VELLORE:
The Sri
Lakshmi Narayani Temple located in 'Sripuram' (spiritual
town) in Thirumalaikkodi, about seven km from here, was
consecrated by Sri Sakthi Amma, head of the Sri Narayani
Peedam, Thirumalaikkodi, on Friday.
A large number of devotees gathered for the occasion.
Unique structure
It is a unique temple whose 'Vimanam' and 'Ardha Mandapam'
have been coated with gold both in the interior and
exterior.
Twelve layers of gold foils have been pasted on copper
sheets embossed with the designs of Gods and fixed on the
walls.
One-and-a-half tonnes of gold has gone into the design of
the Sri Lakshmi Narayani Temple, which has been built at a
cost of Rs.300 crore.
100-acre site
According to Sri Sakthi Amma, the decision to have the
temple coated with gold is only to attract visitors and
enable them to get wisdom through the messages of the
Vedas, which they will have to read before reaching
the temple located on sprawling a 100 acre-site.
The temple has been designed in such a way that visitors can
reach the golden temple only after going through a
star-shaped pathway, which has the messages from the
Vedas on both sides.
Tamil Nadu can boast of its own Golden Temple now
Vellore: If you see the temple, you might even think that
the temple is made of gold. And your guessing will be
correct.
The Golden Temple is about 140 km from
Chennai at Tirumalaikodi in Vellore district.
Sri Narayani Peedam, a private religious charitable
organisation, built the temple. And the glittering monument
also boasts of some glittering figures.
"The actual estimate is about 300 crores. The amount of gold
that went into it's making is 1,500 kilos," says head, Sri
Narayani Peedam, Sri Sakthi Amma.
A breathtaking wonder of intricate designs, the temple
dedicated to Goddess Narayani is in the midst of lush
greenery spread over 100 acres.
Except the pathways, even the roofs and the pillars of the
temple are made of gold as about 1.5 tonnes of the metal
went into its making.
The Peedom says the funds for building the temple were
collected from NRIs.
But is this an attempt to match up to the other golden
temple?
"Well! We need to see the people's reaction-how the world is
accepting it," says Shakti Amma.
The temple will be formally consecrated on Friday and will
be thrown open to the public from the next day.
Now even Tamil Nadu can boast of a wonder of its own- the
Golden Temple created with about 1.5 tonnes of gold and
which is already on its way to making history.
