Sripuram Golden Temple

Sripuram golden temple or the Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple, an edifice of grandeur and splendour, is located on a sprawling 100 acres of land at Sripuram, near Vellore city of Tamilnadu. Goddess Mahalakshmi is the presiding deity of this temple. The temple is designed and built by a spiritual institution called Sri Narayani Peetam, headed by spiritual leader Sri Sakthi Amma. This is a place that leaves you in awe of its magnificence with glittering gold covering the entire temple. Both the interior and exterior walls of the entire structure are coated with gold. It was built in the year 2007 and since then it has been attracting huge crowds.

A whopping Rs 600 crores and 1.5 tonnes of gold have gone into creating this masterpiece. About 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths, including craftsmen from Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam, have toiled on this mammoth architectural beauty. Twelve layers of gold foils have been mounted on copper sheets and are embossed with intricate designs. Though the temple is full of pomp and show, this spiritual institution is built with an ultimate purpose to create righteousness and transformation in human beings.

The path towards the temple is star shaped, surrounded by Narayana Vanam, full of sculptures, engraved quotes, greenery and beautiful landscape. This path stretches for about 1.8 km and one has to cross this to reach the main temple. As you get the first glimpse of the temple, the long walk seems worth the effort.

The main temple is surrounded by water on all sides except for the entrance and a circular corridor is built along the water connecting to the main entrance of the temple. The temple is very well maintained and has a calm and serene atmosphere. At night, the lights play up the gold facade of the temple making it appear radiant. The temple tank reflects the lit temple in all its glory.

The temple is open between 4.40 am to 08:00 pm. Various pujas such as Abhisheka puja, godhana puja, Pushpalankara puja, kumkumarchana seva, Vedaparayana Seva, Maha aarti are performed throughout the day. It is built and maintained in an orderly and clean manner. The ambience is vastly different though from the traditional old temples.

A visit to this temple involves plenty of walking around the massive grounds. Devotees can partake the breakfast offered in the guest house run by the temple. Those who want to stay over after the evening darshan can book rooms. Vellore is located between Chennai and Bangalore connected by national highway. Nearest railway station is Katpadi junction. The temple is 8 km from central Vellore. Frequent buses ply from Tirupathi, Bangalore and Chennai to Sripuram.