LONDON — What is being called the world’s largest Sikh temple outside India opened March 30 in London with a reported 40,000 people attending the opening ceremony of the new gurdwara.
The ceremony began with the Sikh scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib, being carried in procession from the former Southall gurdwara half a mile away to their new home.
The temple, which can accommodate 3,000 worshipers, took three years to build and cost just under $26 million, all of which was raised by London’s Sikh community. Facilities include a library, a seminar room and a dining hall able to provide more than 20,000 meals over a festival weekend.
“The ambition was to create a temple second only to the Golden Temple in Amritsar,” said spokesman Parminder Singh Garcha.
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