An Evening at Akshardham in Gandhinagar

A lot of visitors to Delhi know the Akshardham there and have no idea it grew out of an older one in Gandhinagar. The Gujarat temple came first, opened in the early 1990s, and it still has a settled, unhurried quality that the enormous Delhi complex, for all its scale, does not quite match. I have been to both. The Gandhinagar one is where I would send someone who wants to actually feel the place rather than just tick off a superlative.

The monument itself is the draw, a mass of intricately carved pink sandstone rising out of manicured grounds on the edge of Gujarat’s planned capital. There is no structural steel or concrete in the shrine, which is the kind of fact that sounds like marketing until you walk close and see how the stone is fitted and cut. I arrived in the late afternoon on purpose, so I could watch the light shift across the carvings and then stay on for the show after dark.

The stone and the gardens

Up close, the carving does the talking. Columns, arches and domes are worked over with figures, animals and floral patterns, and the more you look the more you find. Inside sits a gilded murti of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, and the mood is calm rather than crowded, at least on the weekday evening I went. You leave your shoes at the entrance and walk the polished stone in your socks, which somehow slows everyone down and quiets the whole space.

Around the shrine, the gardens are as much a part of the visit as the building. There are lawns, water features and a musical fountain, and families spread out on the grass as the heat eases. I found a bench in the Jubilee-style garden area and just sat for a while, which is not something I usually manage at a major attraction. The layout gives you room to breathe, and the sandstone glows properly as the sun drops.

The carved pink sandstone of Akshardham catches the last of the daylight in Gandhinagar.

Exhibitions and the evening show

Beyond the shrine there are exhibition halls that use dioramas, film and audio to walk through the life and teachings of Swaminarayan and moments from Indian tradition. They lean earnest and are aimed squarely at a devotional audience, so how much you enjoy them depends on your appetite for that. I liked them in small doses; the craftsmanship of the displays is genuinely good even if the tone is not for everyone.

Come for the carved stone by daylight and stay for the water and light after dark, and you have seen it at its best.

The reason to stay until evening is the water show, a light-and-sound spectacle set to music and projected around a fountain, telling a story drawn from the scriptures. It runs after sunset and draws a big, appreciative crowd. Check the daily timing when you arrive because it shifts with the season, and get to the seating area early on weekends. It is the kind of production that is easy to be cynical about and then quietly enjoy anyway.

The practical catch

Here is the thing to know before you go: security is tight and phones, cameras and bags are not allowed inside. You deposit them in cloakrooms at the entrance, which means no photos of the monument from within the grounds. It threw me the first time, but I came to see it as a gift, because without a screen in my hand I actually looked at the place. Plan for the deposit process, allow extra time at the gate on busy evenings, and carry as little as possible so the check-in is quick.

If you go

• Phones, cameras and bags are not permitted inside; use the cloakroom at the entrance and travel light.
• Arrive in the late afternoon to see the sandstone in good light, then stay on for the evening water show.
• Check the day’s water-show and closing timings on arrival, as they change with the season, and the complex is usually shut on Mondays.
• Gandhinagar is about a 30-minute drive from Ahmedabad, easy to pair with a city visit.
• Dress modestly as it is an active place of worship, and be ready to walk the shrine in your socks.

Akshardham in Gandhinagar is one of those places I recommend with a small caveat and no real hesitation. The caveat is that you cannot photograph it, so you leave with memories rather than a camera roll. The recommendation stands because the carved stone genuinely rewards a slow, screen-free look, and the evening show sends you off on a high. If you are travelling around Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, give it an unhurried evening rather than a rushed hour, and let the place set its own pace.