Bengal is a land of many firsts. Open the history book of Bengal and you will find many. But let bygone be bygone. Do you know that Bengal will be the first state that will sport the country’s first underwater metro?
Now, there is a second.
The largest temple in the world will open its doors for the people this month. Located in Mayapur in Nadia district of West Bengal, the temple of Vedic Planetarium has multiple first-evers in the world. The entire temple is nothing less than a palace of modern times with the biggest chandeliers and state of the art technology to broadcast prayers and offerings live worldwide. Incidentally, Mayapur is the headquarter of International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
The Temple of Vedic Planetarium is all set to unveil the first-of-its-kind pujari floor spread across one lakh square feet as it moves one step closer to its target of completion by 2022.
The construction began a decade ago and more than two crore kilograms of cement have already been used in building the structure. It will have one lakh square feet of every floor and what makes it even more beautiful is the largest dome in the world.
Being made with an intention to spread the vedic culture and wisdom across the world through a scientific and authoritative presentation based on vedic knowledge, the 380-feet high temple has special Blue Bolivian Marble used to add the effect of western architecture to the Temple.
Talking of the Vedic Planetarium, managing director Sadabhuja Das said, “This temple is the mixture of the East and the West. The marble has been imported from Vietnam. We also procured marble from India. The temple is unique because the pujari floor is 2.5 acres and the temple floor is 60 metres in diameter. The house of deities is unique as well. We are building 20 metre long vedic chandeliers.”
The massiveness of the temple is such that one floor will accommodate more 10,000 devotees at a time who can pray, sing and even dance in front of Lord Krishna to live up to the tradition of the ISKCON temple.
Explaining it further, Das added, “Our founder Acharya Prabhupada wanted to build something that will attract the entire world to Mayapur. Mayapur had been the birthplace of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He wanted that all the people should come and relish the Odharyabhav, the merciful form of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We believe that this with this kind of ability – to be able to accommodate 20,000 people – the doors of the temple will be open across all communities, cutting across all ethnic backgrounds, all religious background, and no caste barriers. It is open for all. People can come here, chant, dance before the Lord and be a part of the “Saint Kirtan Movement.”
Going by statistics around 70 lakh people arrive every year in Mayapur. Recently, WB chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared Mayapur as a Heritage City.
Subrato, head of communication in the temple said, “We got lot of support from the Mamata Banerjee government. I am sure that after the temple opens, it will give a major boost to the tourism industry.”
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