Swaminarayan Akshardham-Delhi tourism

Akshardham situated in Gandhinagar known as a green city. My journey is through the entrance of Sabarmati ashram. The entrance is closed, after 8.30 only it should open. We can see a board welcoming tourists to Gandhinagar on Sabarmati Bridge. The entrance is protected by 10 border security soldiers.

“Come… some more time will take to open the gate”, one Guajarati told me. His name is Ram Singh whom I met while travelling. He welcomed me to their nearby boridge village which stands to the shoulder of Akshardham. When I reached the village, I saw a lot of villagers coming and taking tea from tea shops situated under big tree shades. They not like to take tea from their home. I also decided to take one cup of tea. While drinking tea I saw queue is growing in front of akshardham. People are allowed inside only after security check. This is made compulsory after Sep: 2002 terrorist attack.

Once a day a boy named 'Khanasyam' born in the Chappaya village of Ayodhya started travelling every corner of India by feet and taken offering given to him. Then he changed his name as Sahajanad. Among his followers he knew as Swami Narayana. He started Swami Narayan life style and his followers still continuing that style.

Akhsardham is the ashram of his followers. This ashram is the Architectural surprise on Rajastani rocks. It took about 6 years to complete this architectural marvel spread around 23 acres. During the construction they never used steel and iron. The structures are full of god and goddess. Main Gopuram is 10 feet high and it is surrounded by grasslands and beautiful Gardens spread across 15 acres. In 'Hari Mandav', we can see a 7 feet long Golden monument of Swami Narayana. On the upper floor we can see 'Vibhuthi Mandav' where the teaching of Swami Narayana written on a Golden Lotus. “Man dwaj ki poonj jaisa he, manko vasme lena athiduskar he”.

Then if we move forward, we can see an open space with full of stone pillars. On each pillars we can see lots of paintings. At the corner of the ashram we can see digital library, paintings, statues etc. More than that there is a research centre for Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, English literature and indian history.

Getting In here:

In order to reach Akhsardham, take a train from Ahmadabad which is 25km to Akshardham

Akhsardham office: 079-23260001

Entering time: morning 9.30 to evening 7.30.