Planet Gujarat

Shree Swaminarayan Museum Ahmedabad

The Swaminarayan Museum in the city of Ahmedabad is a museum exhibiting more than five thousand personal items of Lord Swaminarayan and of that era. The Swaminarayan Museum is situated in the area of 25,000 square meter complex in Naranpura, Ahmedabad and it was a dream of former Acharya Shree TejendraPrasadji Maharaj from Narnarayan Deve Gadi. He used to have a dream of this museum years ago. He voluntarily took retirement from his Acharyaship for directly supervise the construction of the museum and to finish the task within a dedicated time period. His meticulous efforts and measures are visible today in a serene structure that stands to his vision and conservation and exhibition of Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan’s personal belongings and memories. Through his efforts and dedication, the museum is been created and inaugurated on Tuesday, 8th March 2011.

The huge campus of this Swaminarayan Museum today stands for its thoughtful artistic, architectural and spiritual combination. The management of the museum, Swaminarayan Mandir, Kalupur ensures that the museum keeps its impression and grows diverse in the frame of time.

Shree Swaminarayan Museum Image Gallery

HISTORY OF SHREE SWAMINARAYAN MUSEUM

During his illustrated lifetime, Bhagawan Shree Swaminarayan visited many villages and towns to attaining great demand from his followers. He gave away his belongings as a “PRASADI” to his followers as blessings. These “PRASADI” passes through generations and still being the items of worship for family members across the world. Also, His Holiness Shree TejendraPrasadji Maharaj himself owns important belongings of the Lord Swaminarayan including important handwritten letters and scripts and many other things. For some years Shree TejendraPrasadji Maharaj was nursing a dream to establish a museum to exhibits all these original belongings of Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan and also a collection of Prasadi from the devotees.

WHAT SHREE SWAMINARAYAN MUSEUM FAMOUS FOR

The most important display of this Shree Swaminarayan Museum is the manuscript written by Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan Himself. Shree TejendraPrasadji Maharaj is the owner of it and he donated it to the museum. No other temple of Swaminarayan Sampraday has this important historical evidence. Not only this, the manuscript is a legal document, a power of attorney given by Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan to one of his disciples on an Rs. 1 stamp paper, and it is also endorsed by a British officer. This letter is exhibited in the main hall of the museum and the important part is that proclaims his status a being the lord himself. This makes the document even more precious. The other vital document at the museum is the horoscope of the Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan, which underlines the rarity of his personality.

There are many clothes, vessels, malas, footprints, fragments of his hair and nails, silver toothpick and much more. The collection of Shree Swaminarayan Museum also holds one flute, which holds an interesting story in itself. It was played by Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan when one of these followers once commented that Lord Krishna was famous for its flute playing, on hearing this Shree Swaminarayan Bhagwan played it beautifully without any efforts. During his lifetime, Lord Swaminarayan traveled through various villages and on request from his followers or to bless someone he gave his belongings as a Prasadi to his followers. Such artifacts have been preserved through generations and they are still owned by thousands of families. On the other side, The Swaminarayan Temple also has its rich collection of the belongings of Lord Swaminarayan. Such articles and precious Prasadi things were collected from the Swaminarayan followers and devotees and been put in the exhibition by Acharya Shree Tejendraprasadji. The historic articles in this Swaminarayan Museum include Lord Swaminarayan’s writing scripts, everyday ornaments, clothes, footprints, fragments of his hair, nails and many others. One of the most significant artifacts of this Ahmedabad museum is the only existing writing scripts with the signature of Lord Swaminarayan. It is actually a power of attorney given by the Lord to Thakur Kubersingh for some land allotment. This document at the museum is been kept as a centerpiece.

The architecture of the museum is been designed keeping in mind the environmental effects. Maximum optimization of solar energy and wind energy has been kept in mind while planning for the design of this museum. Also there is a planning of rainwater harvesting through the underground reservoir.