Swaminarayan Museum
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The Shree Swaminarayan Museum is a museum in
Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
, Gujarat, India. It houses of three thousand personal objects of
Swaminarayan Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest Theophany, manifestation of ...
, who is believed to be a manifestation of god in
Swaminarayan Hinduism The Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also known as Swaminarayan Hinduism and Swaminarayan movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava sampradaya rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, characterized by the worship of its charismatic founder Sahajanand Swami, be ...
. It is a project undertaken to protect God Swaminarayan's objects of Prasadi (personal objects) which can be viewed by all people for darshan. This is the first ever project in the Swaminarayan Sampraday to create this unity in all of God Swaminarayan's Prasadi objects from temples all over the world and will be a complex built on with a total project cost of 10.5 Million. This museum was envisioned former Acharya Tejendraprasad of the
Narnarayan Dev Gadi The Naranarāyan Dēv Gadī, named after Nara-Narayana, NarNarayan Dev, is one of the two ''Gadis'' (seats) that together form the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Its headquarter is at the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad and controls the Uttar Vib ...
.


History

During his lifetime, when Lord
Swaminarayan Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest Theophany, manifestation of ...
went around village to village, on request from his followers he gave his belongings as 'prasadi' to his followers. This 'prasadi' is passed from generation to generation, and is still owned by hundreds of families.
Swaminarayan temples Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday, established temples, known as ''mandirs'' (Devnagari: मन्दिर), as part of his philosophy of theism and deity worship. These mandirs are known as Swaminarayan Hindu temples. He ...
also have their own collections, but items are usually not kept in an organized manner. The people who pass through them have no historical information about these items. Acharya Tejendraprasadji Maharaj has endeavored to establish this museum of
Swaminarayan Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest Theophany, manifestation of ...
's belongings. He had some personal collections of Swaminarayan, and dreamed of gathering the 'prasadi' from the devotees. He intended to put all this collection, which gave a glimpse of
Swaminarayan Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest Theophany, manifestation of ...
's life, in the museum. To fulfill this dream he passed on leadership of the
Narnarayan Dev Gadi The Naranarāyan Dēv Gadī, named after Nara-Narayana, NarNarayan Dev, is one of the two ''Gadis'' (seats) that together form the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Its headquarter is at the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad and controls the Uttar Vib ...
to his son, Koshalendraprasad in order to give full attention to this project. He agreed to celebrate his 60th birthday only on one condition, that all the donation and proceedings given by the devotees will be passed on towards the realization of this museum. This was the founding stone of the museum. The museum was opened on 8 March 2011 by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. The ceremony started on 5 March 2011 and continued till 9 March 2011 in which 800,000 people participated. An organ donation camp was held on the museum premises on 8 March 2011 to coincide with the opening ceremony by Shatayu (a NGO). A total of 1600 - 900 women and 700 men - took the pledge for multi-organ donation.


Layout

The museum itself takes up . Another houses an office and guest house. The museum uses an audio visual system to take people around the complex. Along with this there is a mini theatre to showcase the life and times of Swaminarayan and a library with rare resources to help researchers and provide them with information on Swaminarayan. A workshop has been constructed to take special care of all the artifacts and sell replicas.


Collection

The museum holds items such as Swaminarayan's writing scripts, everyday garments, ornaments, footprints, fragments of his hair, nails and many other items. What makes this place unique is that it houses the only existing writing scripts with the signature of Swaminarayan. This document is a power of attorney given by Swaminarayan to Thakur Kubersingh to enable the latter to handle a land dispute at the
Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kalupur ( gu, શ્રી સ્વામિનારાયણ મંદિર, અમદાવાદ, Devnagari: श्री स्वामिरायण मन्दिर, अहमदाबाद) is the first T ...
. This document is the centerpiece of the museum.


Sustainable construction

The museum has been set up keeping in mind the environment. Solar and wind energy power this air-conditioned museum which has been planned with a green cover of three hundred trees surrounding the building. Rainwater harvesting is done using an underground reservoir. Windows are double glazed and insulated, along with two outer walls and an insulated ceiling to help maintain the internal temperature and save electricity. Instead of bricks, fly ash blocks have been used for the structure.


External links


Official website of the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi

Official website of the Swaminarayan Museum

Official Page of the Facebook
{{Swaminarayan Sampraday Swaminarayan Sampradaya History museums in India Museums in Ahmedabad Religious museums in India Biographical museums in India Museums established in 2011 2011 establishments in Gujarat