VOA文化艺术2023--Largest Modern Hindu Temple outside India Ready to Open in US

Largest Modern Hindu Temple outside India Ready to Open in US

The largest Hindu religious site outside India in modern times opens to the public Monday in the American state of New Jersey¹. Its creators began planning the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham 12 years ago.

Artisans and volunteers spent 4.7 million hours carving² by hand the temple's two million cubic feet of rock. The rock material includes marble from Italy and limestone³ from Bulgaria. The material was sent to India for the carving work.

Then, the finished pieces arrived in New Jersey. Workers fitted them together in the city of Robbinsville to build the temple. The building stands on a 51-hectare property.

The largest Hindu temple in the world is in Cambodia. The Ankgor Wat was built in the 12th century during the Khmer Empire.

It is now described as a Hindu-Buddhist temple, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Robbinsville temple is one of many built by BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic⁴ organization within the Swaminarayan sect⁵ of Hinduism.

The organization has built two other Akshardhams, or houses of the divine. One is in the capital of New Delhi and the other is in the Gujarat state, where BAPS is based. The sect operates more than 1,200 temples and 3,850 centers around the world. It will celebrate its 50th year in North America next year.

BAPS faced criticism in recent years after workers launched a legal action against the group in 2021. The action accused BAPS of carrying out policies including forced labor⁶, low wages and bad working conditions.

Twelve of the 19 plaintiffs have now withdrawn⁷ their accusations⁸ and the legal action is suspended while an investigation⁹ continues.

The legal action claimed that Dalits, or members of the lowest caste in India, were being abused. Caste is an ancient system of social standing¹⁰ based on ancestry¹¹.

Yogi Trivedi is an expert on Hinduism at Columbia University, and a member of the religion. He said these accusations weighed heavily on community members because their religion has always taught them "to see the divine in all..."

"Caste and class do not divide us," Trivedi said.

He said the temple would not have been possible without the service of thousands of volunteers. Many of them took time off school and work to serve in different areas. This might be the first Hindu temple where women were involved in building it, Trivedi added.

This week, families from across the country, have been going to the site to see it from the outside.

Nikita Patel and her husband were among the volunteers who gave their time to create the temple.

"All religions, all communities are welcome here," she said, "And here, they will feel the peace."

Trivedi holds a similar opinion. To him, the temple stands for universal values that can be found in writings and ideas of all religions.

"It's not even just Indian or Indian American," Trivedi said. "What we've tried to do is express these universal values in a way that relate to all visitors."

Words in This Story

carve — v. to make by cutting off pieces of the material it is made of

sect — n. a religious group that is a smaller part of a larger group and whose members all share similar beliefs

divine — adj. relating to or coming from God or a god

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

3 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

4 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

5 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。