Please read more here: India will build replica of Angkor Wat temple.
Angkor Wat could potentially lose its status as the world’s largest religious monument to a $78 million upstart being conceived in the backlands of Bihar, one of India’s most impoverished provinces.
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The Gods must be crazy.(Reuters/Clarissa Cavalheiro)
Angkor Wat could potentially lose its status as the world’s largest religious monument to a $78 million upstart being conceived in the backlands of Bihar, one of India’s most impoverished provinces.
The proposed temple, named Viraat Ramayan Mandir (Majestic Ramayan Temple), will be 379 feet tall with 18 spires spread across 200 acres of land. In comparison, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat—sprawling over 500 acres, equivalent to more than 300 football fields—is 215 feet tall with nine spires, but will remain the largest temple in terms of land size.
The 800-year-old Angkor Wat, which means Capital Temple, was built by King Suryavarman II of the Khmer empire.
Expected to be complete by 2023, Angkor’s new-age rival will be owned by a private trust—the Mahavir Mandir Trust—that plans to spend Rs500 crore ($78 million) to build the temple in the East Champaran district of Bihar. The eastern state is one of the poorest in India: In 2014, per capita income in Bihar stood at Rs31,229($490), compared to the national average of Rs74,380($1,167).
Location of Viraat Ramayan Mandir.(Google Maps)
“Its not just a temple. It is a masterpiece,” Kishore Kunal, secretary of Mahavir Mandir Nyas Samiti, the trust’s arm overseeing the project, told Quartz. “This temple will bring in tourists and provide a large number of jobs for the locals. That’s the main idea behind building the temple.”
To be built of red sandstone—the same material used in New Delhi’s iconic Red Fort and Rashtrapati Bhawan—the Viraat Ramayan Mandir, as the name same suggests, will be dedicated to Lord Ram, an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Angkor Wat, too, is dedicated to Vishnu.
The project was first proposed in 2012 by the Mahavir Mandir Trust—which also runs four hospitals in Bihar—as the Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir but later changed names after objection from Cambodia.
A site plan of the temple.(http://www.
Since then, the trust had been trying to complete the land acquisition for the project, including reportedly
So far, the trust has spent Rs5 crore ($785,000) on land acquisition, while some locals even donated their land for the project. And most of the funds required to build the temple will come from devotees, with each square foot expected to cost about Rs7,707.
1 comment:
Who care still build in 2015 not in 11th century. Plus, Angkor Wat was built by ancient time. Angkor Wat was not only famous for largest religious building but most importantly for what it represent in 11th century. Malaysia twin towers tallest in the world but still didn't attract tourists like Angkor Wat Why ? because it build in the 21st century. Let those cow worshipers waste their precious money. 90% of Indian are very poor they needed help more than building to compete against Cambodia real gold theirs is fake gold.
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