
Plain land
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In
September 1987, ISKCON Bangalore was
operating from a rented house in the
city with a handful of devotees. Under
the leadership of the temple president,
Madhu Pandit Dasa, ISKCON Bangalore
applied for a 7acre hillock from the
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).
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The
BDA had described it as "karaab land"
(waste land) as it was a huge piece
of monolithic rock and could not be
converted into sites. The BDA sanctioned
the land at a cost of Rs. 11 lakhs
to be paid in 90 days. With practically
no resources in hand, the team of
devotees managed to collect the sum
partly with the help of some donors
and partly through loan. On Lord Balarama's
appearance day of September 1988,
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Plain land with shed
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| the
Deities of Krishna Balarama moved to
a temporary shed on this land.
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Primary
concept |
The
master plan of the project on the
Hare Krishna Hill was conceived by
Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, who is a qualified
civil engineer from IIT (Mumbai).
The initial concept as it stood from
outside was conceived by Jagat Chandra
Dasa who is a product engineer from
IIT (Mumbai). The unique combination
of glass and gopuram, blended modern
and traditional elements. Considering
the nature of the sloping rocky hillock, this unique concept was
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further developed
architecturally into the present design
as it stands by Madhu Pandit Dasa
and Bhakti Lata Devi. The entire team
of devotees of ISKCON Bangalore were
strongly motivated by an intense desire
to make this a grand and memorable
temple, to be completed and offered
to His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada. Various fund raising
schemes were launched to engage the
people in this devotional endeavor.
Apart from the life membership scheme,
sponsors of gopuram, kalashas and
vimanas were enrolled.
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 Initial
construction pics. |
The
whole construction was carried out
by the ISKCON Construction Department.
Between 1990 and 1997 a total of 10
million man-hours were put by 600
skilled craftsmen, 32,000 cubic meters
of stone, 131,250 tones of cement
and 1,900 tones of steel were used.
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The
architecture is a combination of traditional
Karnataka and modern styles to give
the aesthetic style as well as the
best of latest scientific technology.
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 Full
view from the road |
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 Garbhagriha |
The
Deities in the main sanctum sanctorum
are standing on complete piece of
stone column of about 90 feet height.
This will ensure that the main altar
and sanctum sanctorum will last for
thousands of years. As you stand at
the entrance of the temple the total
height from the road level is 200
feet.
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