America
Lord Venkateswara Temple to be built in Columbus, Ohio
New York, July 24
A state-of-the-art Sri
Venkateswara Temple with an eight-feet granite statue of Lord
Venkateswara will be constructed in Columbus in Ohio
state, a media report said.
It will be the second temple after
the Bharatiya Hindu Temple that opened in the area in 1994, the Columbus
Dispatch daily reported.
It will be "a state of the art temple,
spread over at least 20,000 square feet with a capacity to accommodate
at least 1,000 worshippers", said Ganesh Vathyam, a spokesperson of the
temple committee.
It will include an ornate, colourful towering
entrance called "gopuram" and a brass or copper covered flagstaff called
a "dwajasthambam", he added.
The committee is also planning to
bring sculptors from India to build the temple and early projections put
the cost at about $3 million.
"Our goal is to introduce this
culture not only to our kids -- because the reason we build temples is
to let our future generations know the significance of the temple and
the heritage -- but also to introduce it to the other side of the
world," Vathyam said.
The temple plans a four-day grand opening ceremony from July 30 to August 2 to enshrine Lord Venkateswara.
The celebrations will also bring three other deities into the temple "Ganesha, Garuda and Hanuman", it added.