Akshardham Temple Megical Water & Light Show by Car in Delhi

The temple after dark, and the show on the stepwell

Akshardham was finished in 2005 in Rajasthani pink sandstone and Italian Carrara marble — 234 carved pillars, 148 stone elephants each different, nine domes, and no structural steel or concrete in the main monument. It was built by traditional shilpa shastra methods, stone cut and fitted the way temples were built a thousand years ago.

Whether or not modern temples interest you, it is remarkable that this was attempted in the twenty-first century at all.

The evening walk

Your guide takes you round the complex before the show: the Mandir with its carved ambulatory, the Gajendra Pith plinth — three thousand tonnes of stone telling elephant stories from Indian mythology — and the Narayan Sarovar, the tank ringed by 108 brass cow heads and filled with water from 151 sacred rivers and lakes.

The water and light show

On the Yagnapurush Kund, the largest stepwell of its kind, built as 2,870 steps around a central lotus. Water jets, projected light, fire and a sound score retell a story from the Kena Upanishad — a boy who offers himself into fire to learn the source of life.

It runs about fifteen minutes after dark and it is the reason to come in the evening rather than the afternoon.

Read this before you go

Security is airport-grade and the prohibited list is absolute: no phones, no cameras, no bags, no electronics, no food. There are free cloakrooms at the gate and the queue for them is the longest part of the evening — leave everything in the car if you can.

Modest dress is required, shoulders and knees covered for everyone. Wraps are lent at the entrance.

Closed Mondays. Photography inside is impossible, which is worth knowing beforehand rather than at the gate.

Three options

Guide only; guide with car; or the all-inclusive version with the show ticket included.