Dateline: Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, USA August 1, 2001

Kauai, Hawaii, July 22, 2001: Four hundred island residents including Mayor Maryanne Kusaka got their first experience of the ancient Indian art of stone carving at the Iraivan temple open house today. Seven master carvers, or "silpis" arrived a few weeks ago to begin assembling the temple located at Kauai's Hindu monastery in Wailua Homesteads. It is the first all-stone temple ever built in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the few built anywhere in the last century entirely of intricately carved granite.

The guests at this rare open house for the monastery witnessed the silpis in action as they completed carving on the second course of the temple's inner sanctum. The seven here, guided by head artisan Shanmugam, are assembling stones prepared by a team of seventy carvers in Bangalore, India. That village of artisans has been at work for nearly a decade now shaping the temple's 3,000 individual stones out of rough, hand-quarried white granite. The work is done entirely with traditional hammers and chisels, without the help of any modern cutting or polishing machines. The largest of the pieces, the seven-foot high capstone weighing in at over 20 tons, has already arrived on Kauai.

The temple's founder, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, told the guests that there was no timetable for completion because the work proceeds only as donations allows. Fundraising for the $16 million project continues at a brisk pace, he explained, and another 16 containers are expected by September, 2002. The steady arrival of containers of stone -- at $7,000 shipping each -- will be needed to keep pace with the workers' assembly. Approximately 280 containers of stone will eventually be shipped.

Mayor Maryanne Kusaka complimented Subramuniyaswami on the monastery's various contributions to the island. She then garlanded each of the silpi artisans and welcomed them to Kauai. Two musicians brought from Toronto played the ancient South Indian instruments of tavil drum and nadaswaram horn, a double-reed instrument similar to an oboe. Two short Indian dance performances followed.

The silpis demonstrated for the guests their knack for moving the stones, the lightest of which might be 2,000 pounds. Coordinating the effort by means of a traditional song, three of them moved a two-ton rock with ease across the temple's concrete foundation using just short bars and wooden rollers. The guests strolled back from the temple site, examining the monastery's extensive botanical gardens along the way, to the lunch venue. There they sampled "A Taste of India," some 22 exotic dishes prepared by the monks and the silpi's cook. Rave reviews of this feast poured into the monastery for days afterwards.

The Iraivan Temple is dedicated to Lord Siva and will enshrine a 700-pound, 39-inch tall natural quartz crystal, a symbol of God beyond all forms and qualities. It will feature a variety of marvels, including chains and bells chiseled from single stones and two rare tuned "musical pillars." The temple project is overseen by Thiru V. Ganapati Sthapati, the world's foremost traditional temple architect.

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