i took a tour of this place yesterday and thought forumers might be interested in seeing something so exotically new and grand -- and also while i can remember what they said.
baps swaminarayan akshardham in robbinsville, nj is pretty much brand new and is the second largest hindu temple in the world. i have been to hindu temples around the world and afaik, yeah, most definitely it's huge. its not as colorful as tropical temples due to nj weather, but it is much more, umm, riche.
they bought the land in 2008, the work started in 2011 and it was completed in 2023. over 12,500 people worked on it.
why robbinsville, nj? they said of course because there is huge indian diaspora nearby and also because unlike the other over 300 sites they looked at the township agreed with their terms that it was fine to have no height and attendance restrictions.
the construction is a marvel, it's all male/female and tongue in groove, no bolts or anything. they used bulgarian white marble and indian pink marble on the outside and italian carrara marble inside. it was shipped to rajasthan and carved, then shipped to nj and assembled like a giant puzzle. however, it was not that straightforward because a guy who worked on it said the pieces were shipped extra wide to account for travel and breakage and had to be cut down to be fitted or re-carved if broken.
yes the nj unions reacted because it was low paid volunteers, but when they saw they were all housed and fed they backed off. there is still a lawsuit of 200 dalit/untouchables who were brought over and felt mistreated.
swaminaryan was a pretty cool guy, from a brahmin family who renounced wealth and preached for openness with other religions, for women's rights and for the poor. the 'baps' part stands for bochasanwasi akshar purushottam swaminarayan sanstha, which is a hindu denomination that believes swaminaryan still lives through a line of gurus.
they do blood drives and donations and robbinsville, nj is very happy to have them afaik. there are a dozen or so baps swaminarayan akshardham temples around the world, but this one is by far the mother of them all many times over --- they also have a huge gift shop, grocery and restaurant and they expect to go over 4M visitors this year.
more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaminarayan_Akshardham_(Robbinsville)#External_links
during construction the devotees brought bins of water from every major river and water source around the world for the pond in the front.
this is a 49' tall statue of nilkanth varni, the teenage swaminarayan, who died at age 49.
welcome center
the guru's who had this built
painting are all natural inks
the woodwork is off the charts
the campus
i mean, the next level marble carving everywhere is a jaw dropper
if you think that was something, it was nothing compared to the interiors
no photos allowed inside, but i found these online --
lastly, here are construction timeline aerials
that's all -- i hope you enjoyed.
you'll need a car or tour, but definitely worth a visit.
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