Akshardaam on Day3

28Aug08

I slept uncontrollably the following day,again to wake up only in the afternoon.We went to the bengali market nearby and ate some parathas & shahi paneer.It was already afternoon by then. The last time we missed out on going to the much hyped Akshardam temple.It was close to our place.The auto costed 30 Rs and we reached there in some 15 minutes.It didnt look like a temple at the first sight..I didnt get that feeling even after entering the temple. The temple was previously bombed by the terrorists a few years back..so the security had been tightened.We were not allowed to carry cameras or mobile phones inside the temple.We walked for almost a kilometer into the complex, and had it no symptoms of why it should be called a temple!! I could be blamed of getting stereotyped with south indian temples.. but this was strange! It had a help desk ..something resembling  a Kingfisher counter @ the airport.Nobody had removed their sandals even after walking some 20 minutes into the temple.. I found boards and  paintings on the wall by the side of the help desk with Catchy Ad lines!! It was about the elephant statues and other sculptures inside. It was like walking in spencers or forum!

On continuing further ,we found the mulasthanam at a distance.

We noticed a ticket counter there and thought we had to buy some entry tickets..on enquiring at the counter..they sold tickets for some shows.. a package worth 200 or 250 bucks.. It included an audio experience about the lord satyanarayana,and two more movies regarding the same. The feel was pretty comercial at the place..but still we walked further.. As we walked up the steps,a huge golden statue unveiled in parts.

Till that point of time,i was of the opinion it was a Vishnu temple( Lord satyaNARAYANA)..Only then I realised It was built for a saint of the name..later immortalised as the lord himself! the roof could be called the best of the artistic works at akshardam.. It looked something like this..

There were some 6 to 8 such arts on the roof,all relevant to different stages of satyanarayana’s life..accompanied by huge unimpressive paintings on the wall ! I was still unsure till this point,if he was worshipped as a god.We then walked around the temple to see the elephant statues!!

Contrary to the initial hype, the elephants too were unimpressive!! Another part of the temple had carvings like these…

Compared to the sculptures I had seen in south indian temples which were carved some 1000 years back with poor facilities,I was completely not able to appreciate the art that surrounded the temple. The ones inside the mulasthanam too,had sharp edges and excessive acuracy in them explicitly hinted the use of modern equipments for sculpting!! with these gadgets around, the sculptures looked far from ordinary for me!! Furthermore,I was not able to accept him as god!! One of the volunteers there tried to explain his  preachings in short! i m no expert in hinduism.. but i knew the basics of my religion to identify that they were only remixing existing concepts!!

At the end,I never prayed at the place , the art as well failed to impress me and the fake spice added to religion was least appealing!! According to me ,most staunch sounth indians may not like it and may find no sanctity in the place.
Day 1 Day2

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Tags: akshardaam, Delhi, house, mandi