PM Modi inaugurates BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi: What the Hindu mandir in UAE signals

Abu Dhabi has opened its first Hindu temple. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital on Wednesday (14 February) during his two-day visit to the Gulf nation. He also performed several rituals at the shrine.

The opening of the 108 feet-high temple in the UAE comes just weeks after PM Modi inaugurated the grand Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. The Abu Dhabi temple is significant for the Hindu expatriates in the UAE. PM Modi’s visit to the Gulf nation just months before the general elections in India also reflects the growing ties between the two countries.

Let’s take a closer look.

Abu Dhabi’s first Hindu Mandir

Built in the Nagara style of architecture, the BAPS Hindu Mandir stands tall in the desert of Abu Mureikha. It is the first traditional hand-carved Hindu temple of the UAE constructed with 1.8 lakh cubic metres of sandstone brought from Rajasthan.

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The temple is built by Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a religious and civic organisation of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, a Vaishnav sect of Hinduism.

The interior of the Abu Dhabi shrine – built at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore – is adorned with Italian marbles. The shrine has two central domes, Dome of Harmony and Dome of Peace, that signify human coexistence through the carvings of earth, water, fire, air, and plants, as per Indian Express.

The temple also gives a nod to the Muslim country it is built in with its seven shikhars (spires) representing the seven Emirates of the UAE.

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Deities from across India including Lord Ram, Lord Shiv, Lord Jagannath, Lord Krishna, Lord Ayappa, Lord Swaminarayan (a reincarnation of Lord Krishna) and Tirupati Balaji are featured in the Abu Dhabi temple, reported Indian Express. 

The temple design depicts the UAE’s national bird, the falcon, while also paying homage to animals significant in Indian mythology like elephants, camels and lions.

The shrine is built on 13.5 acres of land gifted in 2015 by the then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed to the Indian community.

Besides the temple, there are several buildings, such as prayer halls, a community centre, a library, a children’s park and an amphitheatre, on the premises.

Why is the Abu Dhabi temple significant?

The BAPS Hindu Mandir highlights India’s close ties to the UAE.

“The temple connects two cultures, two countries that are already so close to bring them even closer together,” the temple project director Pranav Desai told The National earlier.

Speaking to Indian Express, a BAPS spokesperson said, “A Muslim king donated land for a Hindu Mandir, where the lead architect is a Catholic Christian, the project manager a Sikh, the foundational designer a Buddhist, the construction company a Parsi group, and the director comes from the Jain tradition.”

The Abu Dhabi BAPS temple offers Hindus in the UAE another place of worship. The Gulf nation has the largest Indian diaspora population, estimated to be nearly 3.5 million, followed by the United States (2.7 million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 million). The Indian expatriate community is also the largest ethnic group in the UAE comprising nearly 30 per cent of its population.

The Hindu shrine also gives an opportunity to both India and the UAE to exhibit their soft powers. According to a Times of India (TOI) article, for India, which has been promoting its culture and way of life to the world, the Abu Dhabi temple symbolises the growing appeal of its soft power.

The inauguration of the Hindu temple by PM Modi will also resonate back at home in the election year. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to use the temple opening in the UAE as a “success” of the Modi government’s foreign policy and India’s “growing stature” at the global level, the newspaper report added.

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India-UAE ties

PM Modi visiting the UAE before the summer Lok Sabha elections signals the strong relationship between the two nations.

Viraj Solanki, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Associated Press (AP), “Modi is not going to travel widely this year before the election. The fact that he is willing to go to the UAE shows how important this relationship is for India.”

According to Solanki, PM Modi’s “personal connection” to UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he calls his “brother”, appears to be behind the cementing of relations between India and the UAE.

In 2015, Modi became the first Indian PM to visit the UAE in 34 years. The current visit is his seventh to the Gulf nation since then.

In the last decade, India has enhanced its engagements with the Gulf States, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Strategic ties between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi have also evolved.

The relations between the two countries go beyond trade. India is one of the key countries for the UAE that would be part of its transition to a post-oil economy, as per TOI.

The inauguration of the BAPS Hindu Mandir is expected to further boost these bilateral ties.

With inputs from agencies