10 Facts about India’s famous Lotus Temple

By Archita Aggarwal

O SON OF MAN!
I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.
~Bahá'u'lláh

The Lotus Temple, located in New Delhi, India, is a Baha'i House of Worship which was completed in 1986. Striking for its flower-like shape, and an unmistakable attraction of the city, it serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent and was created to be a place of worship for all faiths and religions. Incorporated into numerous every day paper and magazine articles the Lotus Temple, like all Baha'i Houses of Worship, welcomes all, paying little regard to religion or any other classification.

Created to resemble the shape of a Lotus, the building is made out of 27 unsupported marble-clad "petals" arranged in gatherings of three to shape nine sides with nine gateways opening onto a central hall with tallness of to some degree more than 40 meters and a breaking point of 2,500 people. Doors open into a central anteroom with heights reaching up to more than 40 meters and a capacity of 2,500 people. The shape of the Lotus was selected for the temple as the Lotus is not associated with any specific religion but does hold a deep connection with India overall.

Some intriguing truths about Lotus Temple:
1. Bahai law underlines the all-inclusiveness of all religions. It expresses a belief that a House of Worship should be a social event place for individuals of all religions.
2. The readings and petitions can be set to music by choirs according to laws indicated by the Bahai religion.
3. The Lotus Temple sanctuary is visited by more than four million individuals with a typical of more than 10,000 visitors each day, making it one of the most visited sites in India.
4. The Bahai House of Worship in Delhi is one of seven such places of worship. The other six are in Sydney in Australia, Panama City in Panama, Apia in Western Samoa, Kampala in Uganda, Frankfurt in Germany and Wilmette in USA.
5. No sermons can be conveyed at the Lotus Temple, as there is no spot for formal functions specific to any one religion inside the Bahai House of Worship.
6. Abhui-Baha, the child of the propagator of this religion had stipulated that the vital design character of a House of Worship ought to have a nine-sided shape.
7. The Bahai religion does not have any pictures, photographs or statues.
8. The Hindu Legship Mandir (temple) Shiva sanctuary in Sikkim has been made in imitation of the celebrated Lotus Temple of New Delhi.
9. While all the Houses of Worship of the Bahai community feature a dome in the center of the structure, the Lotus Temple of New Delhi does not have a central dome.
10. More than 10,000 different sizes of marble were used in the construction of the Lotus Temple.

Address: Lotus Temple Rd, Shambhu Dayal Bagh, Bahapur, New Delhi, DL – 110019

Timing: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM (summer) & 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM (winter)

Opening Days: All days of the week except Monday

Entry Fee: Free

Archita is pursuing bachelor's of journalism and mass communications,from Amity University,Noida Twitter:Archita001