Temple Architecture, part of India's glorious cultural heritage, is rapidly becoming a dying art with the traditions of temple building and preservation being fast eroded.  Today, there are just some 500 artisans who have the knowledge and skill necessary to construct a temple or preserve an existing monument and Hariprasad Sompura is foremost among them.

      Thirty nine-year-old Hariprasad hails from the Sompura family, renowned for their talents as temple architects and traditional sculptors and is the eleventh in the line of generations, following the same profession.  The Sompuras derived their name from the famous Somnath temple of Gujarat which they helped to rebuild after it was ransacked and mutilated seven times by the armies of Mahmud Ghazni.       

      Making his debut in 1969 as a full fledged architect and sculptor, Hariprasad has since chalked up an impressive list of achievements.  These include the construction of a Jain temple at Sangamner in 1972, the renovation of Mahalaxmi temple at Dahanu in 1974 and the construction of a Brahma mandir at Bardoli in 1979.

      The Gita temple in New York will be an additional feather in his cap.  This will be a unique architectural feat as the carvings and stone slabs will be worked on in India and the whole temple transported in pieces to New  York.

      Hariprasad explains that the temples of India can be architecturally divided into four groups : Dravida or a style followed in the South, Valabhi or a style followed in the North, the Wesara style of the East and the Naagara style of the West.  Hariprasad's forte is the Naagara style which he will be utilising for the Gita mandir of New York.  Krishna and Radha are the deities and a few slokas selected from the Gita will be inscribed in Devnagiri script on the walls.

      Hariprasad's knowledge of the arts, and sculpture in particular, has also made him into a kind of adviser and reputed examiner of idols.  Whenever disputes arise regarding the authenticity of a particular architectural style or the identification of an idol, Hariprasad is called in to give his expert advice.  At a dilapidated temple in a village near Bhiloda, North Gujarat there was some confusion as to whether it was a Krishna temple or a sun temple.  To add to the mystification the main idol was missing.  After studying the minutest details, Hariprasad declared that it was a sun temple; later on epigraph found proved him right.

      Though Brahma is the lord of creation according to Hindu mythology, temples with Him as the deity are very few in number.  There are only four such temples in the country these are at Pushkar in Rajasthan, Mamallapuram in Tamilnadu and Khedbrahma in Gujarat.  According to Hariprasad the latest temple is some four centuries old.  Amongst the modern temples the one at Bardoli constructed by Hariprasad in 1979 also contains an idol of Brahma.

      Hariprasad bemoans the lack of interest in preserving these temples and idols.  He is all praise, however, for the Jain community who have done much to keep their temples in good condition.  He points to the example of the 108 temples of Palitana.  Huge store houses have been constructed where deities after being excavated are being preserved and later on gifted to the various new temples that are built.  As these store houses are under the direct control of the chief of the Jain sects there are far few chances of malpractices.  Unfortunately the Mahants of many Hindu temples are hand-in-glove with antique smugglers and many rare and precious idols are being sold and taken out of the country for paltry sums.

      Hariprasad is also concerned about the future of this art, for temple construction is almost at a standstill.  According to him in olden days, a number of princely states gave incentives for building a temple but today, apart from a few industrialists, there are few persons who encourage the building of temples.

      What, according to Hariprasad, is even more distressing is that the temples are not being properly maintained and India stands in danger of being robbed of its rich and proud history.

      Artisans relying on these trades for generations have now fallen on bad days.  They are either jobless or forced to take up other trades.  This is a serious loss to the country's art.  In order to infuse new life into this dying art.  Hariprasad has come up with a scheme that he hopes will provide employment to artisans.

      Hariprasad uses lime stone from Porbunder, sandstone from Dhrangadhara and marble from Makrana for his idols.  He explains how iron is never used in the construction of temples as it rusts.  Even the use of cement is restricted.  In the olden days, lime and mud was used and still earlier, before lime was freely available, the artisans made use of herbal juices (Vanaspatiras)

      Hariprasad Sompura who has created many architectural marvels met the biggest challenge of his life in the restoration of the Mahalaxmi temple at Charoti naka on the Bombay-Ahmedabad highway.  A unique renovation programme took place with the pillars of the temple being replaced but the first floor of the temple remaining undisturbed.

      Made of wood and believed to be 153 years old, the temple was in need of a face lift.  One proposal was that while the deity would remain intact the wooden structure would be replaced by stone.  The project ran into difficulty when it was found that the brick pillars always gave way under the heavy stone structure.  Before abandoning the project Hariprasad was given a chance.  He successfully replaced the first pillar within four hours.  He explained that temples were built in such a way so that the stones always inter-locked with each other and that the entire operation was like working with a screw driver.  He changed all 58 pillars and thus carved a name for himself with this astounding feat.  Architects in the USA have referred to him for advice on restoration work on the pyramids of Egypt and he was felicitated in New York last year for this achievement.