VIJAYAWADA: The city of Vijayawada, which enjoys the distinction of being an abode for different institutions of beliefs – Kanaka Durga temple, Gunadala Mary Shrine, Athiest Centre and others -- now has another feather added to its secular cap. A temple for Mahatma Gandhi has been inaugurated at Syed Appalaswamy Degree College to propagate the Gandhian philosophy.
The temple, a first in Andhra Pradesh, was inaugurated by Deputy Speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad on Tuesday. Rampilla Jayaprakash, director of the temple, said it was built with an objective to promote national integration.
“The temple will help us pass on the philosophies of Gandhi to future generations. These philosophies will, in turn, result in national integration without caste, creed and other social barriers hampering our social growth,” Jayaprakash said.
There are only two other temples in India for the Father of the Nation; one at Sambalpur, Odisha and the other at Nalgonda, Telangana.
Jayaprakash, who has been organising 23-day-Gandhi Deeksha every year since 2012 to propagate the principles of Gandhi, imbibed them from his freedom-fighter-parents, Rampilla Suryanarayana and Rampilla Narasayamma. The temple was built in two years by the trust created in his father’s name: Rampilla Suryanarayana Trust. Built in about 150 sq yards, it has a nine feet tall Gandhi statue and a priest to offer prayers, Jayaprakash said.
“The Gandhi Satakam, the 500 slokas on principles and greatness of Gandhi, will also be inscribed on the walls,” he added.
The people who participated in the inauguration of the temple said that the temple would add to the secularity of Vijayawada, which is the only city in the country to have a hillock named after Mahatma Gandhi at One Town. The Gandhi Hill, considered a monument of the independence struggle, has a 52-feet tall stupa of him and a memorial highlighting the theories he postulated.