Amazing Sun temple, Gwalior built by the Birla family

Sun temple, Surya Mandir. Gwalior. upload.wikimedia.org/

In many religions, customs and rituals are mostly faith-based, for faith is important for us for upward mobility. Worship of Nature is common in many cultures cross the world and it was the earliest form of worship several centuries ago. For the native American Indians of North America majestic mountains play an important role as part of their religious faith. Particularly, Navajo Indians consider the mountains to be sacred. In Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism nature worship is common. For example the abode of Lord Shiva is Kalilash, a sacred peak in the Himalayas. To the Romans centuries ago Mt. Etna being the home to God Vulcan, the Roman God of fire and forge. Mount Olympus was considered the home of Greek Gods.

Equal importance was given to the worship of Sun in many cultures, particularly in Hinduism. In the case of Agni (fire) invocation of Agni is part of many Hindu rituals and functions; homams are conducted by pundits before the ''fire-pits'' - Agni kundam. In the case of Surya worship it begins with ''Suryanamaskaram'' in the morning by devote Hindus. Our survival on this planet depends on five important elements - water (jal), fire (energy/Agni), air (vayu) and ether (aakash). and earth (prithvi) and our body can not survive if we miss any one of them,

The advantage of early morning sun worship is, it is said, the seven colors in the Sun's ray (spectrum) are vital for seven chakras in our body. Chanting of Gayatri mantra will remove the veil of ignorance and sharpen the wisdom. The health benefits of sun worship are elimination of skin disorders, better blood circulation, improved metabolism and development of pineal gland hormone – melatonin which is linked to aging process.

Besides above reverentially facing the sun in the early morning will help us avoid mood swings and tendency toward depression. Most importantly, it will help you face day to day problems with enhanced vigor.

Apart from sun temples of historical value, there are some sun temple in India which are of recent origin. The most popular one is in the city of Gwalior, Sun temple or Surya Mandir (also known as Vivaswan) is a revered shrine that has inspiring and fascinating architecture. It is said the builder got the inspiration from the sun temple at konark in Odisha. Obviously, one can't miss the similarities between these places of worship. Almost daily countless tourists and devotees visit this place to enjoy the nice ambiance there and to get blessed by the sun god. The temple is made of red well-dressed sandstones that give the temple an impressive look, especially when the sun is going down on the west.

Thanks to the business family of Birla whose contribution to Hinduism is vast. They have built innumerable temple across India, notable being the one at Hyderabad, and Delhi. Covering roughly 20500 sq. feet, the foundation stone of the temple was laid in 1984 and the consecration was done in 1988 soon after completion of the contraction work.

Like the Konarak temple the temple is designed as the chariot of the lord, with seven horses drawing the chariot; the sun god holding the reins. Also ornately carved out are 24 wheels of the chariot, 12 on each side. Each wheel having 16 spokes, 8 thick and 8 thin spokes. Each year can be divided into 24 groups of 15 days each. Each wheel is like a sun clock with the time between any two consecutive spokes being 1.5 hours.

The notable features of this temple are 01. There are 373 carved idols of various gods, 02. Gods representing 10 avatars of Sri Vishnu, 03. The main sanctum has the marble idol of sun god and right below him the chariot with seven horses, 04. The sanctum has 3 entrances and each entrance door is adorned with 9 planetary gods (navagrahas), 05. The sun idol in the sanctum gets illuminate by the sun's rays coming through 4 small windows on the walls of the roof, 06. The dome over the sanctum is an impressive one, 07. Built at a higher elevation, the entire interior parts are made of quality white marble stones.

https://travelmelodies.com/sun-temple-in-gwalior-madhya-pradesh-india/

https://abpunch.wordpress.com/2021/03/27/gwaliors-sun-temple-hail-birlas-for-this-marvel

https://www.tripoto.com/odisha/trips/sun-temple-gwalior-5dda63ae5eff1

Sun temple Gwalior, near Delhi:

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