Replica of Tirupati temple in city soon

pune: if the pilgrim cannot make it to the temple, why not bring the temple to the pilgrim? that's exactly what the city-based samrat foundation is planning to do. devotees of lord balaji, tirupati's presiding deity, will soon have to make it only as far as pashan to have darshan of their favourite god. a replica of the famous original in andhra pradesh is fast nearing completion.the deity will be ceremonially installed on february 4. built over four years at a cost of over rs 1.5 crore, the temple is an exact copy of the original, down to the last detail. from the height of the temple tower - 30 feet - to the 9 foot tall, 3.5 tonne statue of the lord, carved from the rare black granite of kancheepuram, the temple's architects ramkrishna stapathi and his son meenakshi sthapati, who have also sculpted all the figures, have stuck to the original. the green hills surrounding pashan lake provide a startlingly similar backdrop. occupying 7,000 square feet - like the original - in a 19,000 square feet plot, the temple will, beside the main sancutm of lord balaji and his consort padmavathi, also have temples of lakshmi, lakshmi narasimha, godha devi, sudarshana, rama, garuda and hanuman, all in the traditional dravidian style of construction. the president of the sri ahobila mutt pune project core committee, s saranathan, said that half of the cost of the project was borne by the devotees of lord balaji from the city. the project was formally launched by his holiness shri ahobila mutt srimannarayan on february 17, 1998. according to mr saranathan, the temple will have a total 30 deities including the four acharyas sarakopa, ramanuja, vedanta desika and adivata shatakosha. before the consecration of the deities, yagna, mandala pooja, and other religious formalities will be performed, he said. he added that the temple is being envisaged as a seat of knowledge for vedic scholars and students. a well-equipped library, lecture hall, study rooms and an ashram for teachers are all slated to come up in the second phase of the project, due to be completed in two-to-three years.