VRINDAVAN
The holy town of Vrindavan will be home to a unique and world’s tallest Lord Krishna temple which will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore here in the next few years.
‘Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir’ will have a height of 700 feet or 210 meters, thrice the height of 72.5-metre Qutub Minar in Delhi.
The temple is conceptualized by devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bangalore.
President Pranab Mukherjee performed ‘Ananta Shesha Sthapana Puja’ at the temple, whose foundation stone for the temple was laid on March 16 ,2014.
The idea of this ceremony is that the entire temple building will be resting on the hoods of ‘Ananta Shesha’ (snake) which is very auspicious.
The 70-story temple will feature a capsule elevator which will take visitors from the ground level to the 700 ft tall viewing gallery giving an immersive 3D sound and light experience of the different planetary systems described in the Vedic literature, project organizers said.
A look-alike of the verdant forests of Vrindavan will be recreated around this magnificent temple from descriptions in the Srimad Bhagavatam; sprawling 26 acres it will consist of the twelve forests (dvadashakanana) of Braj, they said.
The ‘Krishna Lila Theme Park’ attractions will include themed storytelling areas, musical fountains, garden lawn and water features, Yamuna creek for boating experience, Braj heritage village, and goshala to recreate the atmosphere of Vrindavan of Lord Krishna.
The project, which will be completed in five years’ time, will have the Krishna Heritage museum, Bhagavad Gita Expo, lecture halls, and a center for Krishna heritage studies.
Social development programs that are part of this project include increasing the support for ‘Akshaya Patra’ mid-day meal program for feeding children studying in government schools of Mathura district. About 1.65 lakh children are fed every day under the program.
The organizers will undertake welfare programs for the widows of Vrindavan, carry out restoration, up-gradation, and rejuvenation of the important sites of Braj, restoration of river Yamuna to her original and pristine glory, and ‘Goshala’ for demonstrating cow protection.