India’s temple artisans are carving out global careers

When you drive down to the coastal town of Mammallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram and famous for its spectacular 7th-century monuments,you’re likely to breeze past the Tamil Nadu Government College of Architecture and Sculpture without even noticing it. Yet, this one-of-a-kind institution has been quietly teaching traditional temple architecture for the past 67 years. While even IITs struggle with placements, alumni here are in high demand these days, thanks to a temple building spree both in India and abroad.

“People everywhere want to reconnect with their Hindu heritage now, and what better way to do this than by building a temple?” says Nishanth Manoharan, an alumnus of the college who is currently in Reunion Island, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, working on his 20th temple. It’s probably his fifth or sixth stint on the island, as Nishanth says he has lost count because clients keep sending for him. With more than a third of Reunion Island’s population being Indian, building temples is more of a status symbol now. “Almost every family here wants to outdo the other with a temple. You’ll find temples everywhere, from the middle of fields to housing colonies. For me, it’s steady income, and more than I will earn working on a farm,” says Nishanth, whose father is a farmer in Tamil Nadu.