All that glitters

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Vellore, a sleepy city in Tamil Nadu, is home to several churches and temples, but it remained rather nondescript till it became the abode of the Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple in August 2007. The city has since become a popular spiritual destination. The Sripuram Golden Temple — the world’s largest golden temple — consecrated to goddess Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth), is made from 1.5 tonnes of gold.

As part of spiritual tourism, the temple is part of a day trip from Chennai and Bangalore to Vellore. “Every day, over 25,000 people visit the temple. Many come out of curiosity and their numbers are increasing,” says a spokesperson of Sripuram Golden Temple. This number goes up to a lakh during festivals.

Spread out over 55,000 square feet and built over a period of seven years, the temple, with its extended surroundings, is designed in the shape of a star or sri chakra.

Information centres at strategic locations, including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, have helped build a community of followers. The temple officials also plan to establish centres in Hyderabad and Pune in 2012.

Since the inception of the temple, a spate of activities has followed with urgency. Besides budget hotels, Vellore is also opening up to homestays. US-based MODO hotel, for instance, will unveil its budget hotel in Vellore in the next three years. With this comes an improved connectivity.

“There was hardly any activity in Vellore before the temple was established. Though the temple officially closes at 8 pm, pilgrims continue to come after that,” says S Kannan, a local. Since the temple is approximately 8 km from the Vellore bus terminus, pilgrims turn to homestays.

The sheen of gold extends beyond the temple precincts as Vellore is home to branded gold jewellers. To cater to a diverse crowd, Vellore’s autorickshaw drivers have also been trained to be tourist-friendly, as most tourists head to the Golden Temple during their stay.

Built at a hefty cost of Rs 600 crore, the temple has donors from various parts of India, besides NRIs. The temple was the vision of a 35-year-old godman called ‘Sri Sakthi Amma’, considered an avatar of goddess Narayani, with a following of devotees in India, Singapore, US, Canada, Britain and France.

At 16, he established the Sri Narayani Peedam organisation, which constructed the temple and now manages it.

The temple is known to combine architectural aesthetics with spiritual sensibilities. Gold foil from nine to 15 layers has been mounted on the etched copper plates. All this is complemented with sculptures and decorations which also adorn the roof. The sanctum sanctorum is built on a raised platform and is surrounded by water. It can be reached through ornately adorned multi-arches. This is supported by multi-pillars, which are embellished with an intricately carved lotus, elephant and annapakshi (bird).

Around 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths, including craftsmen from Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams, have chiseled gold into various shapes and designs for the temple. When it is illuminated at night, the temple is reflected in the water.

From the entrance, one has to walk for two kilometers to reach the temple. Pilgrims pass through a star-shaped path with 12 “auspicious” vertices symbolic of a divine energy, similar to the vibrations of the Sri Chakra. The pathway is flanked by flowering plants and shrubs and has around 300 multilingual messages from Amma and other religious texts.

The place where the temple is built is called Sripuram — Sri means ‘Lakshmi’ and ‘puram’ stands for ‘abode’.