Wow Place #285: Lotus Temple, New Delhi, India
I love when architects get creative with the shape of their buildings. The Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona looks like a sand castle. The Longaberger building in Ohio resembles a picnic basket. The Teapot House in Wuxi, China looks exactly like one might expect – a giant, modernistic teapot.
And then there’s the Bahai Temple in New Delhi, India – a beautifully rendered, king-sized rendition of a lotus blossom.
Completed in 1996, the structure is composed of 27 free-standing, marble-clad “petals” arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides, with nine doors opening onto a central hall standing 34 meters with a capacity of 1,300 people.
New Delhi’s Bahai Lotus Temple has an interesting history. As it turns out, the major part of the funds needed to buy the land was donated by a Pakistani, Ardishir Rustampur of Hyderabad, Sindh. His will stipulated that his entire life savings would go towards the building of the temple. Think about that for a moment. Here you are, obviously a man of wealth. Yet your life-legacy achievement is to be built in a foreign country…and not just any country…India, your home country’s traditional, national antagonist. Not only that, ALL your savings are going toward this project—with nothing left over for friends or family members. Rustampur must have *really* wanted to get this temple built – IN INDIA, no less.
A bit of research gleaned some further interesting tidbits about the Bahai approach to architecture. According to faith and tradition, a Bahai house of worship must be nine-sided and circular. No pictures, statues, or images may be displayed, and no pulpits or altars may be incorporated as an architectural feature. Moreover, a house of worship is designated as a space for people of all religions to gather, reflect and worship. Anyone can enter a Bahai house of worship. The sacred writings of ALL religions can be read and/or changed here, regardless of the language. By contrast, reading non-scriptural texts text is forbidden, as is delivering secular sermons or lectures. Although prayer can be sung by choirs, no musical instruments can be played inside. Ritualistic ceremonies are not permitted.
What all this means is that a visit to the Lotus Temple is an odd experience. Simply put, it just doesn’t feel like any temple or church I’ve ever been to. Absent are the paintings, the candlesticks, the tracery, the baptismals. Both inside and out, the temple is remarkably spare, even minimalistic, without much in the way of detail or decoration. The feeling of the place is clean somehow, pure even, which is no doubt by design. I find the place rather uplifting and refreshing – especially in contrast to the dust, traffic and overall chaos of Delhi. Against all odds, here sits a clean, serene, urban oasis, a physical and spiritual refuge, a place to unclutter your mind and contemplate the divine.
And to top things off: it’s solar! The first temple in Delhi to use solar power, the Bahai Lotus Temple accounts for about a quarter of its 500 kilowatts of energy output via solar panels, saving the temple 120,000 rupees a month ($1,400 US). In an era of climate change, that sounds like a pretty Godly approach to me!
(How do you go about getting away from the chaos of life? Long walks in your neighborhood? Runs or bike rides in the park? What can you do to create a Lotus Temple in your own home? Perhaps you can set aside a room – or a part of a room – as a regular place of refuge…a carve-out for prayer or meditation…a space that is absent of screens and technology. If you don’t have such a sanctuary already in place, why not create one this weekend? Set aside an hour or two to set it up. It doesn’t have to be perfect! It just has to suit your own style and intentions. With or without solar panels, of course. 😊)
365 Wow Places:
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