. D. Pramukh Swamy Maharaj. Thus, it took almost 13 years to complete this massive project that has become the most popular tourist's attraction as well as the place of pilgrimage in India. The most amazing aspect is that there is no steel used in building this entire temple complex. In spite of this, the temple is having sufficient strength as compared to other similar steel structures. This is due to the use of around 6000 MT of long lasting pink sand stones from Rajasthan. These sand stones have given the most remarkable appearance to this whole complex. Particularly, the temple complex is worth seeing at night with all the beautiful lightings and colorful water fountains provided in the gardens of the temple. The temple complex is situated in around one million square feet area with around hundred thousands square feet of gardens. The main statue of lord Swaminarayan is 7 feet gold leafed structure that is really marvelous. The temple structure is around 240 feet long, 130 feet wide and 108 feet high.