delhicacies.com - Lotus Temple, New Delhi

THE LOTUS TEMPLE

Standing atop Kalkaji Hills in South Delhi is the Bahai's House of Worship, popularly known as Lotus Temple. This undeniably impressive gleaming white structure, shaped like a Lotus, was designed by Fariburz Sabha and is the seventh in the global chain of Houses of Worship of the Bahai's. The 40 meters high building, with 3 sets of nine petals, made of concrete clad with white marble, is set is well-tended gardens. The sculpted 'petals' are surrounded by 9 pools and pathways, each leading to a different entrance, signifying the Bahai'i faith in the many paths leading to God. Inside the prayer hall is 30-1/2 meters high, with no supporting columns. At dusk the sight of the Lotus is simply spectacular when its polished surface glows oleander pink.

The Bahai's faith began in present-day Iran in 1844 by Baha'u'llah, a Persian nobleman, who proclaimed himself the "Promised One", who had been entrusted with a message from God that the path to religious truth lay in the spiritual and social unification of the world. For this he was reviled by all religions and governments, and spent the rest of his life exiled in Constantinpole and Adrianople.