Mahatma Gandhi Temple, Sambalpur, Odisha

A unique temple can be found in Sambalpur for Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace and non-violence. Sambalpur is about 200 kilometers by train and about 300 kilometers by road from Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Orissa. The temple is about 8 kilometers from Sambalpur railway station. Besides the daily worship in the morning and evening with Ramdhun, festive occasions like the Republic Day (26thJanuary), Mahaprayan Divas of Mahatma Gandhi (30th January), Independence Day (15th August) and Gandhi Jayanti (2nd October) are celebrated in the temple every year with great devotion.
The Gandhi Mandir Development Committee manages the temple with enthusiastic participation of the local people. Health camps, cleanliness programs, symposia and lectures on different aspects of Gandhian philosophy, distribution of clothes to the poor and uniforms to the local school students are some of the activities undertaken by the Development Committee. Local followers of Mahatma Gandhi gather at the temple premises every morning and evening and the Pujari, the worshipper, of the temple either gives discourses from the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi or reads from the writings of Mahatma Gandhi. There are some followers of Mahatma Gandhi who visit the temple every morning and begin their day’s work only after taking the prasad offered in the temple.