Nagpur: Spreading its reach in the city, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) will be constructing an International Vedic Cultural Centre at Kotewada, 14km outside the city on Outer Ring Road, off Wardha Road.
Giving details of the project, which comes at a cost of Rs50 crore, Loknath Swami, Zonal Secretary of ISKCON, told TOI, “It was our founder Swami Prabhupada who had instructed us to construct such a facility and a temple in Nagpur as it is in the centre of India.”
The religious organization, which has around 1,000 temples all around the world had been scouting for a suitable land in the city for some time. “The developers of a township which will be coming up there have given us 5 acres for this project. Our vastushastri approved this location and we have engaged Paramjeet Singh Ahuja as an architect. The team of experts at Mayapur, which is our headquarter, will give design and architectural inputs,” swami, who is in the city to give final touches to the design, said.
The temple will be designed in the shape of a lotus and will have an amphitheatre right in front. “This open space will have a seating capacity of 10,000 and will have a stage in the middle. Our devotional programmes and festivities will be held here,” the swami informed. There will be 18 intricately designed canopies which will hold figures depicting various episodes of Krishna Leela. Trees connected with Krishna will be planted here and a Tulsi nursery too will be developed.
The theme of the facility is Vedic and the purpose is to propagate the teachings of Bhagwad Gita. A Centre for Vedic education and Vedanta library will be built here and a Vedic Samskar hall with a capacity for 1500 persons will be open for use of general public. “Here various rituals like marriages and other samskars can be held according to Vedic rites. “We are an educational movement. This is also a vidya mandir for educating the classes and masses,” he added.
The temple complex will also have a spiritual mall where items related to worship will be sold, guesthouse, restaurant, goshala, multipurpose hall for 1000 persons, prasad hall and darshan mandap where the deities will be installed. “There would be three altars and 5ft tall idols of Radha and Gopinath will be installed at the centre,” Loknath Swami said and added that the ISKCON temple at Empress Mall will continue to function, “as that is our city connect.”
So far, the bhoomipujan has been performed and boring and electrical connections have been provided. “We would like the people of this city to donate for this good cause and help us in building this temple which will be a landmark of Nagpur,” the swami added.