The city of Lord Krishna will have a new tourist attraction by 2020. The world’s largest religious structure, the ‘Cnadrodaya Mandir’, is coming up in Vrindavan, conceived by the devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bangalore, which is also known for its Akshaya Patra mid-day meal kitchens across India.

On Sunday, President Pranab Mukherjee presided over the ‘Anant Shesha Sthapana Puja’ at the project site, a little over a two-hour road journey from Delhi. The ceremony marked the placing of Lord Ananta Shesha beneath the foundation of the skyscraper temple for Lord Krishna. The idea is that the entire temple building will stand on the hoods of Ananta Shesha (snake).

Speaking on the occasion, the President said, "As we now make the transformative change from being a developing to a developed economy, there will be immense pressures on our socio-economic and moral fabric. It is, therefore, imperative that we reconnect to our spiritual dimensions. He added that “there can be no better way of doing this than spreading the Bhagvad Gita’s message of universal love and humanity.”

The temple, estimated to cost Rs 300 crore, will be over 700 feet or 210 metres tall. It will have a 70-storey structure and visitors will be able to reach its top with the help of a capsule lift. It will be surrounded by 28 forests with all the flora and fauna mentioned in Krishna epics. The complex will have 11 lakh square feel of carpet area, out of which the temple will be built on one lakh square feet and facilities in three lakh square feet area. The remaining seven lakh square feet will be used to develop educational facilities.

The 26 acres around the temple would re-establish the glory of the forest during Krishna’s period, will have a musical fountain, a Bhagwat discourse centre, a kund (boring) of holy water of river Yamuna, Brij heritage village and cow shelter, which would form a part of the theme park..

Explaining the project’s vision, Mandhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman of the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir, said this woyld be a vibrant platform to inculcate the message of Bhagwad Gita and Srimad Bhagvatam in a modern context “which will help influence the moral and ethical fabric of the youth of our country.”

Chanchalapathi Dasa, President of the Vridavana Chandrodaya Mandir said, the structure will have unique architectural features that blend the elements of Indian traditional temple architecture of Nagara style and elements of modern architecture. “This is an effort to present Lord Krishna in a modern way,” he said.

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