Recreating traditional architectural styles and preserving the ancient stone carving techniques in the process has been a long journey of more than two decades for Iraivan Temple in Hawaii, USA
Hawaii is home to a Lord Shiva temple under construction on the islands of Kauai. What is remarkable is that the construction is untouched by modern-age construction technology and akin to ancient stone temples of India. The San Marga Iraivan Temple of Hawaii is said to be the first temple in the Western hemisphere to be built only in white granite stone, and by hand, reported indianeagle.com.
The construction, nearing completion, doesn’t employ new-age machinery, and the artisans stick to traditional methods of stone carving using ancient chisels and tools. Recreating traditional architectural styles and preserving the ancient stone carving techniques in the process has been a long journey of more than two decades for Iraivan Temple in Hawaii, USA.
The foundation stone of the temple was laid in 1991. It is taking the shape of a beautiful Chola-style temple with its characteristic architectural grandeur and intricate carvings. The 4-foot-thick foundation bearing this 3.2 million pound temple is made of a crack-free formula involving coal ash. The temple is designed with great precision of art, science and engineering such that it lasts one thousand years. Moreover, the spacing within the temple, as guided by Vastu Shastra, elevates the vibration of the place and one cannot help but feel mystified when here.
Elaborate carvings, sacred motifs, and amazing structures meet your eye at this temple. Two massive elephant carvings can be found at the entrance. As you go further, you can see a large stone bell, long stone chains, finely carved pillars, eight stone lion pillars that come with a rotatable stone balls in their mouths.
Huge sandalwood doors lead the way to the main sanctum, where 108 bronze statues of Nataraja in various dance positions are placed in softly lit shelves surrounding the main shiva lingam (yet to be installed). One of the many stunning features of Hawaii’s Iraivan Temple is its two “musical pillars” encompassing 16 carved rods that produce classical Indian musical tones when gently struck with a mallet.
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The temple is a part of Kauai Aadheenam (Hindu Monastery), a 458-acre temple-monastery complex located on Hawaii’s Garden Island, i.e. Kauai
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This vast property sprawls next to the serene Wailua River
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As you approach the Wailua River, you can see the shimmering golden towers of Iraivan Temple rising against the backdrop of the lush green Mount Waialeale
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The distance between this Hindu temple in Kauai and Mount Waialeale is around 8 km
The seeds of Iraivan temple in Hawaii were sown back in 1975 when American Hindu guru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami visioned Lord Shiva walking along the place where the temple sits today. This vision inspired his decision to transform the place into a pilgrimage site for Hindus from across the world. He named the temple after an old Tamil word, Iraivan, meaning, “He who is worshiped.”
The design of San Marga Iraivan Temple, Hawaii, is credited to V. Ganapati Sthapati. Construction began in the 1990s. Required amounts of stone were primarily quarried in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu regions and the handcrafting of white granite stones was done by 70 local sculptors in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka. More than 4000+ carved stones were transported from Bengaluru to USA’s Kauai temple monastery, where craftsmen assembled them block by block.
The Shiva lingam to be enshrined at Iraivan Temple (after completion) is a rare six-faced quartz crystal (spatika) weighing a massive 700 pounds. Estimated to be 50 million years old, this spatika Shiva lingam represents sky – one of the five elements called pancha bhuta. Legend has it that this sacred shiva lingam was found enclosed in mud, in its exact form and shape, by Sivaya Subramuniyaswami during his quest for it in Arkansas following his dream. This naturally formed lingam is anything unlike rock-cut structures created for worshiping purposes at temples.
Presently, Kadavul Temple houses this consecrated spatika lingam awaiting its installation in the Iraivan Temple.
The temple is a part of Kauai Aadheenam (Hindu Monastery), a 458-acre temple-monastery complex located on Hawaii’s Garden Island, i.e. Kauai. This vast property sprawls next to the serene Wailua River. As you approach the Wailua River, you can see the shimmering golden towers of Iraivan Temple rising against the backdrop of the lush green Mount Waialeale. The distance between this Hindu temple in Kauai and Mount Waialeale is around 8 km.
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