BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London (Neasden Temple)

About BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London (Neasden Temple)

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, north-west London — widely known as the Neasden Temple — was Britain's first traditional Hindu stone temple and the first of its kind in Europe. It has been called one of the 'Seven Wonders of London'.

The mandir is about 21 metres high and 60 metres long, with seven pinnacles, six domes and 193 pillars, inspired by the Jain temples of Mount Abu. It was built without structural steel, following the shilpa shastras, using about 1,700 cubic metres of Bulgarian limestone and Italian and Indian marble — 26,300 pieces carved by more than 1,500 sculptors in India and assembled in London like a giant jigsaw. The deities are Swaminarayan, Radha-Krishna, Rama-Sita and Shiva-Parvati.

Beside the mandir is the Haveli, a cultural centre in the style of a 17th-century Gujarati courtyard house, carved in English oak and Burmese teak, with a prayer hall for 3,000 people. The permanent 'Understanding Hinduism' exhibition, with dioramas and a short film, is a good introduction for first-time visitors and school groups. The temple is busiest at Diwali and the Annakut (new year), when hundreds of vegetarian dishes are offered — in 2000 it set a record with 1,247 dishes. The nearest stations are Neasden, Wembley Park, Stonebridge Park and Harlesden.

History

BAPS opened its first UK temple in a converted church in Islington in 1970 and moved to a former warehouse in Neasden in 1982. Plans for a traditional mandir followed in 1990: construction began in November 1992, the first stone was laid in June 1993, and the temple was inaugurated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj on 20 August 1995, at a cost of about £12 million, built with the help of more than 1,000 volunteers. It won architecture and community awards, was recorded in 2000 as the largest Hindu temple outside India at the time, and has welcomed many visitors including King Charles III and Queen Camilla.