Birla Temple in Jaipur

The Birla Temple in Jaipur is one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the world. It was built in 1933-1938 with the money of a family of large Indian industrialists and was supposed to embody the idea of unity of India.

The rather extensive ensemble of the Birla temple includes a number of heterogeneous buildings, as its creators tried to unite the various religions professed in India: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The temple was originally intended for all Indians, regardless of caste.

The temple of Birla is often called the temple-palace. Its distinctive features: elegant staircases, arches, galleries, balconies, towers, domes, porticoes and transitions, sculptural compositions made of colorful marble rocks, an abundance of light, bright colors and gilding.

Under the huge vault of the dome is a vast hall of the Greek atrium type, surrounded on three sides by colonnades. At its depth is an altar with two central figures - golden statues of the goddess Lakshmi, who is revered in India as the goddess of happiness, wealth and prosperity, and her husband god Narayana, who is considered by some to be the incarnation of the god Vishnu, others - the incarnation of the god Brahma.

Adjoining the central temple is a palace named after the sacred book of the Hindus “Bhagavad Gita” – Gita Bhavan, in which stands a majestic statue of Krishna. Another temple is dedicated to Buddha.