Akshardham Swaminarayana temple located in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat is one of the most visited sacred shrine of Gujarat and India. The meaning of Akshardham is divine abode of Lord. The extra ordinary Akshardham temple was inaugurated in 1992 with blessing of Shree Pramukh Swami Maharaj, great saint of BAPS swaminarayana sampraday. From this day, Akshardham, the major pilgrimage center stands as symbol of devotion, spirituality, culture, Hindu tradition etc with main aim to spread message of universal peace and brotherhood. BAPS – Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sansth is one of the major sect of Swaminarayana sampraday established by Shastriji Maharaj in 1907. Now BAPS organization manages more than 1000 temple across the world and has millions of followers. Akshardham temple of Delhi and Gandhinagar are the excellent example of architecture and management.
Akshardham temple is one of the biggest temple of India spread across 23 acrs of land, 108 feet high, 131 feet wide and 240 feet long, 97 intricately carved pillars, 17 ornamental domes, eight balconies, 220 stone beams, 264 sculpted figures and almost 6000 tonnes of pink sandstone. Akshardham temple of Gandhinagar comprise of main shrine along with exhibition, lesser water show, Premvati – food court, fun zone for child, book store, AARSH - Akshardham Centre for Applied Research in Social Harmony, the unique concept to solve the social problem with principal of Lord Swaminarayana. In this unique monument, 1.2 tonne gold-plated huge idol of Lord Swaminarayan is places along with Swami Gunatitanand on his right and Swami Gopalanand Swami on his left. Akshardham Gandhinagar is perfect example of mixture of modernity and ancient values where journey of Lord Rama, Shravan- the dutiful son, Pandavas, kauravas and Mahabharat time are very well explained. Everyday thousands of tourist and devotee visit this sacred shrine and spent whole a as for every age group there is something unique and interesting topics here.
