$40
million Toronto Hindu temple, remarkable structure opens on
July 22, 2007
Location: Just
across the 18-acre site sits
the Haveli- a community centre at Highway 427
and Finch, Toronto,
Torornto, July 20, 2007
Randeep Gill
The Swaminarayan Mandir, one of the most extraordinary
and remarkable structure/buildings for Canadians, at the cost
$40 million, will be inaugurated in Toronto on Sunday, July
22, 2007. The Mandir project was started in 2005 and finished
in 18 months.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller are expected
to attend the opening ceremonies on July 22, 2007
Most of the people shocked to read that how
somebody can build whole temple with a hammer and chisel.
There are about 200, 000 Hindus in Toronto, according to Statistics
Canada which paid for the $40 million building without any
public or foundation funding. They also provided 400 volunteer
workers.
The chief engineer, Akshay Muni Swami;
a Hindu monk told reporters:
- No steel is used and stones piled on stones. There are
340 pillars- solid rock used as columns and 84 ceilings
decorated with all with carved pieces
- The temple was designed according to ancient Vedic principles.
The mandir was built using 24,000 pieces of marble (Italian
marble and Turkish limestone) and limestone carved by hand
in India, labelled, then shipped to Canada and assembled
here. This include 5 metric tons, heaviest stone 50 grams,
lightest stone 2,393 metric tons Turkish limestone 2,050
metric tons Italian Carrara marble 1,349 tonnes Indian sandstone
- Every inch of the place is embellished with carved deities
- cavorting horses, peacocks, elephants and lotus flowers
using hammer and chisel by close to 2,000 craftsmen involved
at 26 different sites in India , 100 of them flown from
India
The Indo-Canadian Museum of Cultural Heritage was set up
at ground level
Suresh Thakrar, a community leader says, "This is a
place open to all and a place to educated about Indo-Canadians."
Nitya Vivek Swami, a Hindu monk, who has also worked on similar
buildings in Houston, Chicago and London said, "We believe
this is a living building, so it has to be built in a certain
way."
Vinay Gidwaney, a volunteer said, " You don't have to
be of any faith or religious background just take your shoes
off and you're all set."
Naren Sachdev, a project manager said, each piece was marked
with a bar code to facilitate construction. He estimated the
the building will last a thousand years.
Because of Canadian winters, there was a hurdle for convincing
city officials that the mandir is a completely steel-free
structure
The auspicious murti-pratishtha
ceremony will be held in the presence of Pramukh Swami Maharaj
on Sunday 22 July 2007.
This historic occasion will be broadcast live throughout
the world on AASTHA TV and TV Asia-Sahara ONE channels, as
per the times given above and technical details below.
Indian Standard Time: 7.00 to 10.30 pm
Canadian / US Eastern Time: 9.30 am to 1.00 pm
UK Time: 2.30 to 6.00 pm
DTH broadcast service in USA (DIRECTV - World Direct Package
- Channel No. 2005)
DTH broadcast service in UK(BSKYB - Channel No. 808)
DTH broadcast service in Canada(Rogers's Digital Cable via
ATN)
India, Asia, Africa, Australia & Europe (‘C-Band’)
– Aastha TV & Aastha International – Free-to-Air
Satellite Television Channels:
In addition, the broadcast can be seen in USA on TV Asia and
Sahara ONE (Dish Network).
For USA : TV ASIA is available on Dish Network and cable SAHARA
ONE is available on Dish Network, AASTHA TV is available on
DIRECTV For Canada : ATN (AASTHA TV)
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