The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on Thursday inaugurated its new Sri Radha Krishna Temple at Akkarai in Chennai.
Spread over an area of 1.5 acres, the temple has been constructed at a cost of Rs.10 crore collected from devotees in Chennai.
It has an auditorium for cultural and spiritual programmes and a ‘prasadam' hall.
Thousands of devotees witnessed the pran pratishta when the idols of Lord Krishna and Radha and their sakhis — Lalitha and Vishaka — were installed in one of the three beautifully-carved teak — wood altars in the temple hall.
The other idols in the hall include those of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda; Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra.
After the Kumbhabishekam and Maha mangala arati — the first decorated darshan of the deities — a helicopter showered flowers over the ‘gopurams' built in the Kalinga style with a Sudarshana Chakra on the top of the tallest ‘gopuram.'
The temple has been designed under the expertise of Bhanu Swami.
The entrance of the temple is marked by the representation of the universe. The idols in the temple on Burkit Road unit have also been shifted to this temple.
The temple is part of the Centre for Spiritual Art and Culture. Work on constructing the centre began in March 2002.
The Chennai centre of ISKCON has 8,000 life patrons.
