Akshardham: A monument to faith

At the glass door, you leave behind everything that is mundane - beyond it everything looks surreal, as if the angels walked down on earth to carve the statutes and figurines and to lend sanctity to what was once an unlamented patch on earth. In the first courtyard are stone arches with water dripping like the strings of a harp - silently, peacefully and eternally. You want to strum the flowing water and wait to hear the music flow.

November 8. That was the day when Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi was thrown open to public and against the pink sandstone stood a man, hurriedly putting his belongings in a plastic tray for security check. But in his hurried gestures one could not miss his awestruck expression and his mumble "You never know….…" It looked as if he was ready to barter everything to swap the fate of the 100 acres on which Akshardham stands near Noida More off Nizamuddin Bridge. He was not the only one; there were myriad others thronging towards a surreal journey.

Akshardham literally translates into the abode of the indestructible (a+kshar+dham). But what was built with thousands of tonnes of pink sandstone and marble procured from Pindwara and Sikandra in Rajasthan is not a temple, it is actually a monument. "In a temple, the deity goes through the ritual of pran prathistha and it is imperative that the aarti is performed five times a day; in a monument there is no pran prathistha, no rituals and no aarti; you go there for a darshan. Though Bochaswami Swaminarayan Purushottam Swaninarayan Sanstha (BAPS) has 500 temples in 145 countries, this Akshardham is a monument, not a temple," explains Rasik Vaghela who volunteers in the Press and PR wing of the Sanstha. The official brochure describes Akshardham as "a place of education, experience and enlightenment. It creatively combines traditional art and architecture, Indian culture and civilization, ancient values and wisdom and the best of modern technology."

The monument is dedicated to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, the founder of Swaminarayan Sampradaya, who was born in 1781 in Chhapaiya village near Ayodhya. He mastered the scriptures at the age of 7 and left home four years later on a spiritual pilgrimage. He scoured the country on foot for seven years and finally settled in Gujarat, spearheading a socio-spiritual revolution that gathered millions of people within its fold. Swaminarayan lived for 49 years and before breathing his last he promised that he would forever live on this earth through the gurus who would succeed him. That is how he is akshar, the Indestructible.

As you swerve left from the Akshardham Setu, there appears an island in pink, as if rising from amidst the chaos of traffic and the smoke of a polluted sky. Even before you park, you can see the main monument necklaced with chatris and lit lyrically. The boundary wall is pink and huge and volunteers are strict about the prohibitory orders on carrying any electronic item inside Akshardham. You could leave them in your vehicle or deposit in the cloak room near the main entrance. There are separate lines for men and women and you have to run through the security drill of walking through a metal detector and being frisked. At the glass door, you leave behind everything that is mundane - beyond it everything looks surreal, as if the angels walked down on earth to carve the statutes and figurines and to lend sanctity to what was once an unlamented patch on earth. In the first courtyard are stone arches with water dripping like the strings of a harp - silently, peacefully and eternally. You want to strum the flowing water and wait to hear the music flow.

The arches and the lush plants lead into a small pond that has a large white marble replica of Swaminarayan's feet rimmed with floating rose petals. In the reception area, innumerable brass bells hang from the ceiling in concentric circles and even a slight breeze creates a concerto. Volunteers - men in black trousers and white shirt, women in white saree with red borders - are ready to help, retelling the story of their deity, enumerating the generosity of millions of devotees who poured Rs 200 crores into the Sanstha coffers and the dedication of nearly 11,000 BAPS volunteers who chipped in to complete Akshardham in five years.

The main monument that houses the 11 ft gold-plated statue of Swaminarayan is 141 ft high, 316 ft wide and 370 ft long. One would imagine that millions of sturdy iron rods alone could hold all the 234 ornate pillars together, but it is startling to know that not an inch of steel or iron has been used in Akshardham, instead it has been designed and carved entirely on the tenets of ancient Vedic sthapatya (architecture) shastras. The structure replete with huge domes, Kangra paintings, and nearly 20,000 carved deities, figurines, statues, flowers and arches rises on the shoulders of 148 gigantic elephants that depict 70 fables from the Puranas and Panchtantras. Don't miss the rose garlands carved out of single piece of stone and the paisleys on the caparisoned elephants. And like a necklace around the monument is the parikarma, the double-storied colonnade which is nearly 2 kms long and has 1,660 pillars, 145 windows and 154 shikhars. Adding beauty is the Yagnapurush Kund, which is 300 ft x 300 ft with 2,870 steps and 108 small shrines. Water from 151 different places has been poured into the kund and in its still waters grow lotus, the leitmotif of the monument. The musical fountain adds a mystical touch to the Vedic theme.

While Vedic canons dictate architecture, modern technology - animatronics - has been used in the Sahajanand Darshan, an exhibition that recreates the life of Swaminarayan through animated clay statues and excellent use of light and sound. In Sanskurti Vihar, you can ride a boat and learn all about nearly 10,000 years of Indian culture and civilization depicted on the banks of the artificial river that the boat chops through. When you are tired with all the looking around, you can have delectable vegetarian meal in the restaurant and can also shop for herbal products and mementoes next door.

When the huge brown door with golden embellishments is closed, when the fountains have plunged into silence, when the lotus have curled up their petals, and when the footfalls of devotees have faded into the chaos of the mortal world, all one can hear is the noise of a chisel turning a prosaic portion of sandstone into an exquisite panel and the hum of the devotee who is communing with his God. It is so surreal that you forget that there is ground beneath your feet or thin air wraps you… You almost melt in a moment of inner incandescence…

Published in Swagat magazine, December 2005